{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://meadows.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/local-state-and-federal-officials-working-to-stop-local-opioid-abuse", "Local, state, and federal officials working to stop local opioid abuse", "2017-12-06", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "NC", "Mark Meadows", "M001187", "meadows.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Counties across the state have been holding comprehensive county government leadership forums on opioid abuse, an initiative lead by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. Macon County officials joined a growing list of county leadership to hear the presentation of the state of the opioid epidemic in North Carolina and in Macon County. The Highlands Board of Commissioners, the Franklin Town Council, and the Macon County Board of Commissioners, attended a joint meeting last week and were presented an overview of the opioid crisis by members of Macon County Public Health.\n\u201cThese leadership sessions were an idea put together by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners and all 100 counties will have a similar exercise,\u201d said Macon County Public Health Director Jim Bruckner. \u201cMacon County is far ahead of most counties in the state in terms of dealing with the opioid problem plaguing our community. We have a task force, which a lot of counties don\u2019t. But just because Macon County is ahead of most, it doesn\u2019t mean that everything in the county is rosy.\u201d\nLynn Baker, Public Health Section Administrator for the Macon County Health Department told county leaders that in Macon County, 37,000 opioid prescriptions were written in 2016, not including prescriptions administered to cancer patients.\n\u201cThat equated to 1.1 prescriptions for every single county resident\u2026 that is an average of 81 pills per person,\u201d said Baker.\nOn the state and federal level, Bruckner informed county leaders that legislation is being put into place to address the issue. The Stop Act of 2017, sponsored by Senator Jim Davis, was passed with the intent of limiting the number of opioid pills that a doctor can prescribe for certain medical cases.\n\u201cThe Stop Act, when it\u2019s fully implemented, will limit the supply of opiates to a five- or seven-day supply depending on the case,\u201d said Bruckner. \u201cDoctors will no longer be able to write a \u2018scrip\u2019 for 30 days, instead, they will write it for five to seven days, and have to see a patient again in order to provide additional medications.\u201d\nOn the federal level, the day after Macon leaders met for the forum, Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) introduced legislation to address the opioid epidemic. On Wednesday, Meadows and Congressman Jim Renacci (R-OH) introduced the Opioid Abuse Deterrence, Research, and Recovery Act \u2014 a bill to combat the rapidly spreading opioid crisis in America.\nMeadows\u2019 and Renacci\u2019s bill seeks to address an underlying cause of this issue by placing common sense parameters, with appropriate flexibility, around initial opioid prescriptions for acute pain in order to limit the risks of addiction. Research conducted by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows that the risks for addiction to prescription opioids dramatically increase around seven days after prescribed. This bill would place a limit on a patient\u2019s first opioid prescription for acute-pain to no more than 7 days, except in cases of traumatic injury, chronic conditions, cancer-care, end of life care, palliative care, or based on a physician\u2019s recommendation. The limitation to seven days would appropriately mitigate risks of abuse while also providing flexibility for doctors and patients to receive treatment where needed.\n\u201cFar too many men, women, and families across the country have suffered from the preventable spread of opioid abuse in America,\u201d Rep. Meadows said. \u201cThe effects of this crisis are heartbreaking, and I know for me, they\u2019re felt right at home. My state of North Carolina has four of the top 20 cities in America suffering from opioid abuse, with over 12,000 North Carolinians dying as a result of the epidemic since 1996. This has got to end\u2014and we believe Congress has an opportunity to lead by helping establish standards that benefit doctors, patients, and treatment centers alike. I want to thank my colleague Jim Renacci as well for his efforts. I\u2019m grateful we could introduce this bill to begin a process of seriously addressing this crisis that has impacted so many.\u201d\nWhile the first and foremost negative effect of opioid abuse are the implications it has on individuals and their families, county officials note that there are financial implications on the county level.\n\u201cFrom 2014-16 we never spent more than $100,000 on out-of-county inmate housing and this year, it\u2019s going to be close to $400,000 because of the number of inmates we have currently that are specifically in for drug-related charges,\u201d said Macon County Commissioner Ronnie Beale. \u201cWe are having to look at expanding the detention center because it\u2019s at capacity all of the time and the root of that overcrowding is the opioid epidemic.\u201d\nFranklin Mayor Bob Scott spoke after the presentation and said that like the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, the municipal equivalent, the North Carolina League of Municipalities has made addressing the state\u2019s opioid epidemic a priority.\nScott also touted the Franklin Police Department\u2019s efforts to begin carrying Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal medication. In August, the town of Franklin approved funding to supply each of the town\u2019s 18 patrol vehicles with the drug. Since August, Franklin Police officers have completed training, but as of Tuesday, have yet to actually carry the drug.\nThe Macon County Sheriff\u2019s Office have recently updated the department\u2019s policy and officers have completed training and will begin carrying the drug this week. Going one step beyond having only patrol units carry it, the MCSO plans to have all units carry Narcan including courthouse and detention staff.\n\u201cPolicies and procedures as well as training takes time,\u201d said Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland, who began the process to carry the drug last month. \u201cWe can\u2019t just jump into something without having everything in place. By end of today [Tuesday, Dec. 5] we will enter our next phase and that is dispensing the product to officers.\u201d\nThe Highlands Police Department has carried the drug since 2015. Full Circle Recovery was the first organization in the county to carry the drug and since they started in 2014. CEO and founder Stephanie Almeida reports the entity has distributed 1,713 overdose reversal kits and personally reversed 70 overdoses, with one fatality.\nIf Franklin Police Department follows suit and joins Highlands and Macon County Sheriff\u2019s Office in carrying the drug in all patrol vehicles, it will be nearly 200 law enforcement agencies in the state to do so. The Pitt County Sheriff\u2019s Office was the first law enforcement agency to carry Narcan which began in April 2015. Since then, 111 of the state\u2019s 357 police departments carry the drug. In Western North Carolina, police departments in Highlands, Waynesville, Andrews, and Bryson City have carried the drug for the last few years.\nIn addition to law enforcement agencies, Macon County Emergency Services administered the drug to 16 patents in 2016 and 40 patients so far in 2017. All but one fire department in Macon County carries the drug, and to date, members of the fire department have administered Narcan on two occasions.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://meadows.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/local-state-and-federal-officials-working-to-stop-local-opioid-abuse"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.4800819121301174, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}