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Virginia Capitol C onnections, Spring 2015
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More than 3,000 Virginians have lost
their lives in the last five years to a heroin or
prescription drug overdose. It’s a stunning
number made all the more devastating when
you hear firsthand the stories of those lost
from friends and family members. These
heartbroken mothers and fathers share with
pride the amazing things their children
accomplished in their lives, and speak
glowingly of all they had in front of them.
Almost without exception, they share two
common messages: “Don’t let this happen
to another child in Virginia,” and “I never thought this could happen
to my family.”
We’re beginning to see a broadly shared understanding by law
enforcement, educators, public health officials, and elected leaders
of both parties, in all parts of the state, that our Commonwealth, like
many other states in the mid-Atlantic, faces an epidemic of heroin
and prescription drug overdose deaths. The two are problems in and
of themselves, and they’re also linked, because prescription drug
abuse often leads to use of the cheap, potent heroin police are seeing
on the streets.
There is no stereotypical victim to this crisis. It is claiming the lives
of men and women of all ages, from all parts of the Commonwealth,
of every socioeconomic background. We are losing young college
students who became addicted following a sports injury and switch to
heroin, middle-aged women who became dependent on prescription
opiates, and seniors who have been overprescribed powerful opiates
for chronic pain.
Something has to change, and we’re putting the tools in place to
start turning this problem around through evidence-based strategies.
In the Office of Attorney General, we have launched a
statewide strategy that includes prevention and education alongside
enforcement.
For the first time ever, we’ve placed prosecutors from the Office
of Attorney General in Hampton Roads to assist local prosecutors
with complex drug cases, and our prosecutors in Northern, Central,
and Western Virginia continue to focus on heroin cases at the state
and federal re focusing on the dangerous, high-level dealers
and distributors, many of whom come to Virginia from out of state,
who are fueling the troubling rise in fatalities.
We are teaching young people about the dangers of heroin
and prescription drugs through our Virginia Rules youth education
program. There’s no experimenting with heroin, and we want to
make sure young people understand that this is something that can
grab hold of them or even kill them in just one use.
Our office is seeking professional accountability for doctors,
nurses, and pharmacists who steal, overprescribe, or otherwise make
prescription drugs illegally available.
We partnered with Governor McAuliffe’s administration and law
enforcement from across the state for a summit in October to find out
what’s working and what new tools are needed.
And after months of working with Republicans and Democrats,
law enforcement officials and public health advocates, parents, and
those in recovery, my office helped put forward smart, evidence-
based legislative reforms that were passed by the General Assembly.
In addition to several bills from Governor McAuliffe’s Task
Force, we worked with Richmond Democratic Delegate Betsy Carr
and co-patrons to introduce a “safe reporting,” or “good Samaritan”
provision, as exists in 23 other states, to encourage those who witness
an overdose to call for help without fear of prosecution. This would
provide a limited defense from prosecution for minor possession
or intoxication charges if someone reports an overdose in progress,
stays on the scene, and cooperates with officials.
We worked with Richmond Republican Delegate John
O’Bannon, a neurologist from Richmond, on a bill to allow every
law enforcement agency in Virginia to carry naloxone, a lifesaving
overdose antidote that saved more than 10,000 lives across the
country in 15 years. The bill also provides important protections for
the law enforcement officers and first responders who may be asked
to carry and administer naloxone.
Finally, we worked with Fairfax County Senator Janet Howell
to give probation officers access to Virginia’s prescription drug
monitoring program to ensure probationers aren’t accessing
prescription opioids.
These are concrete steps we have taken to save lives and
get treatment for those struggling with addiction. The bills were
introduced by a bipartisan slate of legislators, passed with unanimous
bipartisan support, and were endorsed by the Fraternal Order of
Police, the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association, the Virginia Association of
Chiefs of Police, and the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s
Attorneys. I’m proud that they are now law.
The only bill that didn’t make it to the finish line was a bill to
help Virginia prosecutors hold dealers accountable when their drugs
lead to a worked with Republican Delegates Jackson Miller
and Scott Lingamfelter, two Northern Virginia Republican delegates
known as strong advocates for law enforcement and criminal justice
issues, to craft a bill that prosecutors could use to seek accountability
for deadly drug deals at the state level. Each chamber passed a
version, but the differences could not be reconciled in a conference
committee. My office has prosecuted many of these cases at the
federal level with the U.S. Attorney’s office, and will continue to do
so, but we will also try again next year to give Virginia prosecutors
this important tool. When a dealer’s deadly product kills a Virginian,
they should be held responsible for that.
As we move beyond the legislative session, we’ll be working to
inform law enforcement and prosecutors about these new tools that
can help them combat the heroin and prescription drug crisis in their
own communities. My office is also exploring whether any multi-
state or regional efforts can help address our problem here inVirginia.
To be sure, this session was the first step, not the last, to addressing
the heroin and prescription drug epidemic.
Virginians should be proud that their elected officials were able
to come together in a bipartisan way to enact proven, evidence-based
reforms. AsVirginians, we must all do our part to educate our families
and friends about the horrific dangers of heroin and prescription drug
abuse. I don’t want one more parent to bury a child, or one more child
to lose a parent, to heroin or a prescription drug overdose.
Mark R. Herring is the 48th Attorney General of the Commonwealth
of Virginia.
Session marked an important, bipartisan step forward
on heroin and prescription drugs By Attorney General Mark R. Herring
V