Senator Ken LaValle: Heroin & Opioid Addiction A Top Priority In Senate Budget

March 14, 2016 – Senator Ken LaValle announced the Senate budget includes a total of $167 million in funding to strengthen prevention, treatment, recovery, and education services as part of its 2016-17 proposal. In addition to this significant funding commitment, the budget proposal also includes legislation to prevent the abuse of opioid prescription drugs.

Senator LaValle said, “Fighting Heroin and Opioid addiction remains a top priority of mine. The heroin crisis is affecting many communities throughout our region.  Today, it touches individuals in every social and economic group.  It’s critically important that we pull out all the stops to halt the spread of heroin.  The Senate budget proposal includes important  and necessary tools towards halting this epidemic.”

The Senate plan increases the Governor’s budget proposal of $141 million by more than 18 percent. The $26 million in additional funds proposed includes:

$10 million for transitional housing for individuals in recovery, with 25 percent of these funds to be used for individuals ages 15-24;
$6.5 million for additional recovery services;
$3.85 million for 11 additional Recovery Community Centers.  The Executive Budget proposed to expand the number of Recovery Community Centers in the state by six, from the current number of three to a total of nine. The Senate proposal would bring the total to 20, and would require that all centers be distributed on a geographically even basis;
$2 million for school prevention efforts;
$2 million for Recovery Coaches;
$1 million for an additional 10 Family Support Navigators, who will assist New Yorkers and their families with navigating insurance and treatment systems. The Executive Budget proposes 10 Navigators to be regionally distributed statewide and the Senate proposal doubles that commitment to 20, helping to ensure their services would be distributed on a geographically even basis;
$450,000 for opioid drug addiction, prevention and treatment programs; and
$200,000 for Family Support Navigator training.

The Senate budget also includes legislation (S6962) to prevent the abuse of opioid prescription drugs. This bill helps prevent the abuse of opioid prescription drugs by ensuring that FDA-approved abuse-deterrent drugs are dispensed whenever prescribed and are not interchanged or substituted for an opioid prescription drug lacking abuse-deterrent technology. The bill also requires insurance plans to cover abuse-deterrent opioid prescription drugs at the same level as non-abuse deterrent opioid prescription drugs, prevents insurance plans from requiring a patient take a non-abuse deterrent opioid drug before a drug containing abuse-deterrent technology and ensures that prior authorization requirements are applied equally to both abuse-deterrent and non-abuse-deterrent opioid prescription drugs.

        Today’s funding recommendation is the latest in the Senate legislative efforts to combat the opioid and heroin crisis – first concentrating on the abuse of prescription painkillers, and then following the opioid addiction trend as it turned to heroin. Deaths from heroin overdoses across the nation escalated 175 percent between 2010 and 2014, and these numbers continue to climb.

        Since 2014, the Senate’s Joint Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction has held forums that solicit input from stakeholders and experts, and use the information collected to develop recommendations for legislative action.  Senator LaValle, a member of the Task Force, noted that significant legislation has already been enacted as a result of the Task Force’s efforts, and more continues to be developed to address the ongoing crisis.

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