Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Authorizes Key Programs That Will Help Save Lives
Statement from Debra L. Wentz, Ph.D., President and Chief
Executive Officer, New Jersey Association of Mental Health and
Addiction Agencies:
On behalf of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and
Addiction Agencies, Inc. (NJAMHAA), I applaud the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives for passing the Comprehensive Addiction
and Recovery Act (CARA). We are eagerly awaiting President
Obama's signature on this critical legislation, as it will expand
prevention, treatment and recovery services through a number
initiatives.
CARA includes authorization for: the establishment of a Pain
Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force that will
examine the availability of and need for of medical alternatives
to opioids; authorization of the Department of Justice to award
grants to state, local, and tribal governments to provide opioid
abuse services, including training of first responders to
administer opioid overdose reversal drugs, as well as prevention
and treatment; expansion of the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA's) Opioid Safety Initiative to include all VA medical
facilities; the Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Act of 2016,
which allows the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) to award grants to support prescribing of opioid overdose
reversal drugs (e.g., naloxone) for individuals who are at high
risk of overdose, including those to whom opioids are prescribed;
Lali's Law, which requires HHS to award grants to states that
allow standing orders for opioid overdose reversal medications;
and the Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Expansion and Modernization
Act, which expands the types of qualifying medical providers to
prescribe medications as part of opioid use disorder
treatment.
All of these initiatives are critical for saving lives. We are
grateful to our Congressional Delegates for their leadership in
authorizing these programs as a key step to helping to ensure
that individuals with substance use disorders can receive the
treatment and recovery support they need and to provide
opportunities to prevent these devastating illnesses for many
others throughout our state and nation. The next critical action
to move from the authorization of these programs to actual
implementation is Congressional appropriations and NJAMHAA
exhorts that full funding is enacted.