Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act

Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act
Name
Due Date
Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act
What is the goal of the policy?
The primary goal of this bill is to ‘create a coordinated response to the epidemic through prevention, treatment, recovery, law enforcement, criminal justice reform, and overdose reversal’ CITATION Com18 \l 1033 (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 2018). The bill provides an updated addiction legal framework that helps address the full continuum of care from primary prevention to recovery support. It provides for expansion of the access to drugs and devices for opioid reversal, i.e., naloxone. It also provides for federal funding to states that have instituted programs, laws and or policies to encourage distribution and selling of naloxone to aid in opioid reversal.
What are the resources or opportunities that the policy is expected to provide?
One of the main resources the policy is aimed to provide is financial support through the HHS secretary. Financial support is necessary for the institutions (governmental & non-governmental) and governments to fight the opioid epidemic problem CITATION Ame15 \l 1033 (American Society of Addiction Medicine, 2015).
Section 107. Improving Access to Overdose Treatment: Under this section, the HHS secretary in Department of Health and Human Services is empowered to award grants up to $200,000 to federally qualified health centers, Opioid treatment programs to ‘to establish a naloxone co-prescription program, train health care providers on naloxone co-prescribing, purchase naloxone, offset co-payments for naloxone, or establish protocols to connect patients who have experienced an overdose with appropriate treatment.’
In Section 110. Opioid Overdose Reversal Medication Access and Education Grant Programs: This section empowers the HHS secretary to make grants to states to expand the distribution network of naloxone and train the public on the proper usage of the product in reversing the effects of opioids CITATION Com18 \l 1033 (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 2018).
Section 301. Evidence-based Prescription Opioid and Heroin Treatment and Interventions Demonstration: Under the provisions of this section, the HHS secretary can award grants to state substance abuse agencies, local governments, or nonprofit organizations in areas with high rates of or rapid increases in heroin or other opioid use to expand the availability of medication-assisted treatment. CITATION Com18 \l 1033 (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 2018).
Section 601. State Demonstration Grants for Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Response: In this section, the HHS secretary can authorize the states to institute their measures which best serve their interests to best respond to the opioid epidemic.
Who will be covered by the policy and how?
The bill is primarily directed to the general public and specifically any person within US borders who are addicted especially to Opioids. The bill covers the people by giving grants through the HHS secretary through various organizations, i.e., substance abuse agencies, local government, NGOs that play a role in addressing the Heroine and Opioid use to expand their scope of operation. The act also authorizes the HHS to award grants to states to implement strategies for pharmacists to dispense naloxone and train the public on its’ utility to help intervene opioid effects and reverse its effect. Thus, the bill will cover the people by channeling funds to help sensitize the public on the opioid epidemic and any other area where there is reasonable and verifiable need that necessitates the federal funds to help fight the addiction problem. The channel of funds can either be through NGOs, government, substance abuse agencies, etc.
How will the policy be implemented?
The act will be implemented by releasing funds to the respective areas where they are needed to fight the opioid crisis. The funds will be authorized by the HHS secretary who upon review of the issue will determine the centers where the funds will be immediately be required. Through the HHS secretary, more funds will be directed to achieve long-term strategies such as the establishment of research centers to find more effective strategies and drugs to fight the opioid drugs. In places requiring immediate action such as in law enforcement, the policy will be implemented by necessitating law enforcement agencies to reflect the provisions of the act immediately.
What are the short- and long-term goals and outcomes of the policy?
The short-term goal of the policy is to assist the people who are already addicted to opioids. The bill has provisions on how to help states distribute naloxone, a reversal drug to assist the addicted people. Thus, the short-term goal is to expand the availability of naloxone to law enforcement agencies and other first responders to help in the reversal of overdoses to save lives and help as many people as possible and lead them on the road to full recovery from the dependence of opioids. The bill also provided for the expansion of incarcerated individuals with opioid addiction to increase the resources allocated for them to fight the epidemic CITATION Com18 \l 1033 (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 2018).
In the long term, the act provides for more extensive research to find out better intervention strategies to the epidemic. It also sought to strengthen the prescription drug monitoring programs to help states monitor and track prescription drug diversion especially to at-risk individuals CITATION Com18 \l 1033 (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 2018). In the long term, the plan is aimed to allocate funds to sensitize the public on the dangers of abusing opioids. The act also provides for medication-assisted treatment and ...