New US law stymies efforts to control opioids

Congresswoman Judy Chu, a California Democrat, co-sponsored a bill in the U.S. House that met no significant opposition in either her chamber or the U.S. Senate. The new law makes it harder for the government to go after pharmaceutical companies and drug stores that do not report suspicious orders of opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, powerful painkillers.

Before this law, the Drug Enforcement Administration could shut down companies and doctors if the agency determined there was an “imminent danger” to the public. Now, the standard is higher, defining the danger as “substantial likelihood of an immediate threat” of death. And those companies that stand accused of failing to report suspiciously large orders of the drugs now can can submit a “corrective action plan” and avoid punishment by the DEA.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the top DEA administrator for the regulation of pharmaceutical companies resigned last fall in protest of the bill.

Chu, by the way, has gotten more than $31,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. She had no comment for the Times.

This is an appalling bow to the powerful pharmaceutical industry, with billions of dollars at stake and millions to spend on powerful lobbyists. And it could not have come at a worse time.

Opioid abuse is a public health menace. Nearly 200,000 people have died since 1999 from overdoses involving opioid painkillers. In North Carolina, the figure is 1,000 deaths – each year. And state health officials report that is a more than 300 percent increase. Abuse of the drugs has, The Times reports, been linked to a destructive and deadly surge in heroin use.

The new law means that alarms sound for companies only after the DEA makes accusations. What should happen, of course, is the creation of a regulatory system offering severe punishments for companies that don’t closely monitor, and regularly report, suspicious orders – unusually large ones, for example.

The fact that there is a serious black market for opioids is a tremendous problem.

The companies that manufacture them aren’t being asked to go out of business; they’re being told to be responsible to the public and to do their duty. That isn’t too much to ask. Congress should revisit this unfortunate and irresponsible law as soon as possible.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 7:18 PM with the headline "New US law stymies efforts to control opioids."