SENATE MEMORIAL 105

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Gerald Ortiz y Pino

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO CONVENE A THREE BRANCH TASK FORCE AND REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION TO ALLOW FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF FACILITIES WHERE CERTAIN PATIENTS WITH OPIOID DEPENDENCE WHO DO NOT RESPOND TO ORAL TREATMENT MAY RECEIVE MEDICALLY PRESCRIBED INJECTABLE OPIOID AGONIST TREATMENT.

     WHEREAS, according to the department of health, in 2017 New Mexico had the seventeenth-highest drug overdose death rate in the nation; and

     WHEREAS, heroin and prescription opioids such as methadone, oxycodone and morphine caused ninety-seven percent of the unintentional overdose deaths between November 2017 and December 2018; and

     WHEREAS, between 2013 and 2017, opioid-overdose-related emergency department visits increased by fifty-one percent in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, in Rio Arriba county alone, opioid-overdose- related emergency department visits accounted for more than one hundred fifty-five visits per one hundred thousand people between 2013 and 2017; and

     WHEREAS, despite some recent gains, the most vulnerable New Mexicans continue to suffer the effects of the opioid crisis, which are far-reaching, placing enormous burdens on individuals, their children and their families, as well as health care providers, social services agencies, state and local governments and law enforcement agencies; and

     WHEREAS, House Memorial 56, passed during the second session of the fifty-third legislature, charged the legislative health and human services committee with the task of hearing testimony regarding injectable opioid agonist treatment; and

     WHEREAS, on November 8, 2018, the legislative health and human services committee heard testimony from Dr. Martin T. Schechter, the founding director of the school of population and public health in the faculty of medicine at the university of British Columbia and chief scientific officer of the Michael Smith foundation for health research; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. Schechter testified to the success of injection-assisted opioid agonist treatment programs such as the study to assess longer-term opioid medication effectiveness and the North American opiate medication initiative, particularly for chronic injection opioid users who have not benefited from available therapies; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. Schechter emphasized the importance of attracting those users into treatment; and

     WHEREAS, injectable opioid agonist treatment can be administered safely under the supervision of a medical professional, as demonstrated in a presentation by Dr. Scott MacDonald, lead physician of Providence crosstown clinic, during the 2017 opioid use disorder in primary care conference; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. MacDonald showed that after eighty-eight thousand four hundred fifty-one injections, there were only fourteen opioid overdoses that required naloxone and eleven seizures, all of which were successfully treated on site without hospitalization; and

     WHEREAS, the data show that dosages administered to patients stay well under maximum dangerous levels and do not continually rise over time, but instead plateau and even fall; and

     WHEREAS, the costs of an injectable opioid agonist treatment program are minimal when compared to savings to the public related to medical costs, decreased crime and decreased pressure on law enforcement; and

     WHEREAS, a successful injectable opioid agonist treatment program may include diacetylmorphine, which is a Schedule I opioid, or hydromorphone, which is a Schedule II opioid; and

     WHEREAS, a state-supervised network of facilities where patients could receive injectable opioid agonist treatments would require significant cooperation between the legislative and executive branches of the state government and coordination with federal regulatory bodies, such as the national institute on drug abuse and the drug enforcement administration; and

     WHEREAS, such a network of injectable opioid treatment facilities may require enactment and amendment of safe harbor provisions and carveouts from state criminal law and civil and professional liability statutes to minimize risk and incentivize professionals to administer to and care for patients; and

     WHEREAS, rules for the approval and operation of such facilities may include minimum standards of safety, licensing requirements, funding, coordination among various public agencies and community service providers;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the department of health be requested to convene an injectable opioid treatment task force consisting of members from all three branches of state government, representatives of federal governmental stakeholders and community service providers that work with substance-using populations to create a demonstration project to explore the feasibility of implementing and maintaining a state-supervised network of facilities where certain patients who do not respond to current oral opioid agonist options may receive injection opioid agonist treatments; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the injectable opioid treatment task force be composed of the following members, at a minimum, or the designees of those members:

          A. a representative of the behavioral health services division of the human services department, appointed by the secretary of human services;

          B. the attorney general;

          C. the chief public defender;

          D. a representative of the New Mexico supreme court;

          E. the director of the administrative office of the courts;

          F. the secretary of human services;

          G. the secretary of health;

          H. the secretary of corrections;

          I. the secretary of public safety;

          J. the secretary of Indian affairs;

          K. the director of the risk management division of the general services department;

          L. the executive director of the New Mexico sentencing commission;

          M. the chair of the prosecutors section of the state bar of New Mexico;

          N. the executive director of the New Mexico criminal defense lawyers association;

          O. the executive director of the drug policy alliance;

          P. the executive director of the amity foundation almas de amistad;

          Q. the executive director of the life link;

          R. the executive director of the New Mexico medical society; and

          S. the executive director of the New Mexico nurses association; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the injectable opioid treatment task force seek the input of nationwide experts and state, county and municipal stakeholders; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that by November 1, 2019, the injectable opioid treatment task force present a report of its findings and recommendations to the legislative health and human services committee, the legislative finance committee and the appropriate interim committee that studies issues pertaining to courts, corrections and justice; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of health, the secretary of human services, the secretary of corrections, the secretary of general services, the secretary of public safety, the secretary of Indian affairs, the attorney general, the administrative office of the courts, the executive director of the New Mexico sentencing commission, the chair of the prosecutors section of the state bar of New Mexico, the chief public defender, the executive director of the New Mexico criminal defense lawyers association, the executive director of the drug policy alliance, the executive director of the amity foundation almas de amistad, the executive director of the life link, the executive director of the New Mexico medical society and the executive director of the New Mexico nurses association.

- 7 -