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West Virginia Implementing New Opioid Policies

Lori Garrett-Bumba, right, program director for Youth Services System, speaks during a substance use conference organized by the Community Impact Coalition in Wheeling. Photo by Linda Comins

WHEELING — Efforts are underway to implement West Virginia’s new Opioid Reduction Act, which is set to take effect June 7.

Susie Mullens, interim director of the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy, talked Friday about the act and the state’s Opioid Response Plan during a visit to Wheeling. She was the keynote speaker for a substance use conference organized by the Community Impact Coalition in Ohio County. The two-day event was held at Mount St. Joseph.

The state Legislature enacted the Opioid Reduction Act earlier this year. Mullens said the act requires the creation of a voluntary non-opioid advanced directive form that would allow patients to specify that they don’t want to be prescribed opioids for medical conditions.

The act also calls for opioid prescription notification and limitations on subsequent prescriptions. To address concerns of people with chronic pain, the new law provides exceptions for ongoing treatment and referral to pain clinics and pain specialists, she said.

“We’re working on a plan for additional communication with providers,” said Mullens.

Another state law, effective June 5, requires initial responders to carry opioid antagonists, which are drugs that reverse an opioid overdose.

Mullens said $1 million was allocated to purchase 34,000 doses of naxalone, also known as Narcan, for first responders.

“That is a substanial amount that will be distributed across the state,” she said.

Medicaid recipients also can receive naxalone at no charge to them. Ambulance services and other providers “will be able to bill Medicaid” for the reversal drug, she said.

This new law allows statewide standing orders for opioid antagonists. As a result, she said, naxalone will be available behind the counter at pharmacies in the state.

The law also creates a community overdose response demonstration pilot project. Mullens said representatives of Huntington’s quick response team, which is already in operation, are willing to start similar teams in other places in West Virginia. Conference attendees said plans are being made to establish a quick response team for Ohio, Brooke and Hancock counties.

Meanwhile, Mullens said the state’s full strategic plan for opioid response is not likely to happen by the July 1 target date.

“I’d rather take a little more time and do it right, rather than rush an incomplete plan,” she said.

The West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy was established by the Legislature in 2017. Mullens, who is in her second stint as interim director, is the office’s policy coordinator.

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