Letter to the Editor: Step Forward in Battle Against Opioids

From State Rep. Paul Brodeur:

The terrible effect opioid addiction has had on our community is well known. Perhaps you have had read the many articles on this topic published in these pages over the past several months. Just as likely, you have experienced this epidemic firsthand, witnessing how drug addiction can ruin lives and destroy families.

Every day in our Commonwealth, four people pass away from their substance abuse disorder. Well over one thousand residents died last year alone. We are talking about our friends and neighbors both young and old from all communities and backgrounds who have succumbed to addiction and passed away as the result of an overdose.

I was proud to stand with my colleagues in the legislature, police and EMT professionals, teachers, recovering addicts, and parents who have lost their children to this scourge as I watched Governor Baker sign a comprehensive bill into law. I am particularly proud of the bipartisan nature of this landmark new law that I believe will serve as a model for other states as they confront opiate abuse. This piece of legislation addresses many stages and causes of addiction, and is the result of careful and creative teamwork among stakeholders spanning the Commonwealth.

Here’s how it works:

Education:

The importance of education and driving home the message to students that these drugs ruin lives was a clear objective from the start of our conversations. This bill updates education standards by mandating that every school in Massachusetts maintain a substance abuse education program which will be reviewed and augmented by state agencies. Further, schools shall conduct verbal screenings of students in at least two grade levels in order to determine current use habits or risky behavior which could lead to using. Provisions are in place for parents to be able to opt their child out of these screenings, and districts which have their own screening process in place will be allowed to continue to use that program. Finally, the new law expands education efforts in school athletics and drivers education programs.

Prevention:

The majority of heroin users begin with abusing prescription pain killers. This law seeks to prevent this pattern by limiting first-time opiate prescriptions to a maximum of seven days for adults and all opiate prescriptions for children will be limited to a seven day supply. Patients were sometimes given prescriptions which could cover several weeks’ worth of pills. Exemptions from this provision are available for chronic pain management, cancer, and palliative care treatments. Additionally, prescribers are now required to consult the prescription monitoring program before issuing a prescription for opiate pain medication and indicate their prescription in the patient’s records. This will help to stem the tide of abusers going doctor shopping to find another source for addictive pills.

The legislation also empowers individuals to have control over opiate prescriptions by creating a non- opiate directive form. This form, filled out by the patient, enables individuals to indicate in public health records that they should not be prescribed opiates, but if necessary, will be administered on a minimal basis under medical supervision. Individuals will also now have the option of a “partial fill” of their prescription, allowing them to receive a smaller prescription than the one recommended by their medical care provider.

Part of getting pills and heroin off our streets is getting unused pills out of our medicine cabinets. The bill mandates that pharmaceutical companies participate financially in creating drug stewardship plans (pill drop offs) so that individuals have clear and easy methods of disposing of unused medication. Additionally, new training guidelines are included in the legislation for all prescribers of controlled substances.

Getting Treatment:

Finding treatment facilities that fit with a substance abuser’s goals and personality and then determining what kind of insurance each facility will take is a dizzying process that takes away precious time from a user who may only have a small window of will power to enter a program. This new law requires that insurance information is clearly displayed on the online bed-finder tool, which the law requires be available now 24 hours a day.

Upon discharge from a treatment facility, medical providers are now required under the law to provide information to patients regarding FDA regulated medication assisted addiction therapies. The law also offers new civil liability protections to individuals who administer the lifesaving drug Narcan to users suffering from an overdose.

On the local level, we have tremendous and dedicated organizations which dedicate themselves to working on this broad problem at every level. From District Attorney Marian Ryan’s Middlesex County Substance Abuse Task Force, to our local community based substance abuse coalitions, to high school clubs and treatment programs, hundreds of professionals, recovering addicts, members of law enforcement, policy makers, and citizens are coming together to combat this epidemic.

While passage of this law is a major achievement, it is not enough, but it is an important step in the continuing work we must do to end this cycle of substance use disorder. I will continue to work diligently on this issue both in the State House and in the communities of Melrose, Wakefield, and Malden.

Options now exist for those who suffer from addiction, and we must continue the progress in ending the stigma around this issue. Too many have died, and too many loved ones have suffered. We will continue to work together to build on the tremendous progress we have achieved to keep our kids and our community safe.