House approves opioid bills, but not the one Baltimore health commissioner says 'we desperately need' (Baltimore Sun)

Wednesday Jun 13th, 2018

The House of Representatives, considering a legislative package to combat the opiod epidemic, won’t vote on the bill that Baltimore’s health commissioner says is “what we on the frontlines desperately need.”

“It is what we on the frontlines desperately need,” Wen said in a release this week. “It would deliver sustained funding, in an amount commensurate with the scope of the crisis, directly to areas hardest hit by addiction and overdose.”

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When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

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