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HEALTH & JUSTICE IN THE NEWS
Date: July 28, 2016
Around the Nation
Obama Signs Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act
Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, 7/26/16
President Obama on Friday signed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), which aims to combat opioid addiction. He said the measure does not provide adequate funding, The Hill reports. "This legislation includes some modest steps to address the opioid epidemic," Obama said in a statement. "Given the scope of this crisis, some action is better than none," said the president. However, Obama expressed his disappointment with a lack of funding.
Both Party Conventions Highlight Opioid Epidemic
Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, 7/27/16
The opioid epidemic has been a featured issue at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, an indication of the issue's increasing significance in both parties, The Washington Post reports.
46 governors sign on to opioid 'compact'
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Weekly, 7/25/16
Forty-six governors have signed on to a remarkable agreement to fight the opioid epidemic with prevention and treatment, including treatment with medications and harm reduction measures such as access to naloxone. The National Governors Association (NGA) released the "Compact to Fight Opioid Addiction" on July 13. The compact came about as a result of a resolution passed at the NGA's winter meeting, which focused on opioid prescribing guidelines and the need for collective guidelines. There are some controversial provisions. For example, the compact calls for opioid prescribers and dispensers - which includes opioid treatment programs (OTPs) - to input information about their patients into prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs). Federal confidentiality law does not allow this without patient consent, and OTPs have been told by the federal government not to do it. However, the state attorneys general have asked the federal government to make an exception for OTPs.
Naloxone Saves Lives, Doesn't Cure Heroin Addiction
The New York Times, 7/27/16
Every day across the country, hundreds, if not thousands, of people who overdose on opioids are being revived with naloxone. Hailed as a miracle drug by many, it carries no health risk; it cannot be abused and, if given mistakenly to someone who has not overdosed on opioids, does no harm. More likely, it saves a life. Critics say that it gives drug users a safety net, allowing them to take more risks as they seek higher highs. Advocates argue that the drug gives people a chance to get into treatment and turn their lives around and that there is no evidence naloxone increases the use of opiates. Dr. Alexander Y. Walley, an addiction medicine specialist at Boston Medical Center, said arguing that naloxone encourages riskier drug use was like saying that seatbelts encourage riskier driving.
Stanford Medical School Takes Lead in Teaching Addiction Medicine
Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, 7/27/16
While most medical schools devote little time to teaching addiction medicine, Stanford is leading the way in taking a new approach, NPR reports. Stanford has announced addiction lectures will no longer be part of a psychiatry series, but will become a separate unit for doctors in all subspecialties. Training in addiction medicine will continue when students have clinical rotations.
A New Threat in Fight Against Overdoses: Elephant Sedative
The New York Times | AP, 7/28/16
A drug used to sedate elephants and other large animals, 100 times as potent as the fentanyl already escalating the country's heroin troubles, is suspected in spates of overdoses in several states, where authorities say they've found it mixed with or passed off as heroin. The appearance of carfentanil, one of the most potent opioids known to investigators, adds another twist to the fight against opioid painkillers in a country already awash in heroin and fentanyl cases.
Around Illinois
Kinzinger holds roundtable in Morris about new addiction law
Morris Herald-News, 7/27/16
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger met Wednesday morning with Grundy County officials to discuss the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act signed into law last week by President Barack Obama. CARA was created to address the nation's opioid addiction issues. The law includes a large number of treatment and prevention measures intended to address the opioid epidemic, including evidence-based interventions for the treatment of opioid and heroin addiction and prevention of overdose deaths. CARA supports the expansion of diversion programs such as drug court, which Grundy and Will counties already have. The goal is to address low-level drug law violations with evidence-based treatment and services rather than sending individuals to jail. Grundy County State's Attorney Jason Helland said the cost of the program is about $5,000 a person, rather than the $35,000 it costs to incarcerate someone.
Research, Reports, and Studies
Elderly Individuals with Opioid Addiction Find Barriers Getting Treatment
The Crime Report, 7/26/16
As the opioid addiction epidemic expands, older adults face mounting barriers to getting help for problems with alcohol and opioid painkillers, not the least of which is the scarcity of slots in treatment programs, reports Stateline. That's only if they seek help. Many older Americans are reluctant to ask for help due to shame, creating what addiction experts call a silent epidemic.
Persistence of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health Treatment a Result of Faulty Assumptions
American Journal of Managed Care, 7/16/16
Faulty assumptions about the best ways to address the needs of minority patients may be behind the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, say Massachusetts General Hospital researchers in a recent article in Health Affairs. Margarita AlegrÃa, PhD, professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Disparities Research Unit at the hospital, and colleagues said that despite good intentions and increased attention to racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare since the early 2000s, disparities in access to mental health and substance use continue to exist. This is the case even though the Affordable Care Act expanded access to behavioral healthcare, and despite decades of research that are being ignored by many reform initiatives. "Mistaken assumptions that underlie the expansion of behavioral health care run the risk of replicating existing service disparities," the study cautions
Youth
Sending Teens to Adult Court Doesn't Cut Recidivism: Study
The Crime Report, 7/27/16
Transferring juvenile offenders to adult court-a policy developed in the 1980s and 1990s as part of reforms aimed at "toughening" the justice system-has no "statistically significant effect on recidivism," according to a report published online today in Criminology & Public Policy, a journal of the American Society of Criminology.
Opinions, Editorials, and Commentary
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk: Fighting the heroin epidemic in Central Illinois
The State Journal-Register, 7/27/16
Opioid and heroin overdose has become an epidemic. In the Springfield area, there were over 500 heroin or opioid related deaths between 2010 and 2014. The fact that we are losing Illinois residents to heroin at such a drastic rate is unacceptable... The fight against heroin must be multi-faceted. Along with reducing over-prescription practices and expanding access to [medication assisted treatment], we must also provide resources to help those that have overdosed... Heroin-related overdose deaths increased nearly 500 percent between 2000 and 2014. Springfield has felt the pain of this epidemic, and I encourage local leaders to join me in the fight to protect future generations from the pain of heroin.
Health & Justice in the News
is a summary of recent news stories relating to criminal justice, mental health, addiction, recovery, and related issues. It is compiled and published by TASC each Monday and Thursday.
Some headlines and text have been altered by TASC for clarity or emphasis, or to minimize discriminatory or stigmatizing language. Opinions in the articles and op-eds do not necessarily express the views of TASC or our staff or partners.
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