Lawmakers in Massachusetts continue to spearhead an operation against the opioid epidemic devastating major cities and small towns across the nation. Massachusetts is a state that has felt the overwhelming effects of this crisis, a scourge unprecedented in our times. Lead by U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III and U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed two bills devised to combat the insidious effects of opioid abuse, the Boston Herald reports. Kennedy said the unanimous support “speaks to the breadth and depth of the opiate abuse epidemic.”
The bill that Kennedy co-sponsored reinstates federal funding to states prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs). Monitoring programs deter “doctor shoppers,” people who go to multiple doctors every month for the same types of prescriptions. While PDMPs exist in 49 states, the need for a nationwide system is necessary. The funding will also be used for drug screening and substance use disorder treatment, according to the article.
There are few people in this country who have been spared the heartbreak of watching a loved one, neighbor or friend fall victim to opiate addiction,” said Kennedy. “It’s an epidemic striking red states and blue states, small towns and big cities, neighborhoods rich and poor.”
Clark’s bill, if passed by the Senate, creates uniform standards for diagnosing and treating neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). The syndrome occurs when fetuses are exposed to opioids, after birth they experience withdrawal symptoms which require extra medical care. The bill would become the first law to address newborns exposed to opioid use, the article reports.
Right now there is no standard for treatment with NAS,” Clark told the Herald. “This problem leads to long stays in the NICU and hundreds of millions in Medicaid dollars.”
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If you or a loved one suffers from opioid addiction, please contact Pace Recovery Center.
