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The
commission, led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, said the
recommendations would require funding by Congress but did not
recommend an amount. Trump last week declared the opioid crisis
a public health emergency.
Public health experts broadly welcomed the proposed measures.
"This sounds to me like a very progressive and very needed
move," said Professor Kosali Simon, a health economist at
Indiana University, of the recommendations.
But Paul Hanly, a New York lawyer representing local governments
in a legal battle against opioid makers, said recommendations,
while laudable, would be "toothless" without substantial
funding.
Opioids include prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl.
More than 100 Americans die daily from overdoses, according to
federal data.
The commission recommended a national media campaign to
encourage opioid addicts to seek help. Only 10.6 percent of
people who need treatment get it, the report noted.
The media campaign would encourage addicts to "stop being afraid
or ashamed of seeking help when facing their addiction."
It urged expansion of drug courts, in which addicts convicted of
non-violent offenses are diverted into programs that combine
treatment with mandatory drug testing and court appearances.
The commission said drug courts, which are currently offered in
just 44 percent of U.S. counties, should embrace
medication-assisted treatment to improve outcomes.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week announced plans
to encourage wider use of substitute opioids such as methadone
and buprenorphine, which do not induce a high and are used to
help people through drug addiction recovery.
Still, Dr. Stefan Kertesz of the University of Alabama at
Birmingham said communities often lack treatment facilities
where drug courts can send addicts. And many drug courts charge
fees that make them unaffordable for many.
"Drug courts often function as pay to play," Kertesz said. "Only
people who can come up with money can escape a prison sentence."
The report recommended expanding the ranks of emergency
responders allowed to administer naloxone to treat overdoses. It
also encouraged stricter prescribing guidelines for physicians.
(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Cynthia
Osterman)
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