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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sen. Patty Murray supports bill targeting opioid, heroin addictions

Washington Sen. Patty Murray thinks Congress needs to do more to address opioid abuse.

Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Murray called on Congress to pass a bill that would allocate more than $725 million over the next five years to expand addiction treatment programs, create jail diversion paths for people with addictions and mental illnesses, and educate people on opioid and heroin abuse.

The bill, known as the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, has a bipartisan group of 24 Democratic, 16 Republican and two independent sponsors. It cleared the first hurdle toward passage Monday, with an 89-0 vote to move the bill forward.

“Parents ask me what we’re doing here in Congress to help families like theirs, who are trying desperately to help their children struggling to escape addiction,” said Murray. “I’m told about mothers and fathers who developed opioid addictions after being prescribed pain medication, with devastating consequences for their families.”

In Washington, heroin was involved in 321 drug overdose deaths in 2014, according to health department death records - a nearly 250 percent increase over 2010. That rise has led to two proposed bills that would make it easier to commit Washington residents involuntarily for drug treatment. One of those bills, known as Ricky’s Law, has passed the state House and had a hearing in the state Senate Ways and Means committee Monday.

Treatment providers in Spokane say lack of funding is often a barrier to expanding services. Programs like the Spokane Regional Health District’s opioid treatment program, which uses a combination of medication and behavioral health therapy to address addiction, have lengthy waiting lists.

In addition to expanding federal funding, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act would create a national task force to study best practices on pain management, with a goal of cutting down on the number of people who develop addictions after being prescribed painkillers.

It also includes funding to expand the availability of naloxone, a medication that can reverse otherwise-fatal opioid overdoses, to law enforcement and other first responders.

The Spokane Fire Department has been using naloxone for years and has seen an increase in its use since the beginning of 2014, medical director Mike Lopez said. Last year, first responders used naloxone more than 400 times to reverse overdoses, he said.

The Spokane Police Department began looking at equipping officers with naloxone in 2015, but ultimately decided against the program last fall for several reasons, including cost. Assistant Chief Craig Miedl said Tuesday the department would be open to reconsidering the program if federal grants were available to cover some of the cost.

Murray is also part of a group of Democratic senators advocating for $600 million in additional, emergency funding to be made available to states immediately to combat opioid abuse. Republicans have opposed that measure, saying additional funding should come through the regular appropriations process.

“A problem as serious and urgent as this epidemic deserves a serious, urgent response, so we should enact the policies in this bill – and at the same time, we should also make sure that families and communities will see additional tools and resources as quickly as possible,” Murray said.

The bill is likely to receive a vote by the end of next week.