Addiction and Recovery Act takes on opoid drug abuse

Bipartisan legislation that aims to address the increasing incidence of opioid and prescription drug addiction has been introduced in both the House and Senate by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or CARA (S. 524-H.R. 953), contains six major provisions: prevention and education; law enforcement and treatment; treatment and recovery; collateral consequences; addiction and recovery services for women and veterans; and incentivizing comprehensive response to addiction and recovery.

Under Title I, Prevention and Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would create an interagency task force to develop best practices for pain management and pain medication prescribing. The Department of Justice (DOJ) would be charged with creating a national education campaign to prevent the abuse of opioids and heroin. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) would create new grants to help implement community-wide prevention strategies for areas experiencing above average rates of drug abuse for extended periods.

Title II, Law Enforcement and Treatment, would authorize the DOJ to make grants available for alternatives to incarceration programs, training for state and local law enforcement on Naloxone (which reverses the effects of an opioid overdose) and expansion of prescription drug take-back programs.

Title III, Treatment and Recovery, calls for new grant funding to be made available by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment for areas that have a high rate of heroin and opioid use and for ONDCP to create a National Youth Recovery Initiative that would provide recovery support for individuals enrolled in high school or college. ONDCP would also be directed to create and expand grants for recovery services.

Title IV, Addressing Collateral Consequences, would provide grants for the expansion of education opportunities for incarcerated individuals, revise the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to remove questions related to drug possession and convictions, and create a National Task Force on Recovery and Collateral Consequences which would be charged with identifying collateral consequences faced by individuals with drug convictions and recommend ways of reducing them.

Title V, Addiction and Recovery Services for Women and Veterans, calls on the DOJ to create a grant program that would expand a state's ability to address opioid and heroin abuse by pregnant and parenting women and grants for family-based substance abuse treatment, and authorizes the VA to expand the use of veteran treatment courts.

Title VI, Incentivizing Comprehensive Responses to Addiction and Recovery, would authorize grants for the planning and implementation of an opioid abuse response initiative through HHS, the DOJ and the ONDCP.

NACo policy supports diversion and treatment for alcohol and substance abuse disorders. NACo also supports treatment-based alternatives to local incarceration for nonviolent offenders whose core problem is substance abuse and addiction.

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