Legislators addressing opioid epidemic
http://citizensvoice.com/news/legislators-addressing-opioid-epidemic-1.2095244
Short Definition of Addiction: http://www.asam.org/quality-practice/definition-of-addiction
Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.
Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death.
If physicians are the primary reason for people addicted to opiates.. then someone needs to explain the reason that some people are addicted to:
Alcohol:… this is a state endorsed, condoned addiction… nobody hands out free samples of alcohol.. both the states and Feds tax this addiction… reportedly some 30 million participants abusing this substance and it use/abuse kills abt 85,000 annually
Tobacco/Nicotine:… this is another state endorsed, condoned addiction… nobody hands out free samples of tobacco products. Both States and Feds tax this product. Abt 20% of the adult population (abt 45 million) are smokers… and abt 450,000 die annually from this “addiction”
Gambling: Another State & Federal endorsed, condoned activity/addiction… some state have a large casino industry and yet others sponsor THE LOTTERY. How do addicted gamblers get started ? These “addicts” are relative small in comparison to other addictions with an estimated 130,000.
No one is sure what the total number of addicts to just these THREE ADDICTIONS… because we know that some people have multiple addictions.. An educated guess is that there is a minimum of 45 million because we have that many addicted to Tobacco/Nicotine.
Maybe one of the reasons that these addictions/deaths are not considered addressable because of:
Former Speaker of the House (John Boehner) is a NICOTINE ADDICT ? An admitted long time consumer of Camel cigarettes.
Maybe there are enough members of the various legislatures that are “addicted” to something that they are able to discourage their colleagues to not pursue legislation against certain addictions and besides we don’t have another agenda that the whole judicial system seems to have a vested interest in… unlike the war on drugs
HARRISBURG — The fall legislative session is dominated so far by bipartisan calls to combat a deadly opioid abuse epidemic in Pennsylvania. The focus of proposals offered by Gov. Tom Wolf and lawmakers has been on the role of medical professionals in over prescribing narcotic painkillers, and thus, creating a pathway to addiction for drugs like heroin.
The governor urges final action on bills passed by either the House or Senate to put limits on how many painkillers emergency room physicians can prescribe and require doctors to check a new state prescription drug monitoring network when they write a prescription for painkillers.
Getting far less attention is the role of pharmaceutical companies in making addictive painkillers more widely available to patients in recent years.
That may be about to change.
The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit group, have jointly published eye-opening articles looking at a link between the boom in sales of prescription opioids and overdose deaths in recent years. The articles examine how drug manufacturers have spent more than $800 million nationwide on lobbying and campaign contributions between 2006 and 2015 to stop or weaken bills that limit use of opioids. The drug industry has employed more than 1,300 lobbyists to influence the debate at the state and national level on opioid use, according to the articles.
In Pennsylvania, there have been a few voices and proposals targeting drug manufacturers for help in solving the overdose crisis.
During an opioid action rally at the Capitol last week, Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-Bensalem, chairman of the House Human Services Committee, called for state attorneys general to file a lawsuit against the drug manufacturers to recover the costs to taxpayers for treating addicts and overdose victims.
“They’ve (drug companies) created a lot of damage,” DiGirolamo said.
He compared the strategy to a multistate lawsuit against the tobacco industry in the 1990s. The lawsuit resulted in a settlement in which tobacco companies make annual payments to states for the costs to medical assistance and other public health programs for treating diseases caused by smoking.
Pennsylvania earmarks these annual payments for a variety of public health programs.
Absent a lawsuit, DiGirolamo has introduced a bill to impose a 10 percent impact fee on sales of opioids in Pennsylvania.
The fee could generate about $75 million annually, he said.
The revenue would go to support a state-run emergency addiction treatment fund and the new state prescription drug monitoring program. A share would go to counties to purchase Narcan for local police and emergency services agencies to attempt to halt overdoses and to support drug and alcohol counseling in county jails and help offset other criminal justice costs.
The Senate Democratic caucus has unveiled an opioid bill package that includes a 10 percent assessment on opioid sales in the state. The revenue under this proposal would go to purchasing naloxone for local law enforcement and supporting addiction prevention and treatment programs.
Robert Swift is Harrisburg bureau chief for Times-Shamrock Communications newspapers. Reach him at
rswift@timesshamrock.com.
Filed under: General Problems
The substance, be it alcohol, nicotine, or opioid, is not the cause of drug abuse or addiction. They are spinning their wheels with all the regulations, and forcing more people to the street drugs to treat legitimate pain. But they all know what they are doing won’t help, because they’ve been doing it for 45 years, and the problem has only gotten worse. They are doing it for the money–money attacking doctors for example, and now money by taxing medications. I wonder how many of our legislators have a hand in the pie of “treatment facilities”.
If you are interested in a presentation of the REAL Cause of Drug Abuse (because everyone in this country from the poorest to the richest is potentially an addict), come to my webinars. You can learn more of the evil the government is doing and join the webinar on my website http://www.doctorsofcourage.org.
They are nothing but madmen behind the wheel . They would run their own kin folk over for a vote . Then change the law so they would not be arrested .
If brains and/or common sense were required to get elected the government on any level would be almost non existent! Add honesty to that list and no one would get elected!