Sen. Kaine leads opioid hearing in Loudoun County; AG Herring testifies
More than 100 Americans are dying every day from opioid addiction.
This stat was just one of a dozen eye-openers noted at a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing in Loudoun County Monday. The hearing, which focused on opioid abuse among older adults, was spearheaded by U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
Attorney General Mark Herring (D) attended as an expert witness, providing testimony about the crippling impact opioid abuse -- and by extension, heroin -- has had on families across Virginia and the nation.
“After speaking with so many mothers and fathers who have buried a child after a fatal overdose, or friends and family who are trying to carry on after the loss of a loved one, I have also learned that what is often described as a 'heroin' epidemic, is really an opioid addiction epidemic,” said Herring. “Something as common as a sports injury, car accident or minor surgery can expose a person to opiods, leading to abuse, dependency, and in the worst cases, leading to the cheaper, more available, more potent and deadlier heroin that can be found on the streets.”
The Centers for Disease Control has declared opioid addiction “the worst drug epidemic in history.” More than 47,000 people died from opioid abuse in 2014, an all-time high. The same year, more Virginians died from opioid and heroin overdoses than vehicle crashes.
A lack of education is a central problem. Witnesses said many older people don't realize common drugs like Vicodin and Oxycontin are opioids.
Over-prescription is aiding the epidemic, Kaine said.
“This is a problem that really begins in our medicine cabinets,” Kaine said, noting that Vicodin and Oxycontin are the most commonly prescribed medicines in the U.S. “It's going to take a big cultural shift to get away from a culture of over-prescription and a culture that uses other methods for managing chronic pain.”
Dr. Katherine Neuhausen, an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, was one of the witnesses at Monday's hearing.
Neuhausen said there's a whole generation of doctors who haven't been properly trained on the devastating impact opioids can have on people and communities.
"In the early 2000s, we were taught that opioids were safe, that there were very few risks ... Pain is the fifth vital sign, you need to treat pain," Neuhausen recalls of her college education.
Now, doctors are being more cautious, and the CDC is considering issuing guidelines for prescribing opioids.
The intent of Monday's hearing was strictly to raise awareness about the ballooning epidemic.
In the Senate, Kaine has introduced or sponsored two pieces of legislation dealing with opioid abuse: the Co-prescribing Saves Lives Act, which would encourage physicians to co-prescribe the overdose-combating drug Naloxone alongside opioid prescriptions; and the Stopping Medication Abuse and Protecting Seniors Act, which aims to prevent inappropriate access to opioids.
Locally, Sheriff Michael Chapman (R) has teamed up with mental health professionals and regional law enforcement to target opioid and heroin abuse through a Heroin Operations Team, established last year.
Monday's full testimony from Leesburg will be available through http://www.Senate.Aging.gov in the weeks ahead.
