“Fourteen opioid meds were prescribed when an Advil would do.” A friend of Senator Rob Portman, (R-OH), had gone to the dentist. A wisdom tooth extraction. The area was properly numbed, a clean removal, no complications. Yet, the prescription. The pharmaceutical industry has been on a tear promoting pain meds over the last twenty years. For Senator Portman, he says, “we didn’t see this coming.” By the late 1990’s education, control, and awareness had brought the cocaine epidemic somewhat under control in this country. Yet a silent epidemic was incubating; OxyContin at first. Portman says there are many towns in Ohio where fire department runs in response to synthetic heroin overdoses outnumber actual fires. Regularly. For the Ohio Republican the top three objectives are more funding, passing legislation that is just waiting for action, like the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act, and the STOP Act, which calls on the United States Postal Service to stop handling packages of medication. “They’re just bringing them into our communities. We need to be able to flag these packages, and take them off-line. I’ve talked to the postal service, but they’re resistant.”
The opioid addiction is not political, but, rather, geographical. Portman’s Ohio is surrounded by epidemic hotbeds. Northern Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana chiefly. New England is plagued, and parts of the Midwest ravaged. States teaming up in response is a stepping stone to greater federal action. There is no zip code left untouched. At first, the epidemic showed up in mostly white suburbs. As more demographics are introduced to greater health care access, and using it, addiction is spreading. Among users of cocaine opioids are taking a toll. Fentanyl is popularly sprinkled on cut cocaine. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI), cites the fact that doctors have more taskings, and spend less time with patients. Instead of really evaluating their medical situation they often will proscribe addictive pain relievers as a solution. “Every patient is different. In medical school very little time is devoted to teaching the prescribing of meds. Pharmaceuticals will pick up the slack once in practice.” Noted the Rhode Island Democrat who is not medically trained.
The smallest of U.S. states has one of the biggest per capita numbers when it comes to death by opioid abuse. Around 300 in 2016. Burrillville is a prime example. A northwestern Rhode Island town of a few hundred people there have already been six deaths this year. “It is like beating on a bruise, people are sullen in that community.” The senator is adamant in his belief that addiction is a medical condition. A belief that is taking hold coast to coast. “In Rhode Island we are making it less of a law enforcement issue,” says Whitehouse. Senator Portman joked that “no one will mistake us for being eye-to-eye on any issue.” Senator Whitehouse says regarding the opioid abuse plague “we are of one mind, we agree here, on every other issue we disagree, but we are friends.” The panel moderator asked if bi-partisanship on this issue can lead to greater cooperation on other issues. A high minded question. Senator Whitehouse rolled his eyes, as Senator Portman intoned, “first things first.”
New Hampshire, which uniquely in New England, can go from a blue state, to red, and back to blue again with each passing cycle, was represented on the panel by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, (D-NH), and a former governor. She approved of President Trump’s recent declaration of a “Public Health Emergency,” regarding opioids. “My difference with the President is that I would rather have seen more funding on the ground rather in advertising.” New Hampshire is a dubious number one when it comes to deaths by fentanyl. “This is an illness, not a moral failing.” Politics is on the sidelines when it comes to being together on the epidemic. “We have community based solutions. In Nashua, and Manchester, anyone, anytime, of any day, can show up at a fire station, and request to be taken to a treatment facility. No law enforcement involvement, no penalty.” She also cites a program where counselors ride with police on suspected abuse/overdose calls and logs the response. The next day the same counselor, and an officer, in plainclothes, will follow up and counsel treatment options.
The Republican Portman minces no words. “It’s lab coat crime.” The cultural bias in favor of doctor’s knowledge is in play here. “We don’t question, we accept the doctor’s recommendation.” Democrat Whitehouse adds “incentives pharmaceutical firms use in the pushing of their product for prescription is under review, and needs to be legislated. Senator Portman is big on the concept of regional emergency rooms that are just for overdoses. “We have a newly opened ER center for OD patients in Columbus that has a 50 bed in-patient treatment facility adjoining. We need more beds.”
New Hampshire’s Shaheen is cautiously optimistic, but is under no illusions about the severity of the crises in her state. Senator Portman says that, at least in Ohio, “it’s getting worse, not better, but the trend lines are pointing up.” Senator Whitehouse is a bit more upbeat, “the tide of recovery is turning, we are winning, fentanyl is an exception.”
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