Substance use disorders and their devastating repercussions pose a significant and ongoing public health burden to American society. The United States has experienced the worst and most intense opioid epidemic over the past two decades, which claims over 480,000 lives annually and leaves children of female addicts with neonatal abstinence syndrome (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Examples of opioids include Fentanyl, commonly found as a component in prescription medication, Hydrocodone (Vicodin), Oxymorphone (Opana), Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), and Meperidine. Therefore, with the increasing evitable deaths and other health consequences of substance use, immediate interventions should be devised to curb this menace from wreaking havoc.

The recommended action to take against the rampant substance use and overdose in the United States is educational campaigns against opioids, combined with a medical intervention that involves reversing that compulsion with Naloxone (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022; Gicquelais et al., 2019). For example, increased fentanyl supply significantly contributes to a surge in drug-related deaths. It is possible to overdose on even a small amount of Fentanyl, which has a potency up to 50 times greater than heroin and 100 times greater than morphine (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Additionally, Fentanyl can be mixed or laced into various illegal drugs, including counterfeit prescription opioid pills, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy, without the user’s knowledge or consent. Therefore, this wellness promotion also targets drug manufacturers, who are sometimes caught making this product illegally. It also targets other stakeholders, such as pharmacists, who may be selling this product illicitly. On the other hand, stakeholders such as reformed drug addicts, parents, medical practitioners, and health government agencies will benefit from this move because there will be less or no agony in seeing an entire generation waste away from substance dependence. As a result, the country will have a vibrant workforce, and the costs associated with curbing drug compulsions will significantly decrease. The addicts will also enjoy a long life and raise their own families, contributing to a prosperous nation altogether.

Advanced practice nurses are the change agents in communities. As a result, they ought to advance their knowledge on particular topics such as advocacy and leadership to advance political engagement with their co-workers (George & Massey, 2020). Health campaigns are often collaborative projects which involve multiple stakeholders in the healthcare industry. Therefore, when APNs know how to advocate for the needs of the community appropriately, then the changes they stand for are felt within the same society. Therefore, advocacy and leadership skills are pivotal for political participati