Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Sessions Tells DEA To Study Opioid Production Quotas, Consider Cuts
The Hill: Sessions To DEA: Evaluate Opioid Production Quota
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is asking the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to evaluate whether changes are needed to the amount of opioids drug makers are allowed to produce. If needed, potential alterations could be made through an interim final rule, which allows an agency to issue a new regulation effective immediately without first going through the notice and comment period. (Roubein, 3/1)
The Hill: GOP Chairman: Panel Reviewing Additional Legislation To Fight Opioid Crisis
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) detailed additional pieces of opioid legislation the panel will review as it aims to get the bills passed by Memorial Day weekend. At a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event Thursday on combating the opioid epidemic, Walden specifically mentioned three bills the committee will review in its next legislative hearings slated for this month. (Roubein, 3/1)
Meanwhile, in other news on the epidemic —
The Associated Press: Kentucky House Votes To Tax Opioids To Close Budget Gap
For six years, a pharmaceutical distributor sent more than 50 million doses of prescription opioids to five eastern Kentucky counties, enough for every person there to have 417 pills each. Kentucky's attorney general has sued that company and others like it. Thursday, state lawmakers voted to tax them. (3/1)
Stat: Kentucky Could Become The First State To Tax Opioid Prescriptions
Lawmakers in Kentucky are weighing whether to impose a new tax on opioid prescriptions, the latest effort in a string of so-far failed attempts to pull new revenue from the painkillers that helped seed a nationwide addiction crisis. The proposed tax — a 25-cent levy on drug distributors for every dose sent to the state — was approved by the Kentucky House Thursday as part of a broader budget and tax plan. But unlike in other states, where lawmakers aimed to steer the new revenue to addiction treatment and education programs, the Kentucky plan, if enacted, would direct the money to fill budget gaps elsewhere, including boosting funding for the state’s public schools. (Joseph, 3/2)
Tampa Bay Times: Doctors Voice Concern About Opioid Addiction In Women, And The Impact On Newborns
While the opioid epidemic touches people in all kinds of communities, physicians and researchers are finding out that painkiller addiction affects men and women differently. ... At Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, physicians in the maternal, fetal and neonatal institute see two to four babies born every day that are addicted to opiates, said Dr. Sandra Brooks, associate medical director of the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital. (Griffin, 2/28)
Minnesota Public Radio: First Responders Use Narcan To Counteract Opioid Overdoses
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office says first responders in cities outside of Minneapolis used an antidote to successfully counteract an opioid overdose 50 times since early 2016. (Collins, 3/1)
News Service of Florida: Florida House OKs Opioid Prescription Limits
While the sponsor acknowledged the bill won’t solve the state’s opioid crisis, the House unanimously passed a measure Thursday that includes imposing prescription limits. (3/1)
