Skagit County, WA – Skagit County Commissioner Lisa Janicki traveled to Olympia on Friday to ask the House Health Care & Wellness Committee to vote for Bill HB 2272, which would place restrictions on Opioid Prescriptions in an effort to combat addiction. Like many families in our small community, Commissioner Janicki’s family has been directly affected by the opioid crisis.
According to an article by the Columbia Basin Herald, Lisa Janicki’s son, Patrick Janicki was only 20-years old when he suffered a serious back-injury when he fell while pole climbing at a county fair. After years of managing chronic back pain from the injury, Patrick told his mother in 2016 that he was addicted to pain pills. Less than a year later, at only 30-years old, Patrick died of health complications related to his opioid drug use.
Patrick had been under the care of the family’s physician for years, who Lisa said had been recklessly prescribing powerful and long-lasting opioids to her son and contributing to his addiction. These included fentanyl patches, which are effective for 72-hours and potent enough to kill patients not already tolerant to opioids.
Janicki was many of several members of the public who spoke to the committee about loved ones who died or nearly died to opioid addiction.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson originally requested Bill HB 2272 and its companion Bill SB 6050 to combat the nations opioid abuse problem. If the bill is enacted, medical practitioners could issue no more than a 7-day supply of opioids’ for patients who are 21-years or older, and no more than a 3-day supply for patients younger than 21 years of age.
Medical Practitioners would still have discretion to prescribe their patients a greater supply of opioids if deemed necessary, but for no longer than a patient’s pain is severe enough to need opioids. The condition requiring more opioids would be documented on the patient’s medical record. Cancer patients and those receiving end-of-life care would be exempt from the prescription limitations.
Under the proposal, practitioners would also be required to discuss the risk of addiction with patients prescribed more than a 3-day supply.
According to a 2014 study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, among those who began using in the 2000’s, 75 percent of Opioid abusers reported that their chronic use started with a prescription drug.
According to a 2017 study by the Center for Disease Control, patients who initially received only a single day’s supply of opioid prescriptions had a 6 percent chance of still using opioids a year later. Patients were more than twice as likely to be using opioids a year later if their initial prescription lasted eight days or longer. Prescriptions of long-acting opioids resulted in the highest rates of long-term using.
The Columbia Basin article states while everyone in the hearing room agreed that opioid-related deaths were tragic, there was disagreement that the attorney general’s bill was the right solution.
Rep. Michelle Caldier, R-Port Orchard questioned why the legislation would focus on days supply, rather than the quantity or concentration of opioids prescribed for that duration.
Nathan Schlicher, a representative for the Washington State Medical Association stated he agreed that focusing on days and not on pills was problematic. Schilcher is quoted as saying “the restrictions would drive doctors concerned with patient pain to prescribe more and stronger pills.”
Rep. Drew MacEwen, R-Union, voiced his concerns about the inconvenience to patients who would need to drive to their doctor every three to seven days in order to get another prescription.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson testified for his bill, stating “the benefits of mitigating opioid abuse outweighs the potential inconvenience to patients. I have three words people are dying.”
Lisa Janicki asked the committee to take these regulatory steps to help save the lives of people like Patrick.
“I could not save my own son, but I want to make darn certain we save someone else’s kid” said Janicki.
Mount Vernon was recently chosen as Skagit County’s second Community Prevention Wellness Initiative site. A Coalition called MV Hope, was formed to prevent youth and community substance abuse in the Mount Vernon area. For more information on MV HOPE or information on how to get involved, please visit their Facebook Page by clicking here.
And what about knowing what other medications a person is taking aside from the opiates ? No talk of that of course .Lets just focus on the one drug as evil and hurt patients with chronic pain ,some of which have a hard time getting to their doctors and who’s lives unfortunately revolve around being in pain .
I lost my brother to morphine in 2009 .He had neck surgery and was tossed out the door same day .They gave him a day supply amount of pain meds for his spine surgery .He was still in a lot of pain ,had screws and hardware in his spine and asked to be seen again because of the severe pain.They said you’ll be fine and you don’t require pain meds .
So next thing I know my brother is dead at 44 years old .Why ? Because a friend took pity on him and gave him her morphine that she couldn’t stomach .What nobody seemed to know was that my brother also had severe sleep apnea .Even his primary doctor who I spoke to a month later wasn’t even aware of his death and didn’t know that he was also on a drug called seriquil which is also a depressant .
Patient privacy , doctors scared of doing any sort of pain management ,combined with a complacent attitude killed him . He should have been monitored in the hospital post op .He should have never been given any sort of respiratory depressant because of his sleep apnea. He is just one of too many people I’ve seen pass on too young . Yet our government wages war in Afghanistan but guards the opium fields . Yeah some war on drugs .
When it was my turn to have neck surgery I made sure they kept me under observation and I was on pain meds for a couple of weeks but then tapered down and never had any problem with withdrawal or anything like that . I still have nerve pain which I take a non narcotic for but even those could be abused by certain people who have a predisposition for addiction .
Granted many doctors got nice kickbacks and perks for writing prescriptions for pain meds but at the other extreme you’ve got doctors who will pass you off to the “pain management” doctor who are usually pretty booked up because they’re overloaded with patients that were sent their way and very few doctors willing to do the job .So what happens is those who are desperate seek drugs like heroin on the streets . But hey once they stop asking for pills they’re off the doctors radar and not their problem anymore right ?
I’ve seen this story one too many times and it’s getting old . All they’ll accomplish is absolving themselves of lawsuits and fines .The problem will continue to be there and street drugs will replace the prescribed ones . It’s already been happening but doctors won’t talk about that now will they ? It’s too bad about Lisa’s son .She could have contacted the doctor and had a few words with them regarding her sons addiction . I have before and intervened with a loved one and it saved her life . Dont know the story ,not trying to judge .What we need is hope for people ,jobs, a sense of future and to see our leadership in government acting with some morality and not bombing other countries into the stone age or endless criminal corruption cases with elected officials .This society of ours has become narcissistic and materialistic .
I see children who are apathetic to others being killed either with real life on the news or or they’re becoming numb to it through video games . Bottom line is we have some serious problems in this country and this drives the epidemic because certain drugs wash that depression away for a brief moment and make you feel good . It’s not necessarily the drugs as it is the loss of hope for the future . People just want to feel good and have a life free from poverty , injustice and want a sense if direction . They’re working harder than ever and many are getting nowhere .Many live in tents but work full time and many can’t find housing because it’s ridiculously expensive. Or they’re crushed by tuition debt never able to get out from under .The rich get richer ,the poor get even worse .Then theres our reckless government spending and on and on the list goes . Call this a rant or what you wish but I certainly know why many turn to opiates and understand all too well why they’re dying in big numbers . To maje drastic knee jerk reaction change solves nothing and won’t bring our loved ones back . I guess it takes a politician losubg her son to take action ? Nobody seemed to care when it was my brother , that’s for sure .He was a “statistic” as the coroner said to me when I asked what had killed him . Just another pill popping junkie and not anyone special .This was how it was treated and how I was spoken to . No investigation ,no questioning the doctors , nothing .