ST. PAUL - Cindy Woldstad lived in pain, then became hooked on opioid painkillers.
While being treated in Hibbing, doctors only wanted to give her "pills, pills, pills, pills," she told a Minnesota House committee Tuesday, during a day in which fighting opioid addiction was in the Minnesota Capitol spotlight.
She did not want to leave bed, and did not want her grandchild to see her in pain and know of her addiction.
"I really wanted to watch my grandchildren grow up," she said. "I wanted my life back."
Achieving that goal was not easy.
"As a patient, it is so hard to find doctors ... who are willing to take you off pain medicine," said Woldstad, who unsuccessfully tried to get off the medicine herself.
She moved from Hibbing to St. Paul Park and found Dr. Lizbet Ronning in Hastings, who helped get her off opioid painkillers. Ronning gradually weaned Woldstad off opioids and prescribed recovery medicines.
"The last two months, I feel human again," she said, after seven years of taking painkillers.
Woldstad's tear-filled testimony and stories of deaths blamed on opioid addiction illustrated the concern that has prompted a series of bills that on Tuesday began their trips through legislative committees.
To reduce the availability of opioids, one bill would forbid pharmacists filling opioid prescriptions more than 30 days old.
Another bill would require doctors in many cases to check whether a patient already has had an opioid prescription before another is written. That legislation is designed to prevent "doctor shopping" by people who try to get multiple prescriptions for addictive painkillers.
One measure requires information about addiction and abuse to be distributed when opioids are prescribed.
One of the most controversial measures is one that would add a fee to opioid medicine, with up to $22 million a year in proceeds used to help combat addiction.
Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar, said his bills and others will need a "heavy lift" to pass. The new fee, especially, goes against the feeling of Republicans who control the House and Senate; they generally oppose new fees and taxes.
"I am visiting with my colleagues every day on this issue," said Baker, who lost a son to opioid addiction six years ago.
Several people speaking at opioid day at the Legislature said opioid addiction is a disease, not a crime.
"It is not morally wrong to be sick,” said Sen. Dan Schoen, DFL-St. Paul Park, a police officer. “We don't jail you for cancer, so let's not lean that way for addiction."
Dr. Chris Johnson, a Twin Cities emergency room doctor, said he cannot make it through a shift without dealing with at least one opioid problem.
"Make no mistake, we are in crisis," he said, blaming drug makers. "This crisis was not an accident, this was engineered."
