Giving Compass' Take:

• Stanford Social Innovation Review advocates for a more evidence-based approach to the opioid epidemic, trying to move away from narratives about individual choices.

• Included here is a discussion of the "risk chain" and identifying those who may be a part of it. Nonprofits in the healthcare space should look at how removing stigmas about addiction and examining the neuroscience can help us find better solutions.

• Here's more about philanthropy's role in confronting opioid addiction.

"He was riding away on a bicycle. The last thing he said was, ‘I love you.’”

So opens a gut-wrenching tale about a man with a heroin addiction who came close to death several times before finally losing his life to an opioid overdose. The piece concludes that those who abuse heroin face two outcomes: death or sobriety.

Such stories — which shape how we view the issue, the people it affects, and the solutions we see and support — frame addiction as a crisis of individual suffering and bad choices, where the only solution is to make better decisions and have a stronger will. But bad decisions do not explain the epidemic, and better decisions won’t end it. We must change policy and practice to support people with addiction, help others resist it, and expose fewer people to addictive substances in the first place. Specifically, we need evidence-based interventions to identify who is at risk for addiction and interrupt the “risk chain” as early as possible. We also need treatment programs that provide hope, care, and support.

Framing the opioid epidemic as an individual problem hides these solutions. As philosopher Brendan de Kenessey argues, our preoccupation with individuals’ decisions obscures the power of prevention and society’s role in promoting it.

Meanwhile, though framing the opioid issue as a crisis boosts our sense of urgency, it tanks our ability to see and engage with solutions.

Read the full article about reframing America's opioid epidemic to find solutions by John Dreyzehner & Nat Kendall-Taylor at Stanford Social Innovation Review.