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Treating opioid addiction: Manchin teams up on LifeBOAT Act to combat substance abuse

Bluefield Daily Telegraph - 5/23/2021

May 23—WASHINGTON — Putting a 1 cent fee on every milligram of active opioid in prescription pain pills is the goal of a bill that would fund drug prevention and treatment programs addressing the nation's drug abuse epidemic and rising numbers of overdose deaths.

U.S. Senators Joe Manchin, D-WV; Mitt Romney, R-UT; Amy Klobuchar, D-MN; Tammy Baldwin, D-WI; Angus King, I-ME; Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH; Maggie Hassan, D-NH; Richard Blumenthal, D-CT; Tina Smith; D-MN; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, recently introduced the bipartisan Life Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment (LifeBOAT) Act, which would establish a stewardship fee to provide and expand access to substance use treatment.

In 2020, over 90,000 Americans died from drug related overdoses — the highest year of overdose deaths ever recorded — with over half of those likely involving an opioid or synthetic opioid.

"America is experiencing an epidemic within a pandemic, and drug overdose deaths have been at an all-time high. West Virginia has led the nation in drug overdose deaths for over 10 years, more than doubling the national rates of overdose deaths since 2007," Manchin stated. "It is past time that funding meets the need for resources, treatment facilities and healthcare providers that help Americans struggling with substance use disorder."

The legislation would help raise the money needed for treatment programs, its supporters said.

"This bipartisan legislation would create a 1 cent stewardship fee for every milligram of opioids in a prescription pain pill which would be used to support and expand substance use treatment options for our fellow Americans in need," Manchin said. "I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this vital bipartisan legislation to help address the drug epidemic facing our nation."

This bill would establish a stewardship fee to fund efforts to provide and expand access to substance use treatment through the existing Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant. To pay for this treatment, this bill would establish a 1 cent stewardship fee on each milligram of active opioid ingredient in a prescription pain pill. The bill includes a rebate for cancer-related pain and hospice patients and an exemption for opioids used as part of medically-assisted treatment.

Funding raised by the LifeBOAT Act would be used to improve access to substance use disorder treatment, including but not limited to:

—Establishing new treatment facilities, residential and outpatient.

—Recruiting, training, and/or increasing reimbursement for mental health providers providing substance use disorder treatment, particularly in medically underserved or rural communities.

—Expanding access to long-term, residential treatment programs.

—Establishing and/or operating support programs that offer employment services, housing, and other support services to help those recovering transition back into society.

—Establishing and/or operating facilities to provide care for babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome.

—Establishing and/or operating substance use treatment programs in conjunction with Adult and Family Treatment Drug Courts.

Greg Puckett, executive director of Community Connections, Inc. in Princeton, said there have been previous attempts to get the LifeBOAT Act through Congress.

"We have worked very closely with (Manchin) to try and put forth bills like this over the past year. They tried to get it passed and been talking about it the last three years," Puckett said.

Getting the funding would help fund everything from prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery, he said.

"We've really been working on prevention to try and stop the problem before it starts," Puckett said about addiction. "Catch it before it starts."

Puckett said that both Manchin and U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, have helped the effort to get more funding for drug treatment programs.

"West Virginia is extremely blessed to have two senators who are completely nonpartisan in understanding the addiction crisis that we have," he stated. "That is the most important part. If we have more nonpartisan decision making, the better, because drugs are not partisan. They impact everybody."

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

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