Donnelly, Ayotte Reintroduce Bill to Combat Heroin Use and Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemics

Press Release

U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) today reintroduced bipartisan legislation that seeks to address prescription pain medication abuse and heroin use as part of their ongoing efforts to tackle the nation's growing drug abuse epidemics. Their bill, The Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015, takes a multi-pronged approach to help prevent opioid abuse and overdose deaths and builds on similar legislation they introduced last year. The Ayotte-Donnelly bill aims to: better enable healthcare providers and public health officials to prevent prescription drug abuse; support law enforcement efforts to get heroin off the streets; allow more first responders access to life-saving naloxone, and raise awareness among health care providers, patients, and the public regarding prescription opioid abuse and heroin.

Addiction to prescription pain medication can become a gateway to heroin use. According to a study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, approximately four out of every five new heroin users previously used non-medical prescription pain medication before using heroin. More people die every day from drug overdoses than from traffic crashes, with the majority of drug overdose deaths caused by prescription opioids and heroin. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 44 people in the U.S. die each day from an overdose of prescription pain medication. In addition, heroin-linked deaths in the U.S. increased from 5,925 to 8,257, a jump of 39 percent, between 2012 and 2013.

Ayotte said, "Communities across New Hampshire have been affected by an alarming increase in prescription opioid and heroin abuse, and I firmly believe that the only way to address this problem is to ensure that federal, state and local governments are working in conjunction with local law enforcement. This bipartisan legislation takes a multi-pronged approach to address the prescription opioid abuse and heroin crises by calling for the development of widely-recognized best prescribing practices related to pain management. The bill will also give law enforcement greater access to important tools to fight heroin use and prescription drug diversion, and calls for a well-coordinated drug awareness campaign with a particular focus on the links between prescription opioid abuse and heroin addiction. I'm pleased to once again work with Senator Donnelly on this common sense legislation, which addresses an urgent public health matter."

Donnelly said, "Abuse of prescription drugs and heroin use remains an enormous problem in Indiana and around the country. We must take action to address these epidemics, which impact Hoosiers in every community, from small, rural towns to large, urban communities. This bipartisan legislation would help support and strengthen local and state efforts to tackle this urgent public health issue. It would create a federal task force to develop best practices in pain medication prescribing, ensure law enforcement has the resources and tools to fight heroin use, and establish national efforts to raise awareness about prescription drug abuse and heroin use. I am proud to continue working with my friend Senator Ayotte to help address this epidemic affecting Indiana and our country."

The Ayotte-Donnelly bill expands on the bipartisan legislation they introduced in June 2014. The Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015 would establish an inter-agency task force that would be responsible for developing best practices for pain medication prescribing and related pain management.

As part of the effort to address prescription opioid overdoses, the Ayotte-Donnelly bill would establish a Naloxone Demonstration Grant program to provide funding to eligible first responders -- including law enforcement, firefighters, or emergency medical personnel -- for training to administer approved opioid overdose reversal drugs. Naloxone is used to counter the effects of opioid overdose. The World Health Organization estimated in November 2014 that more than 20,000 deaths might be prevented every year in the U.S. alone if naloxone were more widely available.

Additionally, the Ayotte-Donnelly bill would authorize the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program -- a competitive grant program that helps states support their Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs -- and reauthorize the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program, which bolsters criminal justice and law enforcement programs at the state and local levels. Byrne JAG funding is the leading source of federal funding for state and local criminal justice efforts, and helps to fund efforts such as multi-jurisdictional drug task forces and drug treatment courts.

Because of the rise in heroin use and connection between heroin initiation and prescription opioid abuse, the legislation also would call for a renewed focus on education and public awareness campaigns.

KEY PROVISIONS: Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015

Establishes an Inter-Agency Task Force on Prescribing Practices, responsible for developing best practices in pain medication prescribing and related pain management.

The Task Force will be comprised of representatives from Health and Human Services (including Center for Disease Control), Veterans Administration, Department of Defense, Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the Institute of Medicine; the Director of the National Institutes of Health;
physicians and non-physician prescribers; pharmacists; experts in the fields of pain and addiction research; and representatives of pain management organizations, the mental health treatment community, the addiction treatment community, and pain advocacy groups.

The Task Force will develop a strategy for disseminating information about the guidelines to prescribers, pharmacists, and State Medical Boards.

The Task Force will be required to submit a report studying the feasibility of linking training in best prescribing practices to the renewal of licenses for prescribers and dispensers of controlled substances.

Authorizes the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, a competitive grant program that assists states in the planning, implementation, and enhancement of their Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs. The Program was created to assist law enforcement, regulatory bodies, and public health officials in analyzing data related to prescriptions for controlled substances. The Program is key in helping to prevent "doctor shopping." While Congress has previously funded the program, it has never been authorized.

Reauthorizes the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program, which provides funds to state and local governments to support: law enforcement programs; prosecution and court programs; prevention and education programs; corrections programs; drug treatment programs; planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and crime victim and witness programs.

Directs HHS to advance the education and awareness of health care providers, patients, and the public, regarding the risk of abuse of prescription opioids if these drugs are not taken as prescribed.

Establishes a national prescription drug abuse and heroin use awareness campaign through the Office of National Drug Control Policy. This drug-free media campaign would take into account the association between prescription opioid abuse and heroin use, and address the dangers of the opioid, fentanyl.

Establishes a Naloxone Demonstration Grant program, which would allow for eligible first responder entities to receive funding for technical support and program implementation in order to train first responders to effectively administer approved opioid overdose reversal drugs.

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