SAMHSA’s 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) estimates that 1.1 million Hispanic/Latino youth used illicit drugs in the past year, including 208,000 who misused opioids in the past year.

I write this today not to provide a listing of programs that my agency has funded nor an update on how we are doing in addressing the opioid crisis. I write this as a physician seeking the help of my fellow physicians and healthcare colleagues around the country.

Many of you are very familiar with the efforts that we, in the government, have put forward to stem the tide of the opioid crisis. States and communities have done the same across the country. Our commitment is real, but it is also potentially futile if we do not have providers out there, on the front lines, willing to take on treating the population of Americans living with opioid use disorder.