PROVIDENCE, RI – In an effort to prevent heroin and prescription drug addiction from cutting short more lives in Rhode Island and nationwide, U.S. Senator Jack Reed is working to increase resources for Rhode Island and expand access to life-saving treatment for those in need.

“Whether it is helping an individual recover from addiction or helping entire communities overcome this opiate epidemic, they both require a multi-faceted, sustained approach.  It also takes a real investment in resources.  That is why I am working at the federal level to deliver additional funding to help communities across Rhode Island reduce abuse of opioids and prescription drugs.  We need to improve addiction recovery outcomes and ensure people who need help have access to life saving treatments,” said Reed.  “No community is immune to this problem and we have to overcome barriers to treatment."

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report showing that drug overdose-induced deaths reached a record high last year, with 47,000 Americans lives being cut short.  In Rhode Island, 241 people died from overdoses last year, an increase from 232 fatal overdoses in 2013, according to the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Senator Reed, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, helped include a provision to provide $7 million to fund anti-heroin task forces within the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.  Rhode Island may compete for competitive grants from this pot of funding for improving drug prevention strategies, including investigations and activities related to stopping the distribution of heroin or unlawful diversion and distribution of prescription opioids.  The bill also provides $12 million in funding for residential drug treatment, $13 million for prescription drug monitoring, and $42 million for drug courts and the CDC’s state-based anti-drug program.

“We need coordinated action to save lives and help people struggling with addiction to heroin and drugs.  This federal funding will strengthen programs that provide needed services to Rhode Islanders struggling with substance abuse and help the state develop more effective approaches to treatment and prevention,” said Reed, who supported efforts to ensure Rhode Island is eligible for additional federal funding through the CDC’s Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention for States program.  This program will invest a total of up to $20 million in 16 eligible states around the country, giving them additional resources and expertise to help prevent overdose deaths related to prescription opioids.  The other states who may apply for a share of the federal funding include: Arizona, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.  Federal grants through the program will be distributed during the next four years and Rhode Island is projected to receive about $940,000 annually.

Just this week, Brown University’s medical school and Rhode Island Hospital were awarded $916,851 and $788,403 respectively to integrate extensive training in substance abuse screening and intervention into the curriculum to help future doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and social workers better address opioid addiction and overdose.  The federal funds were awarded through the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

According to the Naloxone and Overdose Prevention Education Program of Rhode Island (NOPE-RI), Rhode Island has the 7th highest fatal overdose rate in the nation and overdoses cost the state $280 million last year.

Reed is also urging Congress to focus on the issue and hold votes when they return in the new year on measures like the Overdose Prevention Act, which Reed authored to help decrease the rate of drug overdose deaths by improving access to naloxone.  The bill would also encourage the implementation of overdose prevention programs, improve surveillance of overdose occurrences, and establish a coordinated federal plan of action to address the epidemic.  He is also backing a vote on the bipartisan Treatment and Recovery Investment Act, which could increase funding for states so they can better assist individuals with substance use disorders.  The legislation is designed to expand the ability of addiction medicine specialists and other clinicians to prescribe life-saving medication to patients struggling with addiction to heroin and other opioids.  The bill will expand access to medications that have been proven effective at treating opioid addiction by increasing the number of patients a provider is initially allowed to treat from 30 to 100 patients per year, and removing the patient cap entirely after one year for qualified physicians.  Specifically, the bill allows nurse practitioners and physician assistants to treat up to 100 patients per year as long as they are licensed in a state that already allows them to prescribe controlled substances, complete approved training on opioid addiction treatment and are supervised by a physician or work with a physician who is also approved to prescribe opioid addiction medication.

In addition to immediately expanding access to treatment for patients suffering from heroin and opioid addiction, the legislation also requires the GAO to examine changes in treatment availability, the quality of treatment programs, integration with routine healthcare services, prevalence of diversion, the impact on the state-policies and legislation and the use of nurse practitioner and physician’s assistant prescribers.

Rhode Islanders struggling with drug abuse may call United Way’s 2-1-1 hotline to connect with help and recovery services.

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