HR 4378, referred to as the Access to Substance Abuse Treatment Act of 2016, was introduced on January 13, 2016. HB 4378 affects multiple national organizations, such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This bill amends the Public Health …show more content…
This bill requires certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances to complete further education. This training will expose practitioners to best practices for pain management (including alternatives to prescribing controlled substances), responsible prescribing of pain medications, methods for diagnosing, treating, and managing substance use disorder using evidence-based therapies, and methods to link patients to evidence-based treatments. This bill requires SAMSHA to establish or support at least one free, online training module that meets such requirements to be provided to any covered practitioner registered or applying for registration. SB 1392 has not been scheduled for further hearings, though it was cosponsored by senators in California, Connecticut, and …show more content…
Their goal is to develop effective strategies to ensure evidence-based practices are utilized to develop services that prevent and treat drug abuse and addictions. Therefore, their mission, goals, and contributions to society also align with the intent of the introduced bills.
The DEA is also an important stakeholder as they have provided testimony on past bills regarding the nation’s heroin and prescription drug epidemic. Their mission is to “enforce the controlled substance laws and regulations of the United States and recommend and support programs aimed at reducing the availability of illicit controlled substances.” Since their responsibility in HB 3677 is regarding greater regulation in prescribing opioids, we believe the DEA would support this