The Senate must vote on a plan to fight the epidemic of opioids

WASHINGTON – The Senate is ready to offer its own order to deal with the country's deadly opioid epidemic.

Senators are expected Monday to approve a broad bipartite program that would tackle the crisis on several fronts, including new measures to prevent prescription painkillers from entering the United States illegally and from facilitate access to prevention and treatment programs.

Senate legislation will have to be reconciled with a similar measure passed by the House in June. But given the broad support for the proposals to Congress and the White House, lawmakers have been optimistic about signing a law before the end of the year.

"There is a bipartisan sense of urgency because it is our worst public health epidemic and it affects virtually every community," said Senator Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., And President. of the Senate Health Committee.

This photo of Tuesday, August 15, 2017 shows an arrangement of opioid oxycodone-acetaminophen pills in New York.

Patrick Sison, AP

Congress has already allocated billions of dollars to help fight the prescription drug epidemic, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last year resulted in 72,000 overdose deaths, a record.

Some $ 4.7 billion for the opioid crisis was included in the omnibus budget bill approved in March, and Alexander said another $ 3.7 billion is expected to be spent in the next fiscal year, which begins October 1st.

The Senate Opioid Crisis Response Act, which includes more than 70 proposals from a series of hearings, is intended to address some of the legal gaps and regulatory issues that have allowed drugs to proliferate and addicted to get treatment.

One of the key proposals in the bill is to curb the flow of fentanyl and other opioids to the United States by mail from countries like China.

Fentanyl, responsible for much of the rise in opioid overdoses, is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and often arrives in the United States by mail from Mexico and from China.

"The epidemic of opioids is compounded by the influx of deadly synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, which is mainly sent to the United States by our own postal service," said Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who led an 18-month investigation into the illegal distribution of drugs.

The bipartite report that emerged from this survey explained how drug traffickers are taking advantage of the weaknesses of international mail security standards to violate US customs laws and regulations by shipping drugs directly through the US postal service.

One of the provisions of the bill – the Prevention of Synthetic Drug Trafficking and Overdose Act, or the STOP Act – would eliminate the flaws of the federal law by requiring the postal service to collect electronic data on goods entering the country. it's okay, where are you going and what's in the package.

Courier operators such as UPS and FedEx are already required to collect this electronic information, while the postal service does not require electronic information for most messages entering the United States. Because of the volume of mail scan these packages and stop the illicit goods from crossing our borders.

Under the STOP Act, the postal service could face civil penalties if it fails to collect electronic data.

"The STOP Act will fill this gap in federal law, help keep this poison out of our communities and ultimately help save lives," Portman said.

Other Senate provisions would accelerate the research and development of non-addictive analgesics, expand access to opioid addiction prevention and treatment programs, provide grants to states to buy back drugs unused and would provide recovery care in hospitals or pediatric centers for babies born with opioid withdrawal.

Alexander has described the development of non-addictive analgesics as the "Holy Grail" in the fight against the opioid epidemic.

"We sometimes forget that there are 100 million Americans living with pain, and there are 25 million people who really suffer because they suffer from chronic pain," he said. "They need help and we need more effective medications and pain treatments."

In addition, the Food and Drug Administration would be allowed to require special safety packaging for opioids, for example by sealing them in plastic blister packs and limiting the dose to three to seven days. Some two dozen states have already limited the number of pills that can be prescribed at the same time.

According to the federal requirement, "the day would be over to take a bottle of 60 tablets, use a dozen and put the rest in the pharmacy of your bathroom so that your teenager takes part in a party graduation ceremony ".

Senate staff have already begun discussions with their counterparts in the House to develop differences between the two bills, Alexander said. The goal, he said, is to place the final package on President Donald Trump's office early next month.

More: The House will vote on dozens of bills aimed at combating the epidemic of murderous opioids

More: President Trump threatens to sue opioid manufacturers, says crisis is "war"

Copyright 2017 USATODAY.com