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It's no secret that West Virginia continues to suffer from the opioid epidemic. It is hard to find a family in this state that hasn't been directly affected by this crisis.
We have watched our family members struggle with substance use disorder and many of us have watched our loved ones die from this disease.
In 2021 alone, there were 1,507 overdose deaths here in West Virginia, the majority of these were due to opioids and fentanyl.
In many cases, these opioids were prescribed by doctors in a legitimate attempt to address pain. But as we all know, opioids are also highly addictive and the adoption of them as the go-to pain management tool has wreaked havoc on our state and led us to a point where addiction has become one of the biggest health crises in our lifetime.
There has been a lot of effort put in to address this problem from many different angles ranging from legislation to faith. Laws have been passed to help alleviate the problem and others are being considered right now in this legislative session.
Two of those bills -- House Bill 5340 and Senate Bill 362 -- could signal a turning point in the fight against opioid addiction. Both bills try to bring awareness and create access for people to be prescribed non-opioid pain medication to treat acute pain.
What are non-opioid pain medications? They are just what they sound like--a medical breakthrough that was developed to alleviate pain without getting people addicted. That would be a game changer. But only if people know about them as an option to treat pain, and it doesn't cost them more to use them.
House Bill 5340 would make it unlawful for a commercial health insurance as well as Medicaid and PEIA to prioritize opioid painkillers over the new non-opioid alternatives.
That means that it will make it illegal for these insurance providers to deny payment if a doctor prescribes the non-opioid alternative pain medication. So doctors can feel free to prescribe the non-opioid alternatives for pain without having to worry if the insurance provider will refuse to pay for this type of medication.
Senate Bill 362 would also make it illegal for insurance carriers to refuse to pay for non-opioid alternatives when they are prescribed. And the bill would require medical doctors and the Department of Health Human Resources to make information about these non-opioid alternatives available to the public.
I have worked in addiction recovery for over three decades and I have seen the problem grow into the crisis that it is today. I have seen opioid addiction destroys families and communities. It is a problem that is not going to go away on its own.
These two bills represent a movement in the right direction. They will directly contribute to a drop in the number of opioids prescribed. And that in turn will mean that fewer people become addicted. I just hope our leaders in the capitol recognize this and support these measures.
Linda Mealey (MA, LSW, ADC, MAC, SAP) is owner/operator of One Unique Recovery House in Buckhannon. She is a graduate of Marshall University with a master's degree in counseling. She is a licensed social worker and holds multiple certifications in the addiction's profession. Currently she is employed full-time at Camden Family Health working with students and adults in Lewis and Webster counties. She is also in long-term recovery and volunteers her time in the recovery community.