Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of a statewide heroin task force charged with ending the heroin and opioid crisis in St. Lawrence County and across the state.

The task force is comprised of a broad coalition of experts in healthcare, drug policy, advocacy, education, and parents and New Yorkers in recover. He says it will build on the state’s previous efforts and use their expertise and experience to develop a comprehensive action plan to combat the state’s opioid epidemic. Members of the task force will hold public listening sessions across New York to inform their recommendations.

“Opioid addiction is a national epidemic that continues to plague families in communities across New York – and the state has been taking aggressive action to tackle this crisis head on,” Governor Cuomo said. “The Heroin Task Force will take these efforts to the next level with a comprehensive action plan developed by a diverse coalition of experts. We will use the task force’s recommendations to implement smart solutions that will protect public health, enhance safety in communities statewide and save the lives of vulnerable New Yorkers.”

Since 2014, Governor Cuomo has implemented a series of aggressive reforms to combat heroin and opioid addiction, including signing the historic Combat Heroin Legislation; expanding insurance coverage for substance use disorder treatment; increasing access and enhancing treatment capacity across the state, including a major expansion of opioid treatment services; implementing new and expanded recovery services; and launching a public awareness and prevention campaign to inform New Yorkers about the dangers of opioid use.

In March, new regulations took effect that require all prescriptions to be transmitted electronically from the prescriber directly to the pharmacy. The measure is part of New York’s comprehensive I-STOP law, first implemented in 2012, designed to curb prescription drug abuse across the state.

Through I-STOP, New York requires prescribers to consult the Prescription Monitoring Program Registry when writing prescriptions for Schedule II, III, and IV controlled substances. The Registry provides practitioners with direct, secure access to view dispensed controlled substance prescription histories for patients in real time. The data is further used to identify potential sources of prescription drug diversion or abuse, including prescription fraud. In April, the state began sharing Prescription Monitoring Program data with New Jersey to further prevent the stockpiling and resale of dangerous controlled substances.

As of 2015, I-STOP has led to a 90 percent decrease in the number of "doctor shoppers" or patients who visit multiple prescribers and pharmacies to obtain controlled substances within a three-month time period.

As overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in New York, the state has also led an aggressive effort to make naloxone available without a prescription at approved pharmacies. In March, the state DOH, in collaboration with the Harm Reduction Coalition, issued standing medical orders to the more than 750 independent pharmacies outside New York City, allowing these pharmacists to dispense naloxone without a prescription. The action built on the Governor’s agreement with CVS and Walgreens/Duane Reade in January 2016, enabling more than 900 of these pharmacies to make naloxone available without a prescription statewide.

To date, New York has trained thousands of first responders and community members to recognize and respond to overdoses. Since 2006, the state’s community overdose prevention and naloxone distribution program has enrolled more than 225 registered programs, which have trained more than 112,000 individuals. As a result, more than 3,500 overdose reversals have been documented, with over 1,500 lives saved in 2015 alone. A total of 8,424 law enforcement officials have been trained to administer naloxone through these efforts, including 2,639 instructors.

Now, the Heroin Task Force will build upon the state’s previous efforts and develop a comprehensive statewide plan to break the cycle of opioid addiction in New York. Specifically, the Task Force will identify ways to expand awareness of heroin and opioid addiction; enhance statewide prevention efforts; increase access to treatment; and improve support for those in recovery. For more information, please visit: http://combatheroin.ny.gov/.