SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 27

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

Craig W. Brandt and Paul A. Pacheco

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TO CHARGE THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE DURING THE 2015 INTERIM WITH STUDYING THE POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE-DETERRENT OPIOID PRESCRIPTION DRUGS AND THE BOARD OF PHARMACY'S PRESCRIPTION DRUG MONITORING PROGRAM TO REDUCE THE RATE OF OPIOID DEPENDENCE IN THE STATE AND THE CONCOMITANT OPIOID-RELATED MORTALITY RATE.

     WHEREAS, in 2013, seventy-one percent of the twenty-two thousand seven hundred sixty-seven deaths in the United States relating to pharmaceutical overdoses involved opioid analgesics; and

     WHEREAS, in the United States, prescription opioid abuse costs were approximately fifty-five billion seven hundred million dollars ($55,700,000,000) in 2007; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has the highest rate of opioid drug overdose deaths in the United States, with almost every county in New Mexico having a higher drug overdose death rate than the rate for the entire United States; and

     WHEREAS, pharmaceutical opioids can be abused in a number of ways, and new abuse-deterrent opioid products are being developed and are available on the market; and

     WHEREAS, the board of pharmacy has in place a prescription drug monitoring program with the aim of reducing prescription drug abuse and diversion without interfering with the appropriate medical use of opioid prescription drugs or infringing on the legitimate prescribing of a controlled substance by a practitioner acting in good faith and in the course of a professional practice;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico legislative council be requested to charge the legislative health and human services committee during the 2015 interim with studying the potential for abuse-deterrent opioid prescription drugs to reduce the rate of opioid dependence in the state and the concomitant opioid-related mortality rate; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative health and human services committee be charged during the 2015 interim with reviewing the board of pharmacy's prescription drug monitoring program and hearing testimony from prescribers, pharmacists, the New Mexico drug policy alliance, the board of pharmacy and other experts regarding the monitoring program's effectiveness in reducing opioid abuse and dependence in the state; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the president pro tempore of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the chair of the legislative health and human services committee, the chair of the board of pharmacy and the executive director of the New Mexico drug policy alliance.

- 3 -