What are the liabilities of poly-impaired patrons use of legal alcohol and other illegal substance at the same time? Which illegal or legal drug caused the possible impairment of the patron? Does that illegal drug use reduce the possible liability for alcohol sellers? Does the use of illegal drugs by the patron's create poly
causation of poly impaired behaviors? Does this illegal impairment reduce recovery from alcohol sellers? Does a jury have a right to reduce the civil remedy when caused by other societal problems? Is the only civil remedy created against the patron possible impairment behavior the alleged alcohol misuse? When liability is addressed should opioid and cannabis business share in the possible liability by creating a societal defense for poly impaired patron where the alcohol seller did not encourage, allow, or profit from the patron's illegal usage of other drugs?
U.S. Must Do More to Combat Opioid Abuse, Panel Says
Government should set up drug courts, retrain doctors and reduce incentives to offer the painkillers, commission says
Source: WSJ
By Louise Radnofsky
Nov. 1, 2017
The federal government should set up drug courts across the country, retrain medical prescribers on opioid use and reduce incentives for doctors to offer the powerful painkillers, a high-profile presidential commission on opioids said Wednesday.
The proposals were among 56 recommendations from the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, headed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former rival of President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.
The commission also said the government should increase its oversight of large employers' health plans and their compliance with requirements to treat substance abuse as they would other illnesses. It said the Education Department should work with states to upgrade schools' drug abuse programs, and that the federal government should engage with states to expand access to naloxone, an overdose-reversal drug.
The commission said questions about pain should be removed from federal patient satisfaction surveys for physicians and hospitals "so that providers are never incentivized for offering opioids to raise their survey score."
Besides Mr. Christie, other members of the commission include Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, both Republicans, and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and ex-Rep. Patrick Kennedy, both Democrats. The sixth member, Bertha Madras, is a professor of psychobiology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
An earlier report by the commission urged Mr. Trump to declare the abuse of opioids to be an emergency. Mr. Trump had initially suggested he would declare a national emergency, a designation that might have carried a requirement for federal funding.
Instead, in a White House speech pledging to fight the "plague" of drug abuse, Mr. Trump last week declared a "public health emergency," a description that doesn't include additional money but is aimed at spurring federal agencies to take steps of their own to fight drug abuse.
Mr. Trump embraced the Mr. Christie's report before it came out, saying in last week's speech, "Some of the things that they are recommending are common sense, but very, very important. And they're going to have a tremendous impact, believe me."
Drug courts handle cases specifically against defendants with alcohol and other substance-dependency disorders. The commission said the Justice Department should create such courts in all 93 federal judicial districts. They "are a proven avenue to treatment for individuals who commit nonviolent crimes," the report said.
New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, said Wednesday that Mr. Trump should do more to make sure more money goes to fighting opioid addiction.
"I call on President Trump to back up his promises to address this crisis by immediately supporting our efforts to provide the substantial additional funding required to implement the report's recommendations to strengthen prevention, treatment, and recovery options," Ms. Hassan said.
The White House and Mr. Christie both say they want Congress to appropriate additional opioid funding, potentially as part of a broad year-end spending deal.
At a commission meeting Wednesday as the report was released, Mr. Christie said he favored efforts by state and federal regulators to take a tougher approach to insurers who refuse to cover treatment.
Other commission recommendations included an increase in federal sentencing penalties for the trafficking of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, and action by Washington to help shape the information that patients must be given before they receive an opioid prescription for chronic pain.
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