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Governor signs bills to fight Virginia’s opioid crisis

Mary Lee Clark | Capital News Service

RICHMOND — Capping off a signature issue of the 2017 legislative
session, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed five bills Feb. 23 to help arm the fight
against opioid abuse and fatal overdoses in Virginia.

The bills address the crisis in various ways. They include SB 848
and HB 1453, which allow community organizations to dispense and train
individuals to use naloxone, a drug that can treat an opioid overdose in
emergency situations.

“We recognize that addiction is a disease, not a moral failing,”
McAuliffe said. “Our proposals for this General Assembly session focused on
preventing addiction and providing treatment for those who suffer from it.”

The governor also signed HB 2165, which will mandate all opioid
prescriptions be transmitted to pharmacies electronically by 2020. It will also
create a workgroup to study how to best implement the change.

“The fight against the national opioid abuse epidemic gained more
momentum today as Virginia became the most recent state to mandate that care
providers use electronic prescribing for controlled substances,” said Dr. Sean
Kelly, who is a practicing emergency physician and the chief medical officer of
Imprivata, a health care information technology company.

Kelly said that electronic prescribing for controlled substances,
or EPCS, helps the health care industry to reduce prescription fraud, drug
diversion and drug abuse. Virginia is joining three other states – New York,
Minnesota and Maine – in mandating EPCS.

“This is a real ‘all hands on deck’ moment,” said Attorney
General Mark Herring. “The heroin and opioid crisis is touching families who
never imagined they would confront something like this, and yet now are
fighting something that feels so overwhelming.”

In November 2016, McAuliffe joined State Health Commissioner
Marissa Levine in declaring the Virginia opioid addiction crisis to be a public
health emergency.

Although final numbers are not available, the Virginia Department
of Health projects that more than 1,000 people died in Virginia from fatal
opioid overdoses in 2016. That would be a 33 percent increase from the previous
year.

Here are more details on the bills McAuliffe signed into law:

• SB 848, sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Wexton, D-Loudoun, and HB
1453, by Del. David LaRock, R-Loudoun, allow community organizations to possess
and dispense naloxone to people whom the groups have trained to administer the
life-saving drug.

• HB 2317, by Del. John O’Bannon, R-Henrico, allows local health
departments to administer harm reduction programs in parts of the state with
high rates of HIV and hepatitis. These programs will exchange dirty syringes
for clean ones, offer testing for hepatitis C and HIV, and connect people to
addiction treatment.

• HB 1786, by Del. Chris Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, initiates a
family assessment and plan of care from local social services if a child is
found to have been exposed to substances in utero. This connects the mother to
treatment if necessary and provides services to ensure the safety of both the
mother and the child.

• HB 2165, by Del. Todd Pillion, R-Washington, mandates that all
opioid prescriptions will be transmitted to pharmacies electronically by 2020
and creates a workgroup to study how to implement this policy.

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