Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lawmakers Make Plea To WHO To Do Everything In Its Power To Prevent Global Opioid Crisis
Members of Congress called on the World Health Organization Wednesday to “do everything in its power” to stop the manufacturer of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin from setting off “a worldwide opioid epidemic” with its rapid expansion into developing countries and other foreign markets. In a letter to the WHO’s director-general, a dozen U.S. representatives from areas devastated by opioid addiction urged the international medical community to be wary of Connecticut opioid maker Purdue Pharma and its international arm, known as Mundipharma. (Ryan, 5/3)
In other news on the epidemic —
Four years into an opioid epidemic that has claimed thousands of lives in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott officially declared a public health emergency Wednesday. An emergency declaration gives Scott the power to spend immediately without the Legislature’s approval and for public health officials to move quickly to respond to a crisis. It also allows the state to accept a federal grant awarded two weeks ago for prevention, treatment and recovery services that will total more than $54 million over the next two years. (Auslen, 5/3)
The order gives the state access to more than $27 million in federal grant money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The state was awarded a $54 million on April 21 through the department’s Opioid State Targeted Response grant. The money will be used to provide prevention, recovery and support services, including the drug Naloxone, which reverses overdoses. (Ochoa, 5/3)
Deaths from heroin and fentanyl overdoses have more than doubled in unincorporated Orange County. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says the sheriff’s office has responded to more than 160 heroin overdoses in the first three months of 2017 alone – a 132 percent increase over last year. (Aboraya, 5/3)
Deaths caused by synthetic opioids increased by 72 percent nationwide from 2014 to 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. President Trump signed an executive order to set up a new national opioid commission to combat opioid abuse. But what can a commission reasonably accomplish? (Weber, 5/3)
First responders in Northern Kentucky have a chance to pin overdoses to an electronic map immediately with technology offered from a federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program. State Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, arranged a session Wednesday between Northern Kentucky first responders and Washington-Baltimore HIDTA Deputy Director Jeff Beeson to see a secured mobile application that, Beeson said, can "make sure we have real-time data that is cross-jurisdictional." (DeMio, 5/3)
