Opioid Crisis

Senate Passes Opioids Package.

The ADA News (9/18, Garvin) reports that the Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation Sept. 17 aimed at ending the nation’s opioid epidemic. The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act authorizes additional funding for continuing education and improving the integrity and interoperability state prescription drug monitoring programs.

Colby Itkowitz writes in the Washington Post (9/17) that the package includes 70 bills covering $8.4 billion in funding for programs across multiple agencies.

The Wall Street Journal (9/17, Andrews, Subscription Publication) reports that the legislation provides funding to the National Institutes of Health to research a nonaddictive pain medication. Another provision clarifies that the FDA has the authority to require prescriptions for opioids to be packaged in set amounts, such as three or seven days.

The AP (9/17, Fram) reports the package creates “new federal grants for treatment centers, training emergency workers and research on prevention methods.” The House passed its own package earlier this summer.

For more information about the ADA’s advocacy efforts on opioids, visit ADA.org/opioids