Former DEA Officials Urge Repeal Of 2016 Law That Stripped Agency Of Its Most Potent Weapon
“This bill basically tore the heart out of the diversion program,” one official told senators Tuesday. In other opioid-related news, members of Congress meet in Baltimore to gauge the scope of the opioid epidemic, questions arise over the growing profession of opioid recovery coaches and more.
Three former Drug Enforcement Administration officials urged Democratic lawmakers Tuesday to repeal a 2016 law that effectively took away the agency’s most potent weapon against distributors and manufacturers of prescription opioids. The trio said the authority to instantly freeze shipments of powerful painkillers was the DEA’s most effective tool against giant companies that ignored legal requirements to report suspicious orders of the pills by pharmacies, doctors and others who diverted them for illegal use. Those “immediate suspension orders” not only protected the public from the most egregious abuse but deterred other companies as well, they said at a session held by Senate Democrats. (Bernstein and Higham, 11/28)
At a congressional field hearing on opioids held Tuesday in Baltimore, Republicans, Democrats and health care officials agreed about the scope of the problem, but there appeared to be little agreement about who should do what. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee came to Baltimore, where opioids have been a particular scourge, at the behest of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, its ranking Democrat. (Cohn, 11/28)
[Katie] O’Leary, who works for the North Suffolk Mental Health Association, belongs to a new profession whose role is expanding amid the opioid crisis. But as the use of recovery coaches grows, so do the questions: Who are they exactly? What qualifies them to do this work? What are the boundaries of their practice? (Freyer, 11/28)
The illegal use of prescription painkillers is decreasing, but heroin and synthetic fentanyl have grown in popularity among drug users here, says the new U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. ...very day, 91 Americans die from opioid overdoses. (Miller, 11/28)
DeKalb Medical Center was threatened this month with losing its Medicare provider status after a patient died from an overdose. It was the second time in recent months the hospital has been in trouble with federal officials. (Sharpe, 11/28)
U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, a Republican from Wadsworth running for governor, said Tuesday that suing drug manufacturers over the opioid epidemic was not a solution to the ongoing drug problem in Ohio. ...Instead, Renacci said the state should focus on education, harsher penalties for drug dealers and community solutions through local organizations and churches. (Richardson, 11/28)
