AdvocacyArchive

Back on the road: Advocates
ready for Road to Recovery, pt. 2

NCADD-NJ’s Road to Recovery campaign is a grassroots effort to highlight public policies that help individuals overcome addiction through life-saving intervention, education, and treatment, as well as remove common barriers to living healthy lives in recovery.

NCADD-NJ successfully launched its Road to Recovery campaign in 2015, which had a victory in its first year when A.471 was signed into law permitting automatic expungement for individuals completing drug court. This victory, along with the Overdose Prevention Act, Opportunity to Compete Act, and recent legislative enactments for recovery high schools and collegiate recovery programs, is due to the endless support of grassroots advocates working with decision makers. Addiction is a disease that touches many lives in New Jersey. Taking a comprehensive public health approach to this growing problem is urgent.

NCADD-NJ has identified new legislation that, with your grassroots support, can save lives and encourage those struggling with addiction to get well and become, like many in recovery, productive members of our communities. Finding and sustaining recovery can be hard, so focusing on public policies that make the recovery process easier is a cause worth fighting for.

The following bills are a priority for NCADD-NJ advocates in the 2016-2017

Educate Early for Young People:

The opiate epidemic in New Jersey is preventable. Many of the individuals that are most severely struggling are young people. Age-appropriate, evidence-based education for young people is crucial in preventing addiction.

A.2292/S.372 mandates substance misuse instruction developed in the state Department of Education for the core curriculum.

Continued Naloxone (Narcan) Expansion:
New Jersey has made strides in making Naloxone, a drug that reverses overdose, more readily available for first responders and family members. We can continue to work together to get this life saving drug into as many hands as possible to get more individuals on the Road to Recovery by advocating for these bills.

A.2334/S.295 allows anyone to get Naloxone without a prescription.

S.1051 requires insurance payers to cover the costs of Naloxone and Buprenophine

Treating Addiction as a Health Issue for the Incarcerated:
NCADD-NJ has identified bills that address addiction and introduce recovery in institutional care. New Jersey prisons are filled with non-violent drug offenders, many of whom suffer from untreated addiction. NCADD-NJ believes that addressing addiction as a health issue can be the beginning of anyone’s Road to Recovery, regardless of their environment

S.383 trains certain doctors in jails and prison on dealing with people with addictions

S.384 requires jails and prisons to supply medications to inmates for chronic illnesses

Remove Barriers to Sustain Recovery:
Once an individual is on the Road to Recovery, there are many obstacles. NCADD-NJ has identified bills that will help remove some of these common barriers in addition to establishing community environments where the recovery community can thrive.

A.3684 facilitates the establishment of four new peer-to-peer Recovery Community Centers in New Jersey

S.1687 provides for issuance of certificate of rehabilitation to certain offenders with substance abuse disorders.

CARA supporters turn
attention to House vote

In a near-unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate on March 10 approved the Comprehensive Addictions and Recovery Act (S.524), the first stand-alone bill to pass the Senate in years. Known as CARA, the legislation authorizes much-needed funding for evidence-based prevention, treatment and recovery programs to help Americans struggling with addiction to heroin or other opioids. The bill passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote of 94-1 and a push is now under way in the House of Representatives.

CARA took three years to develop and is the only legislation in Congress that addresses all four corners of an effective response to addiction: prevention, treatment, recovery and law enforcement. CARA will provide resources for recovery community organizations to develop, expand and enhance recovery services, advocate for individuals in recovery, reduce stigma, conduct public education and outreach, and strengthen the network of community support for individuals in recovery.

Faces & Voices of Recovery is working to build support for CARA in the House of Representatives. It recently launched an initiative reach 50 new co-sponsors before the Memorial Day recess. CARA currently has 112 co-sponsors (77D, 35R). Linda Rosenberg, president and CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health, said, “Let’s not kid ourselves: addictions to painkillers, heroin and alcohol are chronic diseases just like diabetes or heart disease. We’re talking about a health crisis that dwarfs the Ebola outbreak. It’s physically and emotionally crippling, wrecks families, jobs and local economies, and it takes millions of lives.” She went on to say, “The only way to attack a crisis of this magnitude is for the government, health care and law enforcement communities to attack the problem with adequate prevention, treatment and recovery services. Such an effort takes time, commitment, patience and yes, money. We are so gratified that the Senate has come to their aid.”

CARA authorizes $600 million for grants to address the national prescription, opioid and heroin addiction epidemics. Authorized funds could be used for treatment and recovery services, alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders, law enforcement initiatives and programs to prevent overdose deaths and improper prescriptions. An authorization, however, does not equate to funding. An amendment for an appropriation was defeated.

CARA is sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). The bill has bipartisan support and would expand prescription drug take-back programs and establish monitoring to prevent over-prescribing of opioid painkillers. It would expand the availability of medication-assisted treatment, including in criminal justice settings, and would support treatment as an alternative to incarceration.