Governor signs bills into law to help fight opioid abuse

GOV. GINA M. Raimondo, seated, gives Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed a pen as other legislators, advocates and individuals in recovery look on. Raimondo signed eight bills into law aimed to help curb the opioid crisis at a ceremony Tuesday at Bridgemark Addiction Recovery Services. / COURTESY GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
GOV. GINA M. Raimondo, seated, gives Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed a pen as other legislators, advocates and individuals in recovery look on. Raimondo signed eight bills into law aimed to help curb the opioid crisis at a ceremony Tuesday at Bridgemark Addiction Recovery Services. / COURTESY GOVERNOR'S OFFICE

WARWICK – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo signed eight bills into law aimed to help curb the opioid crisis at a ceremony Tuesday at Bridgemark Addiction Recovery Services.
“I’ve met with families in communities across Rhode Island whose loved ones have died from drug overdose, and I am proud to stand with many of them today and say we are taking meaningful action that will save lives,” Raimondo said in a statement.
The event was attended by officials including by Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Joshua Miller and state Rep. David A. Bennett.
Legislators, with the governor’s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force, crafted the bills, which focus on prevention and making treatment more available and accessible.
The legislation establishes prescribing limits for addictive pain medication when initially prescribed for acute pain and also requires health insurance providers that provide prescription coverage for overdose preventive medicine such as naloxone to cover the medicine when it is purchased by a family member or friend to save an overdose victim’s life.
Miller, D-Cranston, sponsor of several of the bills, said the bills are not going to be “one silver bullet that eliminates opioid addiction,” but represent a “comprehensive approach” to addressing the opioid crisis.

“With these bills, we aim to prevent addiction by more carefully controlling and monitoring drugs as they are prescribed and dispensed. We’ve also improved coverage for treatment and made follow-up care more diligent for those who suffer from addiction,” Miller said in a statement.

Bennett, D-Warwick, who also sponsored several bills, said, “We’ve passed a well-rounded package of legislation that will take aim at opioids by helping those who’ve already been affected by them, and taking concrete steps to prevent people from getting hooked in the first place.”
According to information from the governor’s office, there were more than 250 overdose deaths in Rhode Island last year. Since 2011, nearly 1,200 Rhode Islanders have died of accidental overdoses, a number that exceeds the number of deaths from car crashes, firearms and fires combined during the same period.
The bill-signing event was attended by Chairman, President & CEO of Hasbro Inc. Brian Goldner and his wife Barbara, the parents of Brandon Goldner, who died of an overdose last year, and by Brown University Assistant Professor Samuel Perry, whose brother Alexander also died of an overdose.

Here are details about the bills that the governor signed:

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  • 2016-S 2356Aaa, 2016-H 7616A — This bill, the Alexander C. Perry and Brandon Goldner Act, sponsored by Miller and Bennett, requires comprehensive discharge planning for patients with substance-use disorders and requires insurers to cover expanded medication-assisted treatment.
  • 2016-S 2460Aaa, 2016-H 7710A — Also sponsored by Miller and Bennett, this bill requires all health insurance providers that provide prescription coverage for opioid antagonists (overdose preventive medicine such as naloxone) to also cover them when purchased by a family member or friend to save the life of an overdose victim.
  • 2016-S 2823Aaa, 2016-H 8224A — Sponsored by Bennett and Sen. Stephen R. Archambault, D-Smithfield, this bill establishes prescribing limits for addictive pain medication when initially prescribed for acute pain.
  • 2016-S 2874, 2016-H 7849 — Sponsored by Bennett and Sen. Elizabeth A. Crowley, D-Central Falls, allows for electronic system data transmission of Schedule V prescriptions.
  • 2016-S 2948, 2016-H 7130 — This bill sponsored by Sen. Roger A. Picard, D- Woonsocket, and Rep. Aaron Regunberg, D-Providence, allows licensed chemical dependency professionals with the proper training and supervision to use auricular Acudetox as a method of treatment for chemical dependencies. Acudetox is an alternative therapy to pharmaceuticals, and the treatment consists of five sterile needles placed into specific sites on the ear.
  • 2016-S 2946A, 2016-H 8326 — Sponsored by Sen. Louis P. DiPalma, D-Middletown, and Rep. Deborah A. Fellela, D-Johnston, this bill improves the usefulness and value of the prescription drug monitoring database program by adding analytical functions, and allowing pharmacists to see all prescriptions for a patient. It will also help detect abhorrent prescribing/dispensing patterns.
  • 2016-S 2897, 2016-H 7847 — This bill sponsored by Sen. Donna M. Nesselbush, D-Pawtucket, and Rep. Joseph M. McNamara, D-Warwick, authorizes any vendor, agent, contractor or designee who operates an electronic medical health record or clinical management system to access the prescription drug monitoring program.
  • 2016-S 2579B, 2016-H 8056A — Sponsored by Sen. Erin Lynch Prata, D- Warwick, and Rep. Stephen M. Casey, D-Woonsocket, this bill authorizes the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals to certify recovery housing facilities and programs for residential substance abuse treatment.

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