Youngstown Daily Legal News

Mandatory opioid abuse education in schools sought

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: October 21, 2014

State Reps. Robert Sprague and Denise Driehaus have collaborated on a bipartisan bill designed to educate students about opiate addiction.

House Bill 367, one of several measures introduced this legislative session focused on curbing Ohio’s opioid epidemic, would require each school district to include instruction in prescription opioid abuse prevention in the district’s health curriculum.

Sprague, R-Findlay, and Driehaus, D-Cincinnati, are members of the House Prescription Drug Addiction and Healthcare Reform Study Committee.

The group traveled across Ohio in 2012 and developed a three-pronged approach to fighting Ohio’s opioid program, which includes prevention, treatment and stopping the diversion of medications.

If HB 367 is signed into law, the required instruction would have to emphasize the prescription drug epidemic and the connection between prescription opioid abuse and addiction to other drugs, such as heroin.

“Our state’s growing opioid addiction problem is devastating families and negatively impacting communities throughout Ohio,” Driehaus said.

“Asking school districts to incorporate prevention curriculum into health classes may be the only exposure to opioid education and prevention students ever receive. Since prevention is so critical to avoiding opioid abuse and addiction, we must step in to help this epidemic from affecting more Ohioans.”

With regard to recommendations for instruction in prescription opioid abuse prevention, the proposed legislation would require the governor’s Cabinet Opiate Action Team to develop suggestions and submit them to the Ohio Department of Education.

Upon receiving the recommendations, the education department would have to publish them in a prominent location on its website for use by school districts in developing their health curricula.

Similar instruction about nutrition, personal safety, alcohol and drug abuse is already mandatory under state law.

In stumping for HB 367, Sprague said the addition of opioid education to the curriculum would not be difficult or costly.

“After the study committee, we wanted to approach the opioid epidemic in three ways: prevent more people from becoming addicted, stop the diversion of opioid medications while keeping people alive and make sure effective treatment is available,” he said.

“By bringing awareness to the issue in our schools and preventing the further abuse of opioids, this bill will have a positive impact on young Ohioans and their families.”

In offering her endorsement of the proposed legislation, Rep. Cheryl Grossman, R-Grove City, said that because of the addictive qualities of prescription opioids and its pervasiveness in Ohio, she and other interested parties believe that instruction on the prevention of opioid abuse is necessary for school children.

“Opioids are controlling the lives of too many Ohioans,” she said. “I am grateful for the collaboration among schools and the communities to proactively educate our youth on the dangers of opioids.”

In addition to HB 367, Sprague, who serves as chair of the prescription drug addiction and healthcare reform study group, is the sponsor of House Bill 359, a measure that would require disclosure of the addictive nature of certain prescription drugs.

He has also taken the lead on House Bill 369 and House Bill 378.

HB 369 would require the Medicaid program and health insurers to cover certain services for recipients with opioid addictions and HB 378 is seeking to prohibit a physician from prescribing or personally furnishing certain drugs to treat opioid dependence or addiction unless the patient is receiving appropriate behavioral counseling or treatment.

Another measure, House Bill 366, which was signed into law earlier this year and became effective last month, will require hospice care programs to establish procedures to prevent diversion of controlled substances that contain opioids.

In a 95-1 vote, HB 367 was passed by the House and has been assigned to the Senate Education Committee.

[Back]