A slew of bills meant to curb the ongoing opioid epidemic, or address one of its many side effects, soared through their first committee hearings Tuesday.
Two subcommittees of the Senate Education and Health Committee heard the bills, which ranged from addressing the soaring number of babies born addicted to opioids to expanding access to and the rules overseeing the state’s prescription monitoring program, a database used to detect patterns of physicians overprescribing opioids.
Over the past several years, Virginia has seen a skyrocketing number of residents addicted to opioids, a class of drugs that includes prescription painkillers and illicit drugs like heroin.
From 2007 to 2016, opioid addiction claimed the lives of more than 6,600 Virginians. The state’s medical examiner’s office is still compiling the data for 2017, but in its most recent report, it predicted that more than 1,200 residents died due to an opioid overdose last year, either in its illicit or prescription form.
