15 There is an opportunity cost beyond these numbers, as governmental agencies find their work on other projects curtailed to devote scarce resources toward this crisis. The sheer size of the overall financial cost to society, as well as the cost of human life, justifies a major investment in this battle. A PBS documentary provided a detailed explanation of the addiction process and discussed some of the preventive measures and treatment possibilities that have been tried. b. The Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach There are many studies, theories and exhortations on how the nation might better-address the opioid crisis. The most- notable and perhaps most-influential strategic approaches are found in the report of the President’s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, in guidance documents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and in relevant documents from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies. The President’s initiative is intended to: • Reduce drug demand through education, awareness and prevention of over-prescribing • Cut off the flow of illicit drugs across our borders and within communities • Save lives by expanding opportunities for proven treatments for addictions.10 In its prescription-overdose Prevention for States program, the CDC lists a package of strategies that states are encouraged to support, covering the follow potential points of action: Maximizing Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP) • Moving toward universal registration and useMaking PDMPs easier to use and access • Making PDMP data more timely • Expanding and improving proactive PDMP reporting to identify and address inappropriate prescribing patterns • Using PDMP data to better-understand the prescription drug overdose epidemic Community or Insurer/Health Systems Interventions • Providing technical assistance to high-burden communities and counties • Improving opioid prescribing interventions for insurers and health systems • Enhancing use of evidence-based opioid prescribing guideline Policy Evaluations • Evaluating interventions to better-understand what works to prevent prescription drug overdoses Rapid Response Project • Implementing a project to advance an innovative prevention approach and respond to new and emerging crises and opportunities11 The SAMHSA prevention portfolio tends to focus most directly on averting overdose deaths through these potential strategies: • STRATEGY 1: Encourage providers, persons at high risk, family members and others to learn how to prevent and manage opioid overdose • STRATEGY 2: Ensure access to treatment for individuals who are misusing opioids or who have a substance use disorder • STRATEGY 3: Ensure ready access to naloxone • STRATEGY 4: Encourage the public to call 911 • STRATEGY 5: Encourage prescribers to use state PDMPs12 The Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies also provides a framework for addressing community- orientedpreventionprograms.Itstressesindividual-levelstrategies,environmentalstrategies(includingcommunication and education, as well as enforcement), and collaboration across stakeholder groups and communities of interest.13