By Kimball Perry, Jim Siegel and Catherine Candisky of the Columbus Dispatch, staff and wire reports
COLUMBUS – Columbus and Franklin County officials trying to stem the growing tide of drug overdose deaths had a message for lawmakers in the Statehouse and on Capitol Hill.
“Stop talking, start funding.”
Those were the words of Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther as he and others rolled out their three-year Franklin County Opiate Action Plan Wednesday afternoon, a plan Ginther says legislators had asked for.
If you or someone you love needs help with opiate addiction, call 614-276-CARE (adults) or 614-722-9372 (17 & under)
“I would say to our federal and state leaders, here it is, and it’s time for you to step up and provide the resources” to contain a crisis that shows every sign of getting worse.
“I think, with a concerted effort across the spectrum of the plan, I am hoping that we can flatten those trajectories,” David Royer, said David Royer CEO of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Board of Franklin County, the agency tasked with doing much of the heavy lifting in implementing the two-year plan.
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Unfortunately, Ginther’s wish, and those of Columbus City Council President Zach Klein and Franklin County Commissioner John O’Grady, for help from the state and federal level might not be fully realized.
The Ohio Senate on Wednesday voted to approve a budget that majority Republicans say contains $176 million to address Ohio’s overdose crisis — potentially more than the House-passed $170 million proposal — but also contains a proposal to freeze Medicaid expansion, which would cripple efforts to combat the drug epidemic.
In Washington, Senate Republican leaders on Thursday released their plan for rolling back much of President Barack Obama’s health care law, cutting Medicaid funding, which may affect the availability of health care for many people suffering from addiction.
“This bill takes away the number one tool we have in the fight against opioids – Medicaid treatment,” said Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. “We cannot allow Washington to rip the rug out from under Ohio communities.”
According to Brown, the bill would end Medicaid expansion and replace it with $2 billion to address the drug crisis nationwide. Last year, Medicaid covered 70 percent of the $939 million Ohio spent on the opioid epidemic.
Medicaid expansion — Gov. John Kasich’s largest response to the opioid crisis — has provided mental health and addiction services to more than 500,000 adults who gained health coverage, according to state officials.
Of the $1 billion Ohio spent last year to reduce drug use and overdose fatalities, $650 million provided treatment through Medicaid expansion, noted Steve Wagner, executive director of the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio.
The local plan does not specify how its initiatives to fight addiction would be funded.
This year, the plan’s first, calls for ensuring an adequate supply of the anti-overdose drug naloxone and creating an addiction stabilization center offering crisis intervention, detoxification and treatment for people who have overdosed
“We can’t offer the hope of recovery if we don’t keep people alive,” Royer said.
The plan also calls for organizing drug take-back efforts and neighborhood forums to inform the community.
Between now and the end of 2019, the plan concentrates on preventing abuse and addiction, reducing the number of opiate-related deaths, expanding access for treatment and improving safety.
Among the initiatives outlined are prescription-drug drop-off sites, expanded staff and treatment facilities for ADAMH, distributing naloxone to suburban and township law enforcement agencies and increasing drug education in schools.
The plan also calls for the creation of a steering committee made up of organizations such as the Central Ohio Hospital Council, Franklin County Children Services, Columbus Public Safety, the Central Ohio Mayors and Managers Association, and public health agencies that will identify specific actions for each of the plan’s goals.