As fentanyl deaths rise, state legislatures resist ‘hurt discount’ methodology : NPR

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

However first, we flip to the fentanyl epidemic. Yesterday Pennsylvania state Senate handed a invoice that might ban supervised drug injection clinics. These are applications that purpose to scale back overdose charges. However as fentanyl deaths hold surging, some state lawmakers nationwide are pushing again in opposition to so-called hurt discount applications. NPR dependancy correspondent Brian Mann is with us to speak about this backlash. Hello, Brian.

BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Hello, Sacha.

PFEIFFER: Would you first outline hurt discount?

MANN: Yeah. So it takes most individuals experiencing dependancy, particularly extreme dependancy with a drug like fentanyl, a very long time to recuperate. So the objective of hurt discount is to maintain folks alive and as wholesome as attainable till they will get remedy and counseling. The Biden administration has actually been emphasizing this method as deaths have soared, making medical care and dependancy remedy medicines extra extensively obtainable. And a few organizations need to go even additional than the Biden workforce. They’re pushing for applications like supervised drug injection websites, locations the place folks can use avenue medication underneath medical supervision and get assist in the event that they overdose.

PFEIFFER: And these are very controversial applications. In order we have stated, some state legislatures are pushing again. The place is that this occurring?

MANN: Nicely, we’re seeing bipartisan discomfort with these concepts everywhere in the U.S. In Philadelphia, the place greater than 1,200 folks a 12 months are dying from overdoses, there is a group known as Secure Home. They have been negotiating with the U.S. Justice Division, hoping to open one among these clinics. However Democratic state lawmaker Christine Tartaglione, who represents part of Philadelphia hit onerous by drug dependancy, launched a invoice that might ban this type of clinic. Right here she is talking with WHYY.

CHRSTINE TARTAGLIONE: My constituents are not looking for protected injection websites within the neighborhood. I believe it allows dependancy. We needs to be within the enterprise of getting these of us remedy.

MANN: Now, many years of analysis contradict that argument that these clinics allow drug use. However the ban handed the state Senate this week in Pennsylvania by a large margin with bipartisan help – nonetheless has to make its method via the State Home. I ought to say state lawmakers in Colorado additionally just lately voted down a measure that might have allowed comparable supervised injection websites.

PFEIFFER: Past pushback to those websites, are state lawmakers attempting to restrict different forms of hurt discount?

MANN: Yeah. Yeah. They are surely. West Virginia has made it a lot tougher for communities to open needle trade applications which can be confirmed to assist scale back the unfold of ailments like HIV/AIDS. In Idaho, lawmakers just lately handed a measure to restrict federal funding for Narcan or naloxone. It is a drug confirmed to reverse opioid overdoses. I spoke about this pattern with Ronda Goldfein. She’s on the board of Secure Home. That is the group that desires to open the supervised drug use clinic in Philadelphia. She says it is irritating that lawmakers are backing away from public well being methods that may save lives.

RONDA GOLDFEIN: We’re in an overdose disaster. The protected option to proceed is to essentially have a look at all the choices and never simply rule issues out as a result of it would not appear proper.

MANN: And one different a part of this pattern, Sacha, is state legislatures, Nevada being the most recent, which can be pushing a lot more durable prison penalties, together with obligatory jail time, for folks caught with even actually small quantities of fentanyl.

PFEIFFER: And, Brian, why are states transferring on this extra conservative course?

MANN: Nicely, there are such a lot of deaths, 80,000 fentanyl deaths now a 12 months, extra folks fighting dependancy. It is change into a political flashpoint. I spoke about this with Kendra Neumann. She’s a drug coverage analyst at a nonpartisan group known as the Colorado Well being Institute. She says there’s actually a contest underway over learn how to method this dependancy disaster.

KENDRA NEUMANN: You realize, folks have felt because the pandemic that there have been rising crime charges. Homelessness in Colorado specifically has change into extra seen. And lots of people affiliate that with drug use. And I believe that has simply heightened the dialog about overdoses and about drug use.

MANN: Consultants I talked to, Sacha, say stress on state lawmakers to maintain getting more durable on fentanyl – it is solely going to develop as we head into subsequent 12 months’s election season.

PFEIFFER: NPR’s Brian Mann. Thanks.

MANN: Thanks.

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