Commissioner's response: Prescription opiate and heroin abuse a top priority
Addiction to heroin and other opiates is on the rise nationwide, and Minnesota is no exception. The percentage of those being admitted for treatment rapidly has escalated in our state during the past five years, and the toll on our communities is stark. Heroin arrests, for example, doubled from 2010 to 2011.By: Lucinda Jesson, Duluth News Tribune
- At Lake Superior Treatment Center
- Lucinda Jesson
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Addiction to heroin and other opiates is on the rise nationwide, and Minnesota is no exception. The percentage of those being admitted for treatment rapidly has escalated in our state during the past five years, and the toll on our communities is stark. Heroin arrests, for example, doubled from 2010 to 2011.
Serious problems at a Duluth clinic that provides methadone, one tool used in the treatment of opiate addiction, and now a tragic car accident where methadone appears to have been a factor bring added urgency to this issue.
To respond to this crisis, the new Minnesota State Substance Abuse Strategy declared prescription opiate and heroin abuse an immediate priority. As commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, I have the issue high on my agenda. The strategy, issued by DHS and other state agencies in cooperation with local partners, takes a comprehensive look at this and other substance-abuse issues.
Approaches can be as simple as training more physicians in the basics of addiction, opiate prescribing and alternative approaches to pain management. The statewide strategy also calls for educating a broad range of front-line professionals about prescription drug abuse and accelerating efforts to include these methadone prescriptions in the Prescription Monitoring Program, which can help spot misuse of controlled substances.
In addition to this comprehensive strategy, we must put the right rules in place to hold methadone providers and recipients accountable. The use of methadone is a recognized part of treatment for heroin and other opiate
addictions. And although the use of a legal drug in place of an illegal one remains controversial, methadone therapy is effective for many people. For others the results are poor or mixed. In this battle with heroin and other opiates, we need every possible tool at our disposal and we must make sure they are managed responsibly.
We will work to develop and enforce more rigorous state-licensing regulations for methadone-treatment delivery rather than relying on federal rules; change payment rates to incent providers to focus not just on medication but on education and therapy required for program recipients; and change staffing levels to improve treatment so counselors are responsible for fewer clients.
When problems with providers do occur, we must act decisively. That was the case with Lake Superior Treatment Center in Duluth, which has a history of chronic violations. After licensing sanctions (including conditional licensure imposed last March) that should have caused a responsible provider to clean up its act, we saw no evidence of improvement, and we revoked the center’s license last month.
The center has appealed and can continue operating under tight supervision until the appeal is decided. We expect the center to take this opportunity to reassess how to provide quality care as it faces the prospect of losing its license permanently. If that happens, we have a plan to ensure clients receive the care they need without placing undue hardship
on them or their communities.
While the right rules and tough enforcement are critical, perhaps our most important strategy is to strengthen prevention efforts within and across Minnesota communities. Health plans, prevention organizations, state and local government, parents, educators and community groups all must come together to create a culture that will stem the tide of drug abuse in Minnesota.
Addiction to heroin and other opiates is on the rise nationwide, and Minnesota is no exception. The percentage of those being admitted for treatment rapidly has escalated in our state during the past five years, and the toll on our communities is stark. Heroin arrests, for example, doubled from 2010 to 2011.
Serious problems at a Duluth clinic that provides methadone, one tool used in the treatment of opiate addiction, and now a tragic car accident where methadone appears to have been a factor bring added urgency to this issue.
To respond to this crisis, the new Minnesota State Substance Abuse Strategy declared prescription opiate and heroin abuse an immediate priority. As commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, I have the issue high on my agenda. The strategy, issued by DHS and other state agencies in cooperation with local partners, takes a comprehensive look at this and other substance-abuse issues.
Approaches can be as simple as training more physicians in the basics of addiction, opiate prescribing and alternative approaches to pain management. The statewide strategy also calls for educating a broad range of front-line professionals about prescription drug abuse and accelerating efforts to include these methadone prescriptions in the Prescription Monitoring Program, which can help spot misuse of controlled substances.
In addition to this comprehensive strategy, we must put the right rules in place to hold methadone providers and recipients accountable. The use of methadone is a recognized part of treatment for heroin and other opiate
addictions. And although the use of a legal drug in place of an illegal one remains controversial, methadone therapy is effective for many people. For others the results are poor or mixed. In this battle with heroin and other opiates, we need every possible tool at our disposal and we must make sure they are managed responsibly.
We will work to develop and enforce more rigorous state-licensing regulations for methadone-treatment delivery rather than relying on federal rules; change payment rates to incent providers to focus not just on medication but on education and therapy required for program recipients; and change staffing levels to improve treatment so counselors are responsible for fewer clients.
When problems with providers do occur, we must act decisively. That was the case with Lake Superior Treatment Center in Duluth, which has a history of chronic violations. After licensing sanctions (including conditional licensure imposed last March) that should have caused a responsible provider to clean up its act, we saw no evidence of improvement, and we revoked the center’s license last month.
The center has appealed and can continue operating under tight supervision until the appeal is decided. We expect the center to take this opportunity to reassess how to provide quality care as it faces the prospect of losing its license permanently. If that happens, we have a plan to ensure clients receive the care they need without placing undue hardship
on them or their communities.
While the right rules and tough enforcement are critical, perhaps our most important strategy is to strengthen prevention efforts within and across Minnesota communities. Health plans, prevention organizations, state and local government, parents, educators and community groups all must come together to create a culture that will stem the tide of drug abuse in Minnesota.
Lucinda Jesson is the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services. She wrote this exclusively for the News Tribune partly in response to the newspaper’s recent investigative series on methadone use and abuse.
Tags: opinion, editorials, health
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