Across ND, Reports of Heroin Use Have Increased Every Single Month Since 2013, and Opioid-Induced Fatalities Increased by 125 percent from 2013-2014

BISMARCK, N.D.  – During a discussion with Bismarck leaders, U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today unveiled a new bill she helped introduce to provide needed federal funds for opioid intervention and treatment resources, which would help North Dakota communities combat the state’s opioid abuse crisis.

Convening Burleigh County public health professionals, law enforcement officials, treatment specialists, and educators to discuss the needs of the Bismarck community to build a coordinated effort against opioid abuse – which has reached pandemic levels across the state – Heitkamp discussed how her new bill is designed to help equip communities, like Bismarck and Mandan, with the tools to fight opioid abuse by making treatment and intervention resources readily available. During the discussion, Heitkamp heard from local law enforcement and mental health and addiction treatment specialists who discussed the need for the proper investments and coordination to prepare for the onslaught of opiate abuse that other counties have already experienced. Heitkamp’s bill aims to make sure the federal government is doing its part to provide the proper recovery tools families and community members need.

Across North Dakota, heroin and opioid addiction has skyrocketed – in July 2013, just 17 people were being treated for heroin abuse, but by last December that number jumped to 198 people as reports of heroin use have increased every single month from mid-2013 through 2015. According to the Centers for Disease Control, opioid-induced fatalities increased by 125 percent from 2013 to 2014 alone.

“Too often, individuals and families whose lives have been ravaged by opioid addiction and abuse can’t access the resources they need to recover – but working together, we can change that,” said Heitkamp. “No individual should be turned away for lack of resources, or incarcerated out of desperation for treatment. That’s why last week I helped introduce legislation that goes beyond recognition of this nationwide epidemic and makes sure the federal government is doing its part to help provide the tools communities need to engage, intervene, and recover. By convening Burleigh County health professionals, law enforcement, treatment providers, educators and community leaders today, I’m working to build the comprehensive, coordinated response our communities need to treat opioid abuse as the public health and law enforcement crisis that it is.”

Across the country, 47,000 Americans lost their lives to the opioid and heroin abuse crisis in 2014. Heitkamp has been working at the federal level to address this issue by helping pass bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate this spring to expand tools for law enforcement, first responders, and state prescription drug monitoring programs to address the national heroin and opioid abuse crisis. The bill also included legislation Heitkamp introduced which would close loopholes in our federal drug laws to stop foreign drug traffickers before their products reach our borders.

Heitkamp’s Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment (LifeBOAT) Act would work to take the next step in fighting this crisis by helping provide communities with funding for the tools they need to address addiction and recovery head on. By establishing a one-cent fee on each milligram of active opioid ingredient in prescription pain pills – with exceptions for opioid addiction treatment as well as potential rebates for cancer-related pain and hospice care – Heitkamp’s bill would help establish strong investments in prevention and treatment for this epidemic, so that families and individuals can access the care they need to beat opioid abuse.

Since her time fighting North Dakota’s methamphetamine crisis as the state’s attorney general in the 1990s, Heitkamp has been working to stem the tide of addiction, abuse and illegal drug trafficking, and is continuing her work to protect North Dakota communities by bringing current and former White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) directors to North Dakota – securing a national focus and strong resources to the state to help fight drug crime as a result, and convening statewide experts and leaders to combat these crimes as part of her Strong & Safe Communities initiative.

Heitkamp’s bill follows her recent meetings  with facility leaders, medical staff, and tribal leaders during her visits to MHA Nation’s Circle of Life Drug Treatment Center in May and Mercy Hospital in Devils Lake in March where she heard about the unique challenges they face in treating skyrocketing cases of heroin, methamphetamine, and opioid abuse on rural and tribal lands – often due to a lack in the types of recovery resources her bill works to provide.

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