Opioid Crisis (MN Governor's Race)

In October of 2017, the federal government declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency. It kills 115 people a day and has accounted for the majority of the 64,000 drug overdose deaths since 2016. In 2016, 395 Minnesotans died of an opioid overdose which was an 18% increase from 2015. 186 of these deaths were from prescription opioids. Since 2000, opioid overdoses have increased by 1000% and deaths from overdoses have increased by 600%. American Indians are 5 times more likely to die from an opioid overdose than white Minnesotans, and black Minnesotans are twice as likely.

Opioids are a class of drugs that include illegal drugs like heroin, as well as a variety of prescription drugs such as oxycodone, Vicodin/hydrocodone, morphine, and codeine. (Side note: I have a prescription for hydrocodone sitting in my closet unopened. It was prescribed to me on my way home from my wisdom teeth removal in June. I was too afraid to use it and didn’t need it, anyway. Ibuprofen managed the pain just fine. I haven’t gotten around to safely disposing of it.)

My own bottle of hydrocodone
 that I was too afraid to open.

In 2016, Minnesota health care providers wrote 3.5 millions prescriptions for opioids. The epicenter for this crisis is in Aitkin, Kanabec, and Mille Lacs counties where enough prescriptions were written for each resident to have one. Yet, Minnesota opioid use rates below the national average. Places like Ohio and Kentucky prescribe opioids twice as often. 

So, why is this a political issue? What can lawmakers do about this? Some options include imposing a fee for each unit of opioid prescribed, while having the money used to mitigate the hazardous effects of the drug like combating addiction and addressing contaminated water when the pills enter the sewer system. Legal action can be brought against the drug producers who misled doctors about the addictive qualities. Investing in prevention and addiction treatment is another option for lawmakers. Democratic state senator, Chris Eaton, lost her daughter to a heroin overdose in 2007. She notes, “We don't have a system setup for opioid addiction in Minnesota. We have kind of a system for alcohol, but they are kind of different animals. We are in the middle of an epidemic and we need a more organized and concerted effort to tackle the problem.”

Here is where the candidates stand in relation to opioids:

Jeff Johnson (R): Candidate Johnson has no public commentary on this issue that I could find.

Erin Murphy (D): Candidate Murphy has no public commentary on this issue that I could find.

Tim Pawlenty (R): Candidate Pawlenty is the only candidate to address this issue on his website. (It is one of only 5 issues he addresses.) He says that a key step is holding big drug companies and others involved in this crisis accountable. He says that those companies need to partner with the state to provide resources to help fix the problem. He says we also need better monitoring of prescription drug abuse by doctors and patients. We need to provide first responders training and access to Naloxone kits, ensure we have more treatment options for patients, and stop the importing of cheap and dangerous drugs from Mexico to Minnesota.

Tim Walz (D): Candidate Walz has pushed the VA to actively study medical marijuana for veterans as a way to combat the overprescription of opioids. He will invest in families that want to combat the opioid epidemic.