Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fix Mental Health And Addiction Crises Together, White House Drug Czar Says
At a House oversight hearing Thursday, the Biden administration’s top drug policy official emphasized the need to address both mental illness and drug addiction simultaneously to reduce fentanyl deaths. According to a 2021 survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, over nine million adults in the U.S. have this co-occuring disorder. (Bajaj, 7/27)
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to address the staggering number of opioid overdoses nationwide, as two-thirds of drug overdose deaths last year were caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Tsirkin, 7/27)
Texans in Congress are pushing bipartisan legislation to increase access to fentanyl testing strips after a similar effort fizzled in the Texas Legislature earlier this year. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, led several senators from both parties in introducing the Fentanyl Safe Testing and Overdose Prevention Act on Thursday to clarify, in federal law, that fentanyl testing strips are not considered to be drug paraphernalia. (Choi, 7/27)
In related news from Wyoming, Indiana, and elsewhere—
In April, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a decision to allow the sale of over-the-counter Narcan at pharmacies across the country. That decision will take effect later this month. The move comes as federal and state governments battle opioid overdose, an epidemic that took over 100,000 lives in 2021, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. (Uplinger, 7/26)
The state has revoked the licenses of a troubled northern Indiana addiction treatment center and two sister facilities, its parent company acknowledged Thursday. The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction revoked the license for Praxis Landmark Recovery in Mishawaka and sister facilities in Bluffton and Carmel, the company said. (7/27)
When opioids first started killing Americans in very large numbers, it was disproportionately white people, often in rural areas, who were the victims. Cities and ethnic minorities generally suffered lightly. Yet a far worse wave of death is under way now, caused almost entirely by fentanyl, an incredibly powerful synthetic opioid that can be used legally as a painkiller, but is mostly produced by Mexican cartels and smuggled into America. (7/27)
