Pubdate: Sat, 03 Jan 2015
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2015 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491

A SPIKE IN HEROIN DEATHS

Lawmakers Can Take Sensible Steps to Address This Emergency.

MORE PEOPLE are killed now by drug overdoses than by homicides in 
many states, prompting alarmed state lawmakers and attorneys general 
to search for legislative fixes. The sense of urgency, impelled 
especially by a spike in lethal heroin overdoses, is justified. Some 
of the measures proposed to address the problem may not be.

The new focus on heroin use coincides with very sharp increases 
nationally in overdose deaths in middle-class and predominantly white 
communities. It's a shame that that's what it took to rally the 
authorities to action; still, better late than never.

About 20 states, including Maryland, and the District have enacted 
bills to ensure that first responders carry naloxone, a prescription 
drug also known by the brand name Narcan, which can save the lives of 
opiate users who have overdosed. Unfortunately, the spike in demand 
for the antidote has driven up its cost, which is proving a burden 
for some states and localities. Nonetheless, more states need to step 
up and recognize heroin use as a public health emergency.

Virginia is a case in point. Heroin-related deaths more than doubled 
in the commonwealth from 2011 to 2013 and increased at an even faster 
rate in Northern Virginia. Yet no law requires emergency medical 
personnel to carry Narcan; some do and some don't. Worse, some 
lawmakers apparently believe that making the antidote more accessible 
will encourage heroin addiction, as if the availability of treatment 
somehow enables disease.

There are other sensible steps that states can take. They include 
enacting so-called good Samaritan laws (in place in Maryland and the 
District but not yet in Virginia) that shield witnesses from 
prosecution - even if they abuse or sell drugs themselves - if they 
promptly report and help overdose victims.

States should also consider measures that crack down on unscrupulous 
doctors and pharmacists who illegally or inappropriately prescribe 
and dispense opiate pills like OxyContin, which can be a gateway to 
heroin. And it's also worth tracking the results of legislation 
adopted in New York that allows addicts to remain in treatment 
programs while they appeal decisions by insurance companies that have 
denied coverage.

However, we are skeptical that some measures to further criminalize 
already illegal drugs such as heroin will be effective. One idea, 
pushed by some prosecutors, is to expose drug dealers to homicide 
charges if they sell what turns out to be a lethal overdose. The 
experience of the federal war on drugs suggests that harsher 
penalties fill up jails and prisons without doing much to extinguish 
the sale of illegal narcotics.

A wiser tack is to treat heroin addiction as a public health 
emergency. That means establishing more readily available long-term 
treatment programs, preferably in residential settings that can help 
shield users from dealers. Such programs cost money. That in itself 
will be a test for leaders like Maryland Gov.-elect Larry Hogan (R), 
who has rightly proclaimed that the spike in heroin overdoses is an 
emergency. In the face of Mr. Hogan's promise to slash state 
spending, will he be able to fulfill his promise to come to grips 
with this epidemic?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom