BOSTON – The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday unveiled a bill aimed at addressing substance abuse problems, particularly opioid abuse, in the state.
“We need to break the cycle of addiction before it breaks us,” Senate President Therese Murray, a Plymouth Democrat, told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, according to her prepared remarks.
In March Gov. Deval Patrick declared a public health emergency in response to the state’s growing epidemic of heroin overdoses and opioid addiction.
The order allowed first
responders to carry the overdose drug naloxone — more commonly known by
the brand name Narcan — and made the drug more easily available by prescription to friends and family members of people battling addiction.
According to state police, nearly 200 overdose deaths were recorded from November to mid-April in the state. The problem has spread from urban areas to rural communities.
One part of the Senate bill requires a commission to come up with a list of drugs that can be substituted for opiates and that have abuse deterrent properties. For example, a drug can be manufactured in a way that it is not easily crushed or dissolved, so it cannot be snorted or injected. Pharmacists would then be required to dispense the safer drugs, unless instructed otherwise by a doctor, and insurers would be required to cover those drugs in the same way they would cover traditional opiates.
The bill would give the state’s Commission of Public Health the ability to regulate opiates, for example by limiting the number of pills that can be dispensed or by mandating that a physician review a patient’s prescription history.
The bill would also strengthen the state’s existing prescription drug monitoring program and would mandate that doctors receive training on the program and consult the program’s records when prescribing a controlled substance.
The bill would also remove some insurance barriers that make it harder to receive treatment for substance abuse and would provide for additional study of effective treatments for substance abuse.
Murray said the average age of addicts in Massachusetts is 15 to 25 years old. Just in March, the state was aware of 125 infants born to mothers who used drugs during their pregnancies.
The bill is the result of a Special Committee on Drug Abuse and Treatment Options that was created by the Legislature in January and led by state Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, a Leominster Democrat. The Senate plans to vote on the bill on Tuesday.
Senator Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, in a statement, called the measure “a great starting point and a wonderful opportunity to begin the process of exchanging ideas to best combat this major issue troubling our society.” Tarr did not specify what Republicans hope to change about the bill. But he appeared to support the idea behind it.
“It is vital that Massachusetts does not stand idly by as families deteriorate and continue to suffer, and it is time that the legislature puts in place the tools necessary to seriously combat this issue in an effective and responsible fashion,” Tarr said.