New act is first step toward US opioid abuse recovery | Charleston Gazette Mail

The nationwide opioid abuse epidemic has hit West Virginia harder than it has any other state in our country. Drug overdose deaths in the Mountain State have soared by 700 percent since 1999. In 2015 alone, we lost 600 West Virginians to opioid abuse.

But West Virginia is not the only state suffering; prescription drug abuse continues to tear apart families and communities across the country. Fifty-one Americans die every day from opioid abuse, totaling a loss of nearly 200,000 of our loved ones to opioid abuse since 1999.

Yet the opioid abuse epidemic is not a helpless cause; lawmakers at the local, state and federal level can make a difference in saving the lives of those suffering from addiction. Since my days as Governor, I have never stopped fighting for initiatives to stem the tide of opioid abuse. This is why I spearheaded the rescheduling of dangerous hydrocodone combination drugs, opposed the confirmation of Dr. Robert Califf as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, and am fighting for the implementation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) opioid prescribing guidelines.

I am proud to support the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015 (CARA), bipartisan legislation that is a necessary first step toward addressing the national opioid crisis. The Senate’s work on CARA demonstrates how this body is supposed to work and I am pleased the Senate is taking this first step to address this epidemic.

CARA authorizes $77.9 million in grant funding for a variety of prevention and recovery efforts that address the multifaceted nature of this epidemic. These initiatives include the expansion of prevention and educational efforts — particularly those aimed at teens, parents and other caretakers, and aging populations — to prevent abuse of opioids and heroin as well as for treatment and recovery. CARA would also expand the availability of naloxone to law enforcement agencies and other first responders to assist in the reversal of overdoses to save lives. Another CARA initiative would expand disposal sites for unwanted prescription medications to keep them out of the hands of children and adolescents. The act would also strengthen prescription drug monitoring programs to help states track prescription drug diversion as well as launch an evidence-based opioid and heroin treatment and intervention program to expand best practices throughout the country.

CARA is a solid start in launching a broad effort to combat our nation’s opioid epidemic, yet additional steps must be taken to ensure that the federal government’s approach to this tragic trend is sufficiently comprehensive. In order to ensure that CARA is as effective as possible, I am introducing a number of amendments to improve the bill.

First and foremost, the FDA must be held accountable for addressing this devastating crisis. I am introducing an amendment that would update the FDA’s mission statement to include language requiring the agency to take into account the public health impact of the nation’s opioid epidemic when approving and regulating opioid medications. This change builds upon the FDA’s recently stated goal of fundamentally re-examining the risk-benefit calculation for opioids and ensuring that the agency consider wider public health effects.

We must also ensure that our advocacy groups that fight this battle every day have the resources they need to succeed. I have therefore introduced another amendment to establish consumer education grants through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to raise awareness of addiction and overdose.

Lastly, this epidemic is one that needs to be fought on all fronts, but most importantly, we need to fight it on the front lines with the prescribers. Until we ensure that every prescriber has a strong understanding of safe opioid prescribing practices and the very great risks of opioid addiction, abuse and overdose death, we will continue to see too many people prescribed too many of these dangerous drugs. My third amendment to CARA would require that medical practitioners receive training on the safe prescribing of opioids prior to receiving or renewing their Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration to prescribe controlled substances. Smarter prescribing practices can curb the opioid crisis at its root.

As a longtime advocate for efforts to combat the nation’s prescription drug abuse epidemic, I am pleased that the U.S. Senate is not only addressing this important issue but also doing so in a bipartisan manner. As the Senate continues its consideration of CARA, I believe we should have an open amendment process in order to strengthen this legislation and to ensure it’s as comprehensive as possible.

CARA is a powerful bill that will be made even stronger by my amendments, but the work does not stop here. We must continue to champion initiatives at all levels of government to rein in this epidemic and halt the senseless loss of lives that has resulted from it. For a safer, healthier West Virginia and United States of America, we need to act now and pass CARA.

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