Legislation Targets Opioid Epidemic in Region and Nation

Some recent federal legislation phasing in is aimed at helping law enforcement, emergency services, and medical practitioners stem the tide of opioid addiction that has impacted communities in Georgia and nationwide.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more Americans die from opioid overdoses than from car accidents. Additionally, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, one in five Americans has a family member who’s been addicted to prescription painkillers. Opioid drugs include opium, codeine, fentanyl, heroin, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, paregoric, sufentanil, and tramadol.
In 2016 almost 1,400 died of an opioid overdose statewide. Higher- profile deaths associated with this problem have included music celebs Tom Petty, Prince and Michael Jackson.In June, Washington lawmakers along with support from Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-14) followed up on the House passage of more than 30 bipartisan bills to fight the opioid crisis, and then, following that the House passed 10 additional bills combating the epidemic, said to kill more than 115 Americans every day. “The bipartisan bills we passed enhance prescription drug monitoring programs, provide grants to combat fentanyl and strengthen communities ravaged from the epidemic by improving access to federal resources,” said Rep. Graves.
Graves was the keynote speaker at Paulding County’s August Chamber of Commerce Luncheon and after his chamber presentation, he commented on recent legislation. He has noted that the northwest region has been one of the hardest hit by this problem. “If you look at the statistics and the families that have been impacted, northwest Georgia, our region, has been severely impacted negatively and so this is legislation, along with a lot of other pieces of legislation that we have passed to combat that problem and strengthen families,” Graves said. “Each month there’s an average of six times we use Narcan, a drug that counteracts the effects of a heroin or opioid overdose, for people who are suspected of a possible drug overdose,” said Karen Robinson, EMS operations manager for MAAS Paulding County. Ms. Robinson said that probably half of those treated aren’t using the drug recreationally, but rather became addicted to the drug from a prescription they were taking as a result of some surgery, injury or ailment.
Robinson feels the new legislation helps to spotlight the problem and as long it remains in focus, the situation can improve. “As long as we’re discussing it, fighting for it, I feel like it gets better, but then there are times when it goes stagnant, and we’re back in the same position,” she said. Some of the new bills put more stringent guidelines on monitoring Schedule II prescriptions and called for more information to be provided to hospitals regarding pain management to avoid opioid addiction. Georgia has been very proactive to address this problem with some other states and established the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).
Paulding County District Attorney Dick Donovan, who spoke by phone, recently met with other law enforcement agencies and state reps to discuss their major concerns. “A couple of months ago I met with the Secretary of State, the U.S. Attorney, and a lot of law enforcement agencies were represented, and we talked about what our major problems were and the opioid crises and gangs were the major topics; it’s what our drug task force is targeting right now because of the increased awareness,” Donovan said.
Donovan pointed out that unlike cocaine or some other drugs, anyone with a prescription can get opioids, which are both powerful and highly addictive. Rather than being a back-alley or sub-culture phenomenon; the increased access to these drugs has led to a lot of the current problem, he said.

Highlights of recent bills include:

• Allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to help medical professionals implement best practices for prescribing opioids to reduce the number of prescriptions;
• Requiring Medicaid providers to check the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program before prescribing Schedule II controlled substances;
• Directing prescription drug plans under Medicare Part D to provide information on the negative effects of overusing opioids;
• Allowing Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans to suspend potentially fraudulent payments to a provider or supplier pending an investigation;
• Requiring Medicare and Medicaid Services to publish guidance for hospitals on pain management and strategies to prevent opioid addiction for beneficiaries;
• Enhancing the Food and Drug Administration’s enforcement tools to ensure accurate and timely research about frequently administered opioids.