The goal is to reduce opioid deaths in the state by 50 percent in five years, a campaign promise of Whitmer’s, a goal she described as “absolutely doable. It will be tough. But we are up to this challenge, and the people of our state are expecting us to meet it.”
In 2018, five people a day died from opioids in the state of Michigan; 2,686 died of drug overdoses during the year, 13 percent higher than in 2017. Of the deaths, 2,053 were opioid related, a figure that’s up by 16 percent from 2017.
“This is a crisis that’s hurting families in every community across Michigan,” Whitmer said at news conference announcing the signing of the bill. “Addiction is not a moral failing. Addiction is a disease,” she added.
The restriction will take effect in July 2020.
Other planned improvements to the state’s addiction treatment infrastructure include improving doctor education on safe drug prescription methods, and expanded services and better access offered to public. There will also be a $1 million media awareness campaign that will seek to destigmatize opioid addiction and hopefully lead to treatment being sought by and for victims.
“The media campaign, called Auto Correct, will implement an animated graphic that replaces a stigmatizing word with a healing word,” said Robert Gordon, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, at the press conference. “People who feel shame and embarrassment about drug use are more likely to hide it. People who feel understanding and acceptance are more likely to get help.”
There is also a plan in place to no longer allow Medicaid recipients to require prior authorization to be prescribed opioid recovery medications. There will also be medication assistance programs introduced, with methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone therapies used.
Civil fines will be levied against any underage persons buying such products, and against the merchants known to sell them to same. All sellers will be required to ask for an ID from those seeking to purchase such medicines without prescription, unless they are visibly over the age of 18.
Dextromethorphan, or DXM, a chemical found in many cough and cold medicines, causes an hallucinatory high that some teens have chased by drinking the syrup. The mixture is sometimes adulterated with alcohol before being consumed.
