Massachusetts' U.S. Senator Ed Markey says the heroin and prescription drug epidemic needs to start receiving the same funding and the same public debate as other deadly diseases.
"It is absolutely imperative for our country to deal with this issue. We need to put together a comprehensive plan. There's no silver bullet. It begins with education and prevention but it goes through law enforcement and ultimately treatment as well," Markey said.
Markey held a meeting in Boston with local, state and federal officials one day after news of three suspected overdoses in Worcester, where authorities say the city is on track for more than 500 drug overdoes this year.
U.S. Drug Czar Michael Botticelli says it's a crisis being replicated nationally.
"Where one, we see a dramatic increase in the number of people who are addicted to prescription and pain medication and heroin. Seeing that transition from prescription pain medications to heroin and looking at the dramatic increase of overdose deaths nationally," he said.
The meeting comes on the same day that Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill aimed at strengthening the state's response to the drug abuse problem.
"I think what's most important in this bill that is new and on the table is the idea that people can get access to service without a pre-authorization from their payer," Public Health Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett said.
Politics
Which means insurance companies are required to reimburse patients for drug and alcohol treatment, with guaranteed 14 day inpatient coverage. These are changes that recovering heroin addict Sherri Harrison considers a big step forward.
"I needed pretty intense treatment at the beginning, but I also needed it to continue. I couldn't just do like, a week detox. It doesn't work like that. I really needed something long term," she said.
Organizations such as the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans have pushed back on the legislation saying it could be the wrong type of treatment for some addicts and will drive up health care costs. Markey says with 17,000 overdose deaths last year, higher costs in the short term need to be made.
"Education, prevention, treatment ultimately saves much more money in the long run, but you have to invest," he said.
