Across North Dakota, Opioid-Induced Deaths Increased by 125 Percent from 2013 to 2014 Alone

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – U.S. Senator Heitkamp today gathered leaders in both Fargo and Jamestown to continue her listening series on the challenges faced by communities across the state in taking on the opioid abuse epidemic that has rapidly spread across the state. Today’s discussions follow yesterday’s listening session in Grand Forks which built on her legislative and on-the-ground work to make sure North Dakota families across the state receive the federal support they need to recover from and prevent opioid addiction.

Together with Cass and Stutsman County area public health professionals, law enforcement officials, treatment specialists, and educators in Fargo and Jamestown, Heitkamp discussed which policies and practices have been most effective in beating addiction and overcoming abuse for individual and families in those communities, as well as ways to expand those efforts across the state. Leaders also spoke with Heitkamp about the need for better federal support to help each community address a severe lack of resources for law enforcement and treatment professionals and programs. Heitkamp underscored how her bill, which she unveiled during a discussion with Bismarck leaders in May, would make sure the federal government is treating opioid abuse as the national public health and law enforcement crisis that it is by making available the appropriate education, prevention, and treatment resources communities need to recover and fight back.

Across North Dakota, opioid-induced fatalities increased by 125 percent from 2013 to 2014 alone according to the Centers for Disease Control.

“Across our state, too many lives and families have been ripped apart by opioid addiction and abuse – and to really fight this problem head-on, we need all hands on deck,” said Heitkamp. “That’s why I gathered leaders and experts from across the treatment and enforcement spectrum in Fargo and Jamestown today to make sure our communities are mounting the best possible defense across the state. And that means tackling opioid abuse by strengthening law enforcement, expanding best recovery practices, and identifying holes that still exist in our community infrastructure. In the Senate, I’ve been working to achieve the real results families need – and helping pass legislation to expand existing tools was a good step, but it’s not enough. North Dakotans I spoke with who on the front lines of this crisis in Fargo and Jamestown know we need the new, robust resources my bill would help provide, and I’ll keep working to bring all sides together to deliver the support our communities desperately need.”

Just last week, Heitkamp joined Fargo’s City Commission for a meeting on a strategic response to the growing opioid addiction and abuse in the community. During a roundtable discussion in Bismarck in May, Heitkamp announced her Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment (LifeBOAT) Act to provide communities with the resource funding they need to take on the opioid crisis by establishing a one-cent fee – with certain exceptions – on each milligram of active opioid ingredient in prescription pain pills.

Across the country, 47,000 Americans lost their lives to the opioid and heroin abuse crisis in 2014. Since fighting North Dakota’s methamphetamine crisis as the state’s attorney general in the 1990s, Heitkamp has been working to stem the tide of addiction, abuse and illegal drug trafficking. On the federal level, Heitkamp has been working to address this issue by:

• Securing expanded tools to help tackle opioid addiction and abuse: This spring, Heitkamp fought for and helped pass bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate which the president has since signed into law to broaden tools available to law enforcement, first responders, and state prescription drug monitoring programs to address the national heroin and opioid abuse crisis. The bill also included legislation Heitkamp introduced which would close loopholes in our federal drug laws to stop foreign drug traffickers before their products reach our borders.

• Bringing federal anti-drug crime leaders and resources to North Dakota: Heitkamp brought both current and former White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) directors to North Dakota – securing a national focus and strong resources to the state to help fight drug crime as a result.
• Convening statewide leaders to comprehensively battle drug crime and abuse: Heitkamp convened statewide experts and leaders to combat drug crime and abuse to serve on the growing task force of her Strong & Safe Communities initiative, which she initially launched in September 2014 in response to the state’s energy boom.
• Engaging statewide leaders on the front lines of North Dakota’s opioid addiction crisis: Heitkamp met with facility leaders, medical staff, and tribal leaders during her visits to MHA Nation’s Circle of Life Drug Treatment Center in May and Mercy Hospital in Devils Lake in March where she heard about the unique challenges they face in treating skyrocketing cases of heroin, methamphetamine, and opioid abuse on rural and tribal lands – often due to a lack in the types of recovery resources her bill works to provide.

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