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The legislation, SB-353, An Act Concerning Opioid Abuse, as well as SB-352, An Act Concerning Prescriptions for and the Dispensing of Opioid Antagonists, work to address Connecticut’s opiate problem.
Fairfield's state lawmakers will host a Community Conversation on Opiate crisis on Tuesday, March 22, to at the Pequot Library in Southport from 6 to 8 p.m.
Previously, Kupchick, Devlin and Sen. Tony Hwang hosted an opiate addiction community forum at Sacred Heart University in January with law enforcement, medical and addiction professionals, prevention councils and support groups in an attempt to find some common sense state proposals.
“Families of addicts need support with help understanding the problem and learning how to help their loved ones. People, young and older find themselves caught up in the disease of addiction with few resources available to help them,” said Kupchick, who spoke passionately before the Public Health Committee. “I understand this problem didn’t happen overnight, and won’t be solved quickly, but I can’t stress enough how important it is we do everything we can to stop this crisis, people are dying.”
Research studies have shown a direct link to the introduction of the pharmaceutical drugs, OxyContin, and related drugs to the explosion of opiate/heroin addictions across this country.
“In January, I had the opportunity to meet with parents whose children were addicted to opiates, some were in recovery and in some cases; they had lost their children to overdose. Their stories were heartbreaking and brought to life how opioid abuse is a complex issue with multiple intervention points and actions needed to effectively address it," said Devlin. “As a legislature, there is nothing more important that we can do in serving the residents of this state.”
In 2012, there were 174 cases of heroin-involved deaths in Connecticut. That number jumped to 258 in 2013, 327 in 2014 and 415 in 2015.
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