\u201cWe do need to be looking at alternatives,\u201d Tipton said. \u201cIf we can help incentivize that and look at different treatment regimens as opposed to immediately prescribing opioids, we can start to move in a proactive way to eliminate some of the problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gardner echoed a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are a lot of alternatives that we should be looking at, and how we spread those best practices around the country are incredibly important,\u201d Gardner said in a phone interview last week.<\/p>\n \u201cThis act combines a lot of good elements to address an unfortunately growing epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n Nationally, Colorado ranks 12th in abuse of prescription opioids, according to CHA. In 2016, the CDC reported 942 overdose deaths in Colorado.<\/p>\n The recent CDC data doesn\u2019t include Colorado, but Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper believes the state is turning a corner on opioids but is seeing a transition to heroin.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost like whack-a-mole,\u201d Hickenlooper said in a phone interview Friday. \u201cWe need to fight back in one place and then you see another increase that\u2019s related coming up almost immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n The governor said Congress should take one important step.<\/p>\n \u201cThey should stop the pharmaceutical companies from marketing the opioids to doctors,\u201d Hickenlooper said in a previous interview. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Tipton and Gardner both said the governor\u2019s proposal should be considered, along with all other policy solutions, but they didn\u2019t specifically endorse it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s a way we can do this more effectively, then we should look at every alternative,\u201d Gardner said.<\/p>\n To successfully reduce the crisis, which the acting director of the CDC describes as getting \u201cworse,\u201d Tipton said partnerships are needed at all levels of government.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got to be the federal government, the state government and \u2026 our communities,\u201d Tipton said.<\/p>\n The federal government isn\u2019t appropriating enough money to make partnerships successful, the governor said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just keep hearing stories that they are strapped for cash,\u201d Hickenlooper said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president\u2019s proposal made significant cuts in things like the ability to address the opioid epidemic. They don\u2019t have the resources that they had even two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n In an effort to combat fraudulent prescriptions, Bennet has co-sponsored legislation to better track controlled substances prescribed by doctors. The Every Prescription Conveyed Securely (EPCS) Act would direct Medicare providers to electronically prescribe controlled drugs covered under Medicare Part-D to better track opioid use.<\/p>\n \u201cAn epidemic of this magnitude requires us to address all aspects of the problem, starting with how providers prescribe opioids,\u201d Bennet said in a news release.<\/p>\n Economic well-being is another aspect of addiction plaguing rural communities, which are hit hardest by the overdose epidemic.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you take that economically distressed community map and you lay that over the nation\u2019s prescription drug abuse challenge, it\u2019s hard to tell which map is which,\u201d Gardner said in a speech to rural health care providers in Washington in early February.<\/p>\n Tipton said these areas have reason to be hopeful for economic improvement.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have some good news on the horizon with the tax bill we just passed,\u201d Tipton said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt empowers people with more of their money. Also, (it helps) businesses on the tax front to be able to create more jobs, to be able to put more people to work and maintain the jobs we have.\u201d<\/p>\n Tipton acknowledged that the government must also recognize that the path to recovery for many addicts is long.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also have to take into consideration that this is going to be some long-term treatment,\u201d Tipton said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to not only stem the tide to keep it from increasing, but then to be able to deal with people, many of whom became addicted not on their own volition.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Eversden is an intern with The Journal and a student at American University in Washington, D.C.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Southwest Colorado congressmen introduce legislation to address a national epidemic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[616,28,29,3131,23,24,25],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-76450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-addiction","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-prescription-drugs","tag-u-s-rep-scott-tipton","tag-u-s-sen-cory-gardner","tag-u-s-sen-michael-bennet"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76450"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=76450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}