30 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JANUARY 2019
PENDING LEGISLATION
POLS EYE EPIDEMIC
The Drug Take Back Act, a new
law taking effect January 6, aims
to reduce opioid abuse, while at the
same time prevent the contamination
of our waterways.
The law requires large chain
pharmacies to take back and properly
dispose of unused and expired
prescription medications for free.
Studies show that up to 70 percent
of teenagers who abuse prescription
drugs get them from their parents’
medicine cabinets. The law would
encourage proper disposal rather
than flushing unwanted meds down
the toilet into the water system.
“This initiative will improve
both the environmental health and
the physical health of all New York
citizens,” said ex-state Sen. Kemp
Hannon (R-Garden City), who proposed
the legislation before losing
his seat in November.
From 2010 to 2015, the number
of deaths in New York State from
drug overdose and chronic drug
abuse increased by 71 percent. More
Americans died from opioid addiction
in 2016 than the total number of
Americans who died during the entire
Vietnam War. Nationally, there
are roughly 2.5 million Americans
addicted to opioids.
Several bills which contain tools
to fight the opioid epidemic are
expected to be reintroduced into
the 2019 New York State legislative
session.
One is the Senate’s version of the
Medication-Assisted Treatment Bill,
which would require the state’s 54
jails to provide substance abuse
treatment to an overwhelming majority
of inmates who are opiate-addicted.
Jails would be mandated to
offer addiction medications that
curb opioid cravings such as injectable
Vivitrol or daily doses of
methadone, along with counseling
and behavioral services. The bill
was introduced in the state Assembly
last November and in the Senate
in June.
“Given that the state Legislature is
likely to tackle issues relating to jail
reform in 2019, I believe it will be an
excellent opportunity to highlight
the Medication-Assisted Treatment
Bill,” says state Sen. Phil Boyle (R-Bay
Shore).
Boyle said funding for the program
has been included in the 2018-
2019 state budget, with $200,000
each for Nassau and Suffolk jails.
In all, the State Senate Task Force
on Heroin and Opioid addiction
secured $247 million in this year’s
budget for related programs including
hundreds more residential
substance abuse treatment beds
throughout the state.
Another package of bills was introduced
by state Assemb. Linda Rosenthal
(D-Manhattan), who chairs the
Assembly Committee on Alcoholism
and Drug Abuse. One would establish
a one-cent per milligram surcharge
on opioid prescriptions to fund
statewide drug addiction prevention,
treatment, and recovery programs.
Opioids for Medication Assisted
Treatment, cancer and hospice care
would be exempt.
Other Rosenthal bills, introduced
between January and May,
THE
OPIOID
CRISIS
would require organizations to
have Narcan (or Naloxone) — the
antidote to a fatal opioid overdose
— on site, and to have staff trained
to administer the lifesaving medication.
These include state offices
with at least 10 employees, homeless
shelters, and handlers of K9
detection dogs.
Another bill would require controlled
substance prescribers to
receive education regarding safe
opioid prescribing. Most experts
would agree that the current opioid
epidemic was started from the
over-prescription of addictive pain
medication. This bill would amend
the education law by requiring the
state to create a curriculum to be
offered in colleges or by providers
approved by licensing boards by August
1, 2019 to include information
on pain management, alternatives
to opioid pain medications, identification
of patients who are at risk for
addiction, and training on managing
substance use disorders as chronic
diseases.
Senate Republicans also left some
relevant bills pending. Those would
limit the initial prescription of a
controlled substance prescribed
for acute pain from seven to three
days, and require practitioners to
obtain written parental consent before
prescribing opioids to minors.
Finally, a bill sponsored by state
Sen. Neil Breslin (D-Bethlehem) in
January 2017, would increase the
penalty for the sale of an opioid
which leads to someone’s death to
manslaughter in the first degree.
The felony Class B carries a sentence
of up to 25 years. Currently, the penalty
for selling drugs varies from a
Class A to a Class D felony sale, depending
on the weight. There’s no
additional penalty if the drug causes
a death.
“While I strongly support an
increase in criminal penalties on
drug dealers who cause deaths by
peddling their poisons in our communities,
I think passage of this bill
(manslaughter charge) is highly
unlikely in a Senate and Assembly
controlled by New York City-based
Democrats,” says Boyle.
PRESS HEALTH
State lawmakers are taking a fresh look at ways to combat the opioid crisis. (Getty)
BY EDEN LAIKIN AND PATRICK MCINTYRE
"Several bills which contain tools to fight the
opioid epidemic are expected to be reintroduced
into the 2019 New York State legislative session."
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
