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Manchin introduces bill to tax opioids to fund drug treatment centers

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A bill to tax opioids one cent per milligram would be used to fund substance abuse treatment efforts in West Virginia and nationwide, according to new legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

The Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment (LifeBOAT) Act would establish a permanent funding stream to provide and expand access to drug treatment centers. The bill also includes a rebate program for cancer-related pain and hospice care and exempts drugs used exclusively for the treatment of opioid addiction.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)

Manchin and five other senators introduced the bill Tuesday.

“This is not a benefit. This is not a giveaway,” Manchin said during a Tuesday morning conference call with West Virginia reporters. “This is basically funds that will help all of the people that are out there trying to have treatment centers all over West Virginia.”

The projected revenue stream would be nearly $1.5 to $2 billion per year if the bill was approved, Manchin said.

The funds would be put toward treatment centers in the “most addicted areas” such as West Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Ohio and other states nationwide.

“It’s going to be a tremendous opportunity for them to have the funding and expand the drug courts — the things that we know that have been affective,” he said.

Manchin said he knows the legislation will most likely receive some backlash due to more proposed tax increases, but these extra funds are desperately needed.

“We know it’s one that’s going to catch resistance — here’s another tax billing more money — there’s no money going toward, hardly any money going toward treatments, but it’s the most demand that we have anywhere in our state and our country,” he said.

Also, the bill calls for mentoring programs to help recovering addicts, Manchin said.

Since President Barack Obama’s visit to Charleston last year, Manchin said more and more people have been discussing West Virginia’s drug epidemic. He said the President realizes how serious of an issue it has become.

“It has risen to a level that we haven’t seen which is good. That’s what an executive or a President can do,” he said.

Manchin has been pushing for other legislation in Congress connected to opioid addiction. Last month, he and U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito introduced “Jessie’s Law” named after Jessie Grubb, a recovering drug addict, who died in March following an operation. Both senators said the bill would open lines of communication between health care professionals who are treating those who have suffered from opioid addiction.





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