The 2018 Opioid Bill

opioid-overdose-Sackler-family-Perdue-Pharma-lobbyist

The United States Congress reconciled both House and Senate opioid bills aimed at reducing the deadly toll of the nation’s top health care crisis: the opioid epidemic.

In the SUPPORT For Patients and Communities Act, Republican and Democrat lawmakers came to a rare agreement between both parties. The drug overdose epidemic claimed 72,000 lives in 2017 alone and roughly two thirds of those deaths were from prescription and non-prescription opioids. The bill will now head to the Senate as the House of Representatives almost unanimously passed the bill in a rare, 393-8 vote. President Trump is expected to sign this legislation into law before the midterm elections.  This is a fairly large bill, that will cost the US billions of dollars but many argue that the bill doesn’t do enough to address the nation’s greatest public health issue. Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed a bill that would cost the US tax payer $100 billion over the next 10 years, as she argues this is what is really necessary to fully address the opioid crisis.

The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act takes a wide approach to the opioid epidemic from law enforcement, treatment and public health care measures.

We will talk about some of the major policy changes in the bill and the full-text of the bill is available here.

Trump-US-congress-opioid-bill-overdose-death-epidemic-Richard-Sackler
The 2018 SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act was passed by United States Congress and signed into law by President Trump.

One of the greatest achievements of the new bill is a provision to allow Medicaid recipients to seek care at addiction treatment centers. The restrictions on Medicaid funding for substance abuse treatment had been long outdated and congress finally addressed this problem. Allowing Medicaid to help fund up to 30 days of inpatient rehab stays, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is going to help a lot of people get the help they desperately need. The bill authorizes a grant program through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to help communities develop opioid recovery centers. While the bill does address the lack of funding for increased access to treatment programs, many addiction specialists argue the bill does not do enough in this regard. While noting that the bill is not itself bad as it does a lot to address a multitude of issues, it is severely lacking on access to treatment, which many believe is the most important technique that could help solve the opioid crisis.

Another provision in the bill lifts restrictions on medications used to treat opioid use disorder and other types of addiction. This measure simply allows more medical practitioners to prescribe medications such as buprenorphine, used to help ease withdrawal symptoms in addiction recovery. As it stands today only 5 percent of doctors are licensed to prescribe this life-saving drug. Another medication, naloxone was addressed in this bill. One provision allows first responders greater access to the life-saving opioid antagonist which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

The major law enforcement provision of the SUPPORT Act is aimed at the trafficking of drugs through the postal system. Fentanyl that is illegally imported from Mexico and China has been blamed for many of the opioid-related deaths in recent years. One package seized in Philadelphia last June contained 110 pounds of fentanyl, valued at $1.7 billion dollars. This was estimated to be enough of the dangerous substance to kill the entire population of the state of Pennsylvania two times over. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, so it is easy to smuggle large amounts of the substance through the mail system. This bill makes it harder for people to sneak illicit substances into the US from abroad. The bill will require packages coming in from foreign countries to reveal their contents and where and who they’re coming from. While the bill is broadly aimed at targeting illicit drug suppliers, it includes protection for individuals looking to import cheaper prescriptions from overseas. This was in direct opposition to pharmaceutical companies’ requests to include enforcement against importing cheaper prescriptions from other countries.

Richard-Sackler-opioid-overdose-deaths-oxycontin-Perdue-Pharma
The opioid epidemic kills nearly 200 Americans every single day.

While the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act does a lot to fight the opioid epidemic, there is still a lot of work to be done in the near future. The bill even authorizes research into opioid alternatives to pain management and penalizes drug manufacturers and distributors for overprescribing. A lot more could have been done to address the root causes of addiction and it should have offered greater access to outpatient treatment programs. However, while a lot of divisive partisan issues like funding were ignored in the bill, the Democrats and Republicans agreed on a lot of ‘second-tier’ issues that will definitely help save lives. Given the extreme divisiveness in American politics in the Trump era, this is a small political victory.  Thankfully, everyone finally seems to want to work together in fighting this urgent national health crisis.

U-47700: China Bans Four Synthetic Drugs

Synthetic Marijuana Synthetic Drugs

When talking about synthetic drugs, one of two things should come to mind: Dangerous chemicals used to make bath salts or synthetic cannabis; or powerful opioids such as fentanyl, carfentanil, and U-47700. Regardless of which we are talking about, they all have two things in common. They are deadly and are made in China.

To be sure, it is a fact that the United States makes up a small percentage of the world population. We also have safeguards in place providing oversight to protect people from dangerous substances and that we have more oversight than most countries. Yet, the people of America have the highest demand for drugs, especially opioids. Americans use the clear majority of the world’s prescription opioid supply, a problem of epidemic proportions. The problem has grown arms in recent years, with addicts branching out to illicit opioids like heroin.

But they are not just doing heroin. In many cases, the powerful opioid analgesic fentanyl is introduced to batches of heroin. In other cases, an even more deadly animal tranquilizer known as carfentanil is present in heroin. Over the last year there has been talk about another designer opioid, dubbed U-47700. Also, known as “Pink.” And like fentanyl, is made in laboratories in China to be sold to drug cartels an ocean away.

Reining In China’s U-47700

Until recently, China was doing little to combat the flood of synthetic drugs being made within its borders. Due to pressure from foreign governments, like our own, China is finally making efforts to curb the problem. They have already banned a number of chemicals that were being used to make synthetic marijuana. Now, they are going after synthetic opioids, like U-47700. Pressure from America has led to China agreeing to ban U-47700, Stat News reports. This follows the DEA’s move last year to add Pink to the list of Schedule I controlled substances. Drugs that have no accepted medical use and “a high potential for abuse.”

As of July 1, 2017, four compounds will be added to China’s list of controlled substances, according to the article. Including:

  • U-47700
  • MT-45
  • PMMA
  • 4,4′-DMARbe

While this is promising news, we are still faced with the reality that chemists will be quick to alter the formula. Allowing them to skirt the bans put in place by both American and Chinese officials. A trend that Yu Haibin, a division director at the Ministry of Public Security’s Narcotics Control Bureau, realizes fully.

“My feeling is that it’s just like a race and I will never catch up with the criminals,” Yu told a news conference. “Actually, we just want to make a breakthrough in dealing with this.”

Playing With Fire

If you are buying compounds like U-47700 over the internet, please be advised that there is no telling how chemists will alter the formula. Nor the side effects that will result from such a change. Synthetic drugs are highly unpredictable. They are addictive and can be deadly.

If you feel that you might be addicted to synthetic drugs, please contact 10 Acre ranch today. We can help you break the cycle of addiction and set you on the path of recovery.