S-1134 : Still Just a Bill

Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015

This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in cooperation with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, to convene a Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force to develop and study best practices for pain management and prescription of pain medication.

The Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program is extended through FY2020. The Government Accountability Office must evaluate the effectiveness of this program in reducing prescription drug abuse and any corresponding increase or decrease in the use of heroin.

This bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to extend the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program through FY2020.

HHS must advance education and awareness of the risk of abuse of prescription opioids (drugs with effects similar to opium).

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in coordination with HHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ), must establish a national drug awareness campaign that emphasizes the similarities between heroin and prescription opioids and increases awareness of the dangerous effects of mixing fentanyl (a prescription opioid painkiller) with heroin.

DOJ, in coordination with HHS and ONDCP, may make grants to state, local, or tribal governments to create demonstration programs to allow first responders to prevent opioid overdose death by administering an opioid overdose reversal drug (e.g., naloxone). Priority must be given to entities in states that provide civil liability protection for first responders administering a drug to counteract opioid overdoses.