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HEALTH & JUSTICE IN THE NEWS
Date: April 23, 2018
TASC in the News
Senate Panel OKs Bill to Help Police, Towns Fight Opioid Crisis
Rockford Patch, 4/19/18
The "Community-Law Enforcement Partnership for Deflection and Substance Use Disorder Treatment Act," which is sponsored by State Senator Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) and State Senator Tim Bivins (R-Dixon), outlines a "roadmap" for police, substance use treatment providers, and community members to guide the development of deflection programs in their communities, according to one of the bill's chief proponents. "Traditionally, local police have had two choices when faced with someone who they believe may have a substance use disorder-to arrest or to not arrest," said Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) President Pamela Rodriguez. "With the opioid crisis raging across the state, deflection provides a third option, to connect people with community-based substance use treatment services that address their underlying substance use problems. This bill lays out a roadmap to municipalities, offering guidance, program features, and a range of options."
Around the Nation
April 2018: National Prescription Drug Take Back Day
Drug Enforcement Agency
The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day addresses a crucial public safety and public health issue. According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.4 million Americans misused controlled prescription drugs. The study shows that a majority of those prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet. The DEA's Take Back Day events provide an opportunity for Americans to prevent drug addiction and overdose deaths. Click to find a collection site near you.
Jared Kushner, Van Jones and Grover Norquist lobby bipartisan caucus on prison reform
USA Today, 4/18/18
At the request of White House, the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus heard a pitch for a prison reform bill on Wednesday from the unlikely trio of Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, former Obama administration official and CNN commentator Van Jones, and anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist. "This was not an issue we had been working on as a caucus," said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., the co-chairman of the caucus, which requires any member wishing to join to bring along a colleague from the opposite party. "They asked to speak to us as a bipartisan group to see if we'd be interested." Wednesday's conversation, which happened behind closed doors, focused on the Prison Reform and Redemption Act, sponsored by Reps. Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. The bill would require the federal prison system to evaluate individuals after sentencing and provide services to help them avoid repeat offenses, including drug treatment, job training and mental health counseling.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/04/18/jared-kushner-van-jones-and-grover-norquist-lobby-bipartisan-caucus-prison-reform/528899002/
Google unveils vetting process for drug rehab ads
Reuters, 4/16/18
Google told Reuters Monday it would resume accepting ads from U.S. addiction treatment centers in July, nearly a year after the Alphabet Inc. unit suspended the lucrative category of advertisers for numerous deceptive and misleading ads. Treatment centers now will be able to run ads after being vetted by Portland, Ore. firm LegitScript, Google said. Interest in treatment for opioid use disorders has soared in recent years amid what authorities have described as a nationwide epidemic. Scammers found that Google ads were an easy way to defraud treatment-seekers in an industry in which regulations vary greatly by jurisdiction, authorities and patient advocacy organizations have said. Google suspended alcohol and drug treatment advertising on search pages and millions of third-party apps and websites in the U.S. in September, the week after tech publication The Verge posted a lengthy story about scams. Google expanded the prohibition globally in January. LegitScript will now evaluate treatment providers on 15 criteria, including criminal background checks and license and insurance verification. They must also provide "written policies and procedures demonstrating a commitment to best practices, effective recovery and continuous improvement," according to LegitScript, which will charge $995 upfront and then $1,995 annually for vetting.
Around Illinois
Illinois receives $16M federal grant to fight opioid epidemic
The Southern Illinoisan | AP, 4/21/18
Illinois is receiving a $16 million federal grant to fight opioid addiction. Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration announced the grant Friday. The Illinois Department of Human Services will administer it to fight a scourge that claimed 2,000 lives in Illinois last year. It's the second consecutive year Illinois has received funding from the 21st Century Cures Act. Officials say the grant will provide new treatment and recovery services and expand medication-assisted treatment for those with opioid-use disorder. It will boost the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program and enhance programs to assist people released from county jails. The grant will also provide continued training for first responders who often save lives by treating overdose victims quickly.
Group donates billboards to raise awareness for Illinois Opioid Helpline
Illinois News Network, 4/22/18
Illinois' new Helpline for Opioids and Other Substances is getting some free publicity. The Outdoor Advertising Association of Illinois announced it is donating 100 billboards around the state to spread the word about the hotline. The billboards will be spread across the state and along toll roads, with several of them being strategically placed in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Public Health. "More than 2,200 people have already reached out to the Helpline to get connected with tools that help them or a loved one overcome substance use disorder," Gov. Bruce Rauner said. "This generous donation will help get the word out so people know they don't have to fight the battle alone." The hotline is aimed at stemming the growing number of drug overdoses and deaths from heroin and other opioids. IDPH numbers show nearly 2,000 people died in Illinois in 2016 from opioid overdoses. The agency also estimates that more than a quarter million Illinois residents who need help with drug addiction aren't getting it. To reach the helpline, call 1-833-2FINDHELP.
Courts and state made Peoria County Jail a top mental health center
Peoria Journal Star, 4/22/18
Staff at the Peoria County Jail asks everyone being booked into the jail about health, both physical and mental, during the same booking process that includes mug shots and fingerprints. Mental health histories, as well as intentions for self-harm, form part of an intake survey that provides correctional officers with a rudimentary picture of an individual's overall well-being. The tabulation also constitutes the first step in a protocol that aims to treat mental illness behind bars and beyond the barbed-wire fence once people are released. The process may seem simple, but the implementation of those questions and even the primary duties of the employees who ask them took decades to reach the current state. "This jail has become the largest mental health institution in the area," said Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell. "Today, I'm happy to say we have a mental health professional here every day, because treatable mental illness is one of the major causations of crime in our community."
New program will help pregnant women who are addicted to opioids
Belleville News-Democrat, 4/20/18
In the past, metro-east expectant mothers with opioid addictions seeking treatment would have to travel across the state. With a new grant, health care providers in Belleville are helping to change that. The program pulls together St. Louis and metro-east resources to provide long-term treatment for expectant mothers in the metro-east who are addicted to opioids. Jim Wallis, corporate director of business development at Chestnut Health Systems in Belleville, said the grant is especially important because it crosses the Missouri/Illinois state divide to help treat women. "What it does is puts together resources that are a safety net for clients in need, whether they're Illinois or Missouri residents," Wallis said. "Drugs and alcohol affect both sides of the river." There are no centers in the metro-east that offer long-term housing for women seeking treatment for addictions. However, the program, which uses federal money, will help women in Illinois access services across the river so they no longer have to travel to Chicago for treatment.
Evanston Mental Health & Wellness Fair
Evanston Now, 4/20/18
Community members and healthcare professionals who are interested in learning more about mental and behavioral health will have the opportunity to discover resources and services available at the inaugural North Shore Mental Health and Wellness Fair at Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., on Saturday, April 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. The free Mental Health and Wellness Fair will host exhibits and resources from more than 25 mental healthcare organizations and practitioners aiding children through seniors. Information will be available about accessing clinical, legal, financial, housing, and holistic assistance. Free on-site screenings will be available for depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. Participants will be able to meet a variety of clinicians, practitioners, and organizations supporting those with mental health needs.
Research, Reports, and Studies
Understanding Short-Term Limited Duration Health Insurance
Kaiser Family Foundation, 4/23/18
Late last year, Congress repealed the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate penalty, the requirement that individuals have minimum essential health coverage or face a tax penalty. Starting in 2019, the tax penalty will be reduced to $0. It is possible this change could lead more consumers to consider purchasing short-term policies. In addition, late last year, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to take steps to expand the availability of short-term health insurance policies, and a proposed regulation to increase the maximum coverage term under such policies was published in February. This brief provides background information on short-term policies and how they differ from ACA-compliant health plans.
United Toward Justice: Urban and Rural Communities Share Concerns about Incarceration, Fairness of the Justice System, and Public Spending Priorities Headline
Vera Institute of Justice, 4/19/18
New polling conducted for Vera by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQR) shows that a 67 percent majority overall agree that "building more jails and prisons to keep more people in jail does not reduce crime," including 61 percent of rural Americans. What's more, neither people in rural nor urban areas across America consider crime a major problem: only 27 percent of people living in rural areas cite it as a major problem in their communities, as compared to 26 percent overall. And people in communities of all sizes appear disinterested in spending limited taxpayer resources on prisons and jails. Building prisons and jails ranks a distant last (35 percent) as a strategy to improve quality of life-trailing behind measures such as providing more jobs and job training (91 percent); investing more in schools and youth programs (88 percent); providing more community-based mental health treatment (86 percent) and drug and alcohol treatment (83 percent); and emphasizing community-based violence reduction programs (78 percent).
In the throes of an opioid crisis, prescriptions fell dramatically last year
STAT, 4/19/18
The U.S. may be gripped by an opioid crisis, but a new report suggests the various measures undertaken to fight the scourge is having an effect - fewer prescriptions were written for the addictive painkillers. To wit, opioid prescriptions declined by 10.2 percent in 2017 and prescriptions for the highest doses fell by 16.1 percent last year, and 33.1 percent since January 2016. Moreover, on average, prescription opioid volume has decreased every year over the past five years in all 50 states, according to data from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, which is part of the IQVIA market research firm. At the same time, IQVIA found, there appears to be a corresponding increase in new treatment starts for medication-assisted therapies for opioid use dependence, nearly doubling from 44,000 to 82,000 per month.
Responding to Individuals Experiencing Mental Health Crises: Police-Involved Programs
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 4/2/18
As many as 10 percent of police contacts involve individuals with mental health conditions. A growing number of police and sheriff's departments have implemented specialized responses to mental health crisis incidents, including crisis intervention teams. Research indicates departments offering specialized responses show greater officer knowledge of mental health conditions and more positive police attitudes toward individuals with mental health conditions. This article examines specialized mental health responses with an emphasis on practices in Illinois and offers implications for future research and practice.
Youth
Opioid deaths prompt Ohio to reimagine classroom lessons, starting with kindergarten
The Washington Post, 4/22/18
Ohio, a state where 4,329 people died of drug overdoses in 2016, a death rate second only to neighboring West Virginia, is taking the fight against the opioid epidemic into the classroom with a new style of drug-abuse-prevention education. Ohio's plan, controversial in a state that prizes local control over schools, features lessons that begin in kindergarten. Instead of relying on scare tactics about drug use or campaigns that recite facts about drugs' toll on the body, teachers are encouraged to discuss real-life situations and ways to deal with them and to build the social and emotional skills that experts say can reduce the risk of substance use and addiction.
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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