Posted by Utah House Democrats on Jan 26, 2010
For more information, contact:
Emily Bingham Hollingshead
House Democrats Communications Coordinator
Utah House of Representatives
Ph: 435.590.9961
Fax: 801.326.1539
houseminmedia@utah.gov
http://www.utahhousedemocrats.org
Representative Trisha Beck: "Responsible use of RX medication saves lives!"
SALT LAKE CITY, January 25, 2010 — Representative Trisha Beck, D–Salt Lake City, will join with Representative Brad Daw, R–Salt Lake City, and Senator Patricia Jones, D–Holladay to introduce legislation to address the growing misuse and abuse of prescription narcotics in Utah.
Representative Beck has introduced HB 30, which would place cardisoprodol, sold under the brand name Soma, as a Schedule IV drug.
In 2007, Representative Beck's nephew, Denver Daniel Snarr suffered a fatal overdose after being prescribed powerful medications for pain.
"At the time of his passing, we as a family vowed that we would take our pain and do everything in our power to ensure that other families would not need to suffer as we have," said Representative Beck.
"We vowed to promote responsible use of RX pain medications. Hopefully, the passage of these bills will reduce irresponsible use of RX pain medications and save lives," she said.
If Beck's bill is passed by the 2010 Legislature, the drug would be added to Utah's Controlled Substance Database Program, allowing tracking of prescriptions and creating penalties for unlawful possession or distribution of the drug. Refills would be limited to five times within six months.
WHO: Representative Trisha Beck, D–Sandy, Senator Pat Jones, D?Holladay,
Representative Brad Daw, R–Orem, members from the Substance Misuse and Abuse
Reduction Team (SMART) of Utah County, and members of the Pharmaceutical Drug
Crime Project.
WHAT: Press conference and photo op.
WHEN: Tuesday, January 26th 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: Utah Capitol Building, Capitol Board Room
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Posted by Utah House Democrats on Jan 21, 2010
Representative Trisha Beck, D–Sandy
District 48
In 2007 our family suffered a terrible tragedy. My dear nephew suffered an accidental overdose after he became addicted to a medication that had been subscribed to him for pain. Unfortunately, he died.
I don’t want other families to go through the pain and heartache that my family has gone through. That is why I am sponsoring a bill that that would place drugs like cardisoprodol, sold under the brand name Soma, as a Schedule IV drug. If this bill passes, it will be added to Utah’s Controlled Substance Database Program.
The following articles appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News today. They are very good articles and do a great job telling the story.
I hope that we can all work together on this very important issue.
Interim committee recommends tracking of muscle relaxant
Drugs » If draft bill becomes law, Soma would be added to controlled substance list.
Updated: 09/17/2009 07:27:19 AM MDT
A prescription drug used to treat muscle pain and tension could soon be added to Utah’s list of controlled substances, a move that would allow law enforcement to more easily detect abuse and fraud involving the medication.
The Health and Human Services Interim Committee approved a draft bill sponsored by Rep. Trisha Beck that would place cardisoprodol, sold under the brand name Soma, as a Schedule IV drug.
If the bill is passed by the 2010 Legislature, the drug would be added to Utah’s Controlled Substance Database Program, allowing tracking of prescriptions and creating penalties for unlawful possession or distribution of the drug. Refills would be limited to five times within six months.
The committee declined to sign off on listing tramadol, sold under the brand name Ultram and Ultracet, as a Schedule IV drug, saying there wasn’t enough evidence of abuse to justify monitoring use of the analgesic. Several committee members said they wanted to defer a decision on tramadol until a standard process is created in Utah to review listing of medications as controlled substances. A bill to do that is in the works.
Beck said a study group comprised of law officers, prosecutors, pharmacists, physicians, family members, legislators and other government officials, recommended the classification for the two drugs.
“Listing the drugs as scheduled drugs puts patients and family members on notice of the fact that these drugs, which greatly effect the nervous system, are often abused and are very addictive,” said Beck, who lost a nephew to an addiction to painkillers in 2007.
Other medications listed as Schedule IV drugs include Xanax, Valium, Lunesta and Ambien. Drugs in the classification have potential to result in physical or psychological dependence.
Rep. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, a committee member and pharmacist, said the muscle relaxant also has a sedating effect. It is typically abused in combination with alcohol or other drugs, he said. Less abuse and dependency occurs with tramadol, he said.
Seventeen states have listed cardisoprodol as a scheduled drug, while two have taken that step with tramadol, Beck said. Both drugs are on the federal Drug Enforcement Agency’s watch list though the agency has not yet made them controlled substances, according to Robert Johnson, a DEA investigator.
Johnson said seizures related to use of Soma have increased sixfold since 2000, from 645 to 3,845 in 2008. He also said the American Association of Poison Control Centers reports 78 “toxic deaths” from cardisoprodol medications between 2003 and 2007.
Soma is being sold on the street illegally at $1 to $5 a tablet, according to Chad Platt, a Salt Lake County deputy district attorney.
brooke@sltrib.com
Legislators aim to outlaw powerful painkiller Soma
By James Thalman
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009 1:16 p.m. MDT
A committee of lawmakers gave unanimous approval today to a draft bill that would make the muscle relaxer/painkiller Soma illegal to possess and a Class B misdemeanor unless a person is under current, verifiable physician’s care.
The abuse of Soma among patients and street sales of the drug has reached “epidemic proportions in Utah,” bill sponsor Rep. Trisha Beck, D-Salt Lake, told members of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Interim Committee.
If the 2010 Legislature approves the bill, it would, in effect, be the state’s official recognition of Utah’s so-called “other drug problem” and would put Utah among 17 states that have adopted stricter regulations on Soma than the federal government. The U.S. Federal Drug Administration has recommended that the drug be similarly classified, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is expected to follow suit.
Lawmakers decided they can’t wait. Expert witnesses told the committee that incidents of the drug factoring into the deaths or major medical problems and in criminal activity increased nearly sixfold — to 3,845 from 645 — in Utah between 2000 to 2008.
The drug can draw as much as $80 per pill on the street, where it is getting notoriety as the thing to take to enhance the euphoria users get from taking other painkillers such as OxyContin and its street version, heroin.
Committee member and pharmacist Rep. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, said that like other powerful narcotics, Soma is habit forming, and those prescribed the drug for pain due to an accident or surgery can become physically and mentally dependent on it. Among those who are trying to prolong or enhance a drug-induced high, use for feelings of euphoria can quickly turn to use just to feel normal, he said.
Death from use of painkillers can be seen practically every day in newspaper obituaries in which cause of death isn’t listed or is said to be due to heart failure.
The heart has often failed because of overdose of prescription painkillers, which depress or sedate the brain’s activity to the point that it simply shuts down the heart, Glen Hanson, a University of Utah professor of pharmacology and toxicology, told committee members.
That’s what happened to Beck’s nephew, prompting her to use his death for good and to try to get ahead of the problem instead of the problem always being ahead of efforts to deal with it.
Committee co-chairman Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, is drafting a bill that sets up a formal substance review board of prescription drugs that would streamline the process for classifying drugs and making their use easier for health and public safety agencies to monitor.
Soma has become a new drug of choice for high school and college students who have told doctors and police officers that they obtain the pills, sometimes by the handful, from medicine cabinets in their homes and their friends’ homes, lawmakers were told.
Prescription drug abuse isn’t just popular among kids, Utah is the nation’s capital for it, Hanson said.
Given the state’s nation-leading low rates of using illicit drugs and alcohol, “Utah’s being right up there leading the pack (in incidents of prescription drug abuse) indicates that something unique is going on here,” Hanson said.
When asked what that might be, he said Utahns are a bit na?e about prescription drugs and tend to lean toward a general attitude that if it’s a prescription drug and from the doctor, it is not as dangerous as a common illicit street drug.
“The fact is that when someone is starting to take physically and mentally abusive drugs,” he said, “the brain responds the same way. and the damage will be as bad whether the compound comes from a pharmaceutical company or off the street.”
e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com
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Posted by Utah House Democrats on Jan 20, 2010
Planning families
Unwanted pregnancies are costly
Tribune Editorial
Updated: 01/20/2010 12:19:53 AM MST
Family planning information and birth control could help low-income women avoid unplanned pregnancies that too often lead to more children in poverty, more abortions, further financial and marital stress for families and more babies who start life unhealthy, unwanted and underprivileged.
Those are good reasons to extend Medicaid family-planning services to Utah's poorest women beyond the 60 days following a birth that is all the current system provides. Another is the cost of failing to help low-income women avoid the pregnancies they can't afford.
The Utah Department of Health reports that 33 percent of all pregnancies in the state are unplanned, but for those with annual incomes of less than $15,000, the percentage is a staggering 51.2 percent. And Medicaid, the government health provider for the poor, pays for nearly a third of all births in the state at an average cost of $5,155. Family-planning services, on the other hand, cost only about $28 a month.
Rep. Jen Seelig, D-Salt Lake City, says she will sponsor legislation in the upcoming session of the Utah Legislature to extend family planning services, including birth control, to two years following childbirth for women on Medicaid. The federal government would pay 90 percent of the cost. The bill may include a provision to extend the service to all families with annual incomes up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level.
The legislation, supported by Voices for Utah Children,the Utah Health Policy Project, Planned Parenthood and the March of Dimes, only makes good sense. The child-advocacy groups cite statistics from the state Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System that show babies born as a result of unplanned pregnancies are more likely to be unhealthy at birth, more often are below-normal birth weight and have to be cared for in costly intensive-care hospital units.
Another obvious target should be a 15-year-old consent law that prohibits minors from getting contraceptives from any state-supported agency without parental permission, despite the fact that minors have the highest rate of unplanned pregnancies. This law keeps Utah from getting funding under the Title X program. That federal program provides access to contraceptive services, supplies and information and gives priority to people from low-income families. A federal Web site estimates that in 75 percent of U.S. counties, there is at least one clinic that receives Title X funds.
About 98 percent of private insurers cover family planning. Women on Medicaid have the same needs and should be covered, too.
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Posted by Utah House Democrats on Jan 20, 2010
For more information, contact:
Emily Bingham Hollingshead
House Democrats Communications Coordinator
Utah House of Representatives
Ph: 435.590.9961
Fax: 801.326.1539
houseminmedia@utah.gov
http://www.utahhousedemocrats.org
Utah House Democrats issue statement on ethics reform
SALT LAKE CITY, January 20, 2010 — Utah House of Representatives Minority Leader, David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, issued the following statement today regarding ethics reform in the Utah legislature:
“The Democratic Caucus has not taken a formal position on the Ethics Initiative, and we will not be doing so. Members of our caucus have varying views regarding the initiative, and we respect each legislator's individual opinion. Utah House Democrats feel strongly about the need for comprehensive ethics reform, and we are committed to working with the majority party in a bipartisan effort to pass meaningful ethics reform in the 2010 legislative session.”
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Posted by Utah House Democrats on Jan 19, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Emily Bingham Hollingshead
Democratic Caucus Communications Coordinator
Utah House of Representatives
Ph: 435.590.9961
Fax: 801.326.1539
houseminmedia@utah.gov
http://www.utahhousedemocrats.org
Or Contact Representative Brian King at 801-532-1739
Proposed legislation will provide increased funding for public and higher education
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, January 18, 2010 — Representative Brian King, D–Salt Lake City, has prepared a bill for the 2010 state legislative session to provide over $350 million in additional revenue for public and higher education in Utah.
The bill, HB 90, would increase the marginal state income tax rate for individuals making $250,000 by 1%– from 5% to 6%. It would also increase the marginal state income tax rate for individuals making $750,000 by 2%– from 5% to 7%. All revenue from state income tax is earmarked for public and higher education under the Utah state Constitution.
Representative King proposes the bill to help bridge the state"s budget gap and address the significant cuts in public and higher education that have occurred in past months and years.
"It is wishful thinking to believe that we can continue to cut funding for public and higher education in Utah without damaging our ability to compete successfully with other states and countries in our increasingly global economy," said Representative King in a statement.
"Utahns have always recognized the importance of providing excellent public and higher education. However, the quality of our educational infrastructure has slipped significantly in the past few years. The best indicator of our values and priorities as a state is reflected in what we choose to fund. It is past time for us to increase our funding for public and higher education," he said.
"Governor Herbert's proposed budget claims to hold public and higher education harmless from across-the-board budget cuts," said King. "However, no increased funding is being provided for the growth anticipated in Utah's public schools. That growth consists of more than 11,000 new students."
"In contrast to other proposals to increase revenue during this recession, HB 90 will not impose a greater tax burden on those earning less than $250,000 per year. Rather, the increased funds will come from those who have the greatest ability to contribute without causing them to cut back on essentials. Less than 2% of the taxpayers in the State of Utah will see their taxes increase as a result of HB 90. Over 90% of the revenue raised by HB 90 comes from individuals making more than $750,000 per year."
HB 90 reintroduces progressivity to Utah's income tax structure. The single rate state income tax implemented in 2008 eliminated progressive tax brackets based on income and imposed a single rate, 5% state income tax regardless of the amount of taxable income. This change cost the state between $200 and $300 million dollars in lost revenue. That tax break primarily benefited the highest earners in Utah.
"The best investment we can make in Utah is to increase funding for public and higher education," said Representative King. "HB 90 asks those who have benefited the most economically to pitch in a little bit more. That is the fairest, most painless way of seeing our way through this difficult economic period."
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