Cocaine. Heroin. Crack. Methamphetamine. Sadly, each of these dangerous, illegal drugs has fueled national epidemics of addiction and overdoses over the past half-century in the United States.

But there is something especially insidious about the latest addition to this list: powerful painkillers such as OxyContin that are known together as “opioid” drugs. Unlike street drugs, these prescription drugs were once marketed as a breakthrough in treating pain, one with minimal risk of addiction. They have instead hooked legions of patients, who continue to seek out this high through doctor-shopping or buying on the street. Many misguidedly believe that opioids are safe because they are prescription drugs.

With more than 28,000 deaths nationally attributed to the abuse of opioid painkillers and street drugs, this epidemic has become a public health scourge. Thankfully, Congress has risen to the occasion with the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), a compassionate piece of legislation that nonetheless still requires an important follow-through: funding the programs the bill authorizes.

President Obama signed the legislation on Friday after it had cleared both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support. It will expand prevention efforts and access to treatment programs. In addition, it calls for allowing more first responders to carry a lifesaving drug that can halt overdoses. CARA also will help launch medical studies to improve treatments.

There’s a historic component to the bill’s passage that merits noting. Chemical dependency’s toll has long been underestimated by the medical mainstream. CARA’s passage is a milestone in acknowledging these disorders as the serious, potentially deadly conditions they are.

“This is a historic moment, the first time in decades that Congress has passed comprehensive addiction legislation, and the first time Congress has ever supported long-term addiction recovery,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a chief author of the bill, in a New York Times story. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, also has been a champion of the legislation.

There has been disagreement over how to fund CARA and how much funding is required. The just-passed bill calls for $181 million to combat the epidemic but leaves Congress to appropriate dollars later this year through the traditional budget process. However, election-year politics and lawmakers’ inability to hammer out compromises during less tense times raise serious concerns about the funding becoming a reality. During the bill’s finalization this month, Democrats sought $920 million in immediate funding.

Klobuchar has also introduced legislation to require providers to use prescription drug monitoring databases before approving patients’ use of powerful painkillers. Klobuchar’s bill would help prevent a patient from seeking out new doctors to fill new painkiller prescriptions and, thus, supply a users’ habit. The bill merits swift consideration and admirably indicates lawmakers’ ongoing commitment to fight opioid abuse.

 

— Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 22