Gov. Malloy and New England Governors Urge Congress to Take Additional Steps to Tackle Opiate Addiction
Governor Dannel P. Malloy and the Governors of every New England state sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging federal law to be amended to allow medical professionals - such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants - to prescribe the treatment medication buprenorphine for opiate addiction. Currently, nurse practitioners can prescribe addictive narcotics for pain, but under the Drug Abuse Treatment Act of 2000 are currently barred from prescribing medications designed to break addiction to deadly narcotics and heroin.
"It is imperative that we remove the barriers to treatment. The health of our families, our communities and our economy rests no our ability to ensure men, women and children who are addicted to drugs have every opportunity to turn their lives around," the six Governors wrote. "Our states have worked together to align our efforts in addressing the opiate crisis. One of the areas defined is improving treatment access, in part to address the workforce shortages that we are all experiencing and the challenges in making enough services available to meet the need. The expansion of qualifying practitioners would help us meet this important goal."
The letter is signed by Governor Malloy, Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont, Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Governor Paul LePage of Maine, Governor Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Governor Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island. It has been delivered to House and Senate leaders, in addition to the leadership of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Governor Malloy serves as Chairman of the Coalition of Northeastern Governors, which helped facilitate this letter among its members.
**Download:
New England Governors letter to Congressional leaders on steps needed for
the treatment of opiate addiction