Kelly Clark

Opioid Addiction: A Crisis Fueled by Stigma

Sarah Karlin-Smith, Kelly Clark, Gary Mendell, Andrey Ostrovsky, Nora Volkow, Ronnie Solomon, Michael Golinkoff

A panel of leading experts, including Dr. Kelly Clark and Gary Mendel, identifies deep-seated stigma as a primary driver of the opioid crisis that obstructs effective funding and policy implementation. To combat this, organizations like Shatterproof propose a seven-point strategy shifting addiction from a criminal justice issue to a chronic disease model, while researchers in Rhode Island demonstrate that medication access for released inmates drastically reduces overdose mortality. Despite these clinical victories, persistent structural barriers such as the X-waiver requirement, inadequate federal budget allocations, and restrictive privacy laws continue to hinder widespread adoption of evidence-based treatments.