Today, Public Health Law Watch sent a letter (both electronically and on paper) to every member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs in response to a January hearing entitled "Unintended Consequences: Medicaid and the Opioid Epidemic." That hearing and its accompanying report presented a slew of misinformation, misleading statistics, and poorly informed conclusions that attempted to blame the current opioid crisis on the expansion of Medicaid. The George Consortium members mobilized to respond with facts and real potential solutions.
Read moreInvoluntary Treatment for Substance Use Disorder: A Misguided Response to the Opioid Crisis [from Harvard Health Blog]
PHLW's Leo Beletsky, Elisabeth Ryan, and Wendy Parmet authored a piece this week on the Harvard Health Blog about why involuntary commitment for substance use disorder should not be touted as a tool in the opioid crisis.
Read moreWill Public Health Litigation Help to Solve the Opioid Crisis?
In this week’s issue of New England Journal of Medicine, Michelle Mello and I write about drug company liability for the opioid crisis. We analyze the history of litigation efforts against opioid manufacturers and distributors to hold these parties responsible, at least in part, for the epidemic.
Read more"Graham-Cassidy" Provides Zero Funding to Address the "Opioid Crisis"
One of the few positive provisions of the summer’s Senate “health care” bills was the inclusion of funding to states to “support substance use disorder treatment and recovery support services.” With more than 30,000 people dying from heroin and painkiller overdoses in the United States every year, sufficient funding to address and effectively treat the issue is crucial. Yet the latest version of the “health care” bill has omitted this funding entirely.
Read moreThe Wrong Path: Involuntary Treatment and the Opioid Crisis [from The Crime Report] →
PHLW's Leo Beletsky and Elisabeth Ryan wrote about the increasing use of "Section 35" commitments in Massachusetts over at The Crime Report. This law allows people with substance use disorders to be committed involuntarily to a secure facility for up to 90 days. This is not the way to handle the opioid crisis.
Read moreLaw Enforcement, Drugs, and the 'Public Health' Approach [from The Crime Report]
Leo Beletsky, George Consortium founding member and Associate Professor of Law and Health Sciences at Northeastern University School of Law, wrote "Law Enforcement, Drugs, and the 'Public Health' Approach," for The Crime Report in April 2016. Watch tomorrow for a new piece about the law in Massachusetts that allows individuals with substance use disorders to be involuntarily committed to secure facilities for up to three months.
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