A good start on stopping opioid abuse

North Carolina, like much of the nation, was slow to recognize the scale and danger of the rising abuse of opioids. But in recent weeks the state has made a strong and united push to fight the epidemic.

It comes as three people a day are dying of an opioid overdose in North Carolina. It’s estimated that 1,200 people died in 2016, nearly twice the number who died because of overdose in 2013. Several thousand people were hospitalized last year because of an overdose, and more than 12,000 people received the emergency drug naloxone to reverse the effects of an overdose. The rising availability of cheap heroin and highly potent synthetic drugs such as fentanyl is making the epidemic even more dangerous and deadly.

“We are in crisis mode with opioid addiction,” Gov. Roy Cooper said at the North Carolina Opioid Summit held June 27 in Raleigh.

In response, the legislature recently approved the STOP Act. The new law will reduce the number of prescription pain pills doctors give to first-time patients and cut the supply of unused pain pills in medicine cabinets. The law also requires doctors to consult a statewide database to track prescriptions. That will make it harder for people to “doctor shop” or obtain multiple pain pill prescriptions.

Meanwhile, Cooper has presented an extensive plan to reduce opioid abuse statewide. The plan calls for a coordinated efforts at all levels of government with an emphasis on adjusting the plan as circumstances and new challenges emerge. The plan includes provisions of the STOP act and calls for raising community awareness of the crisis and increasing the availability of naloxone. The plan also advocates diverting users who commit minor crimes into treatment instead of jail and urges doctors to refer pregnant users into treatment.

“Our goal is preventing overdose deaths and also reducing addiction and substance abuse,” Cooper said.

These are sound steps by the legislature and the governor, but ultimately it will require more funding for treatment and recovery. On that front, the outlook is discouraging. The health care reform bills proposed in Congress would reduce funds for treating opioid abuse by cutting Medicaid and depriving millions of people of health insurance.

Cooper, a member of President Donald Trump’s new Commission To Fight Opioid Abuse, said he told members of the commission that access to health care is a fundamental part of fighting the problem. “I said at the very first meeting that we are kidding ourselves if we don’t think what’s going on in Congress right now with health care and the taking away of health insurance coverage from millions of people is not going to hurt our battle against the opioid crisis,” he said.

North Carolina Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis should listen closely to what North Carolina is reporting and requesting regarding the opioid crisis. A response has been launched at the state level, but only a full commitment from the federal level can begin to bend the terrible trend lines of death, injury and family pain that are rising around the nation because of opioid abuse.

This story was originally published July 9, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "A good start on stopping opioid abuse."