Here is a sampling of editorial opinions from Alaska newspapers:
Feb. 16, 2017
Ketchikan Daily News: The opioid issue
It’s an unhappy situation.
Gov. Bill Walker has issued a disaster declaration for Alaska’s opioid epidemic.
Alaskans are dying as opioid abuse expands across the state.
Emergency medical staff in Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Kenai, Fairbanks and Juneau administered a medication that blocks or reverses a narcotic overdose 1,315 times over the past two years. The medication is naloxone.
The communities listed above, as well as others, have established opioid working groups in an effort to stop opioid deaths. But the effort comes with a cost, which most cannot afford.
By declaring the opioid epidemic, Gov. Walker says the state will be able to provide standing medical orders for communities to distribute naloxone to affected communities and individuals.
The cost, according to Walker, is about $4 million. The money can be acquired through federal grants, including a five-year Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration grant for naloxone distribution. Department of Health and Social Services funds will be available, too.
But the state’s Disaster Relief Fund and its general fund won’t be spent on this particular disaster. Nor is the Legislature being asked for supplemental appropriations.
Alaska’s opioid-related deaths were more than double the rate of the whole United States in 2012, Walker says, with the heroin death rate over 50 percent higher. The number of heroin-related deaths quadrupled between 2009 and 2015. Plus, Alaska has documented cases of fentanyl and new synthetic opioid deaths in 2015.
Opioids include the illegal drug heroin, but also prescription drugs - for example codeine, fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone and hydrocodone.
This is a disaster for Alaska. Gov. Walker’s declaration will allow Alaskans to seek help. That’s a start, but it’s only the beginning. The battle to prevent and keep people off addictive opioids is a journey worth taking, but it’s still a long one.
But it’s the only way to eventually save Alaska lives.
___
Feb. 18, 2017
Peninsula Clarion: State must continue to support fight against opioid abuse
This past week, Gov. Bill Walker signed an administrative order directing state agencies to pursue grant funding to help fight opioid abuse across the state. The order came after Gov. Walker called opioid abuse a public health disaster that Alaska communities can not fight on their own.
While we lament the fact that such measures are necessary, we’re glad to see steps being taken that will save lives, even here on the Kenai Peninsula.
According to a 2015 study from the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services, in Alaska, the rate of hospitalizations for heroin poisoning doubled from 2008 to 2012, while the number of heroin-related deaths more than tripled between 2008 and 2013. The number of patients admitted to substance abuse treatment programs continues to increase.
Many communities have established working groups or task forces to look at opioid issues, but according to the governor, many lack money or don’t have the authority to distribute Naloxone, a drug that can be used to counteract an overdose, to the general public.
To that end, Gov. Walker has proposed spending about $4.1 million in federal grants for a Naloxone program, and his office says he plans to introduce legislation to provide a longer-term solution.
Here on the central Kenai Peninsula, a free four-week Community Overdose Prevention Education workshop is being offered for parents and teens to learn about things like the science of addiction, drug facts, decision making, and prevention suggestions, and more. Participants may attend one class or all four. Organizers say there will be overdose and Naloxone training weekly with all students who complete training to receive a Naloxone rescue voucher. Sessions are from 6-8 p.m. Thursdays from March 23-April 13; register by calling 907-714-4521.
During a news conference addressing his administrative order, Gov. Walker said that “everybody in the state of Alaska needs to come together on this issue, and they are.”
We agree with Gov. Walker on this issue. Drug addiction impacts everyone in the community. We are grateful to see our leaders continue to take steps to address it.
___
Feb. 17, 2017
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Recognition increasing that state needs new funds to sustain services
After two years of kicking the can down the road, this may be the year the Legislature finally gets serious about closing the budget gap. For two years, action in the Alaska House and Senate has focused primarily on cuts, which has reduced the yearly deficit from $4 billion to $3 billion but can go little further without substantial negative impact to the state’s core services - items such as education, transportation and public safety. Finally, there appears to be an emerging recognition by legislators that new revenue for the state is an absolute necessity to return to balanced budgets. But just making that acknowledgment is only half the distance to a solution - the other, more important half is putting those revenue measures into place.
The Legislature has avoided serious discussion of new revenue for too long. By choosing to focus almost exclusively on cuts in for the past two years, legislators have done far less to bridge the fiscal gap than they might have. As a result, they have spent billions of dollars from the state’s fast-diminishing savings, leaving little room for error or unforeseen circumstances in this or future years.
Fortunately, the reality that this course of inaction cannot continue is beginning to sink in. A solid majority of respondents to the Senate majority caucus’ online budget survey early in the session supported revenue action. Since then, several bills have been introduced that would tap a portion of the Alaska Permanent Fund’s annual earnings to guarantee a dividend check and provide a stable revenue stream to help pay for state services. Both elements are crucial to stable budgeting for the state. Without leveraging the earnings of the state’s constitutionally protected fund, there will be no realistic way to bridge the revenue gap with measures such as cuts and individual taxes in a way that doesn’t cause widespread hardship for Alaskans. And without protecting the dividend, the spending habits of the Legislature will likely drain the permanent fund earnings reserve account by 2022, leaving no way to pay the annual checks Alaskans have come to expect (and, in some cases, depend on).
A few bills already have been introduced that would go far to address the revenue shortfall, chief among them House Bill 115, introduced by Reps. Neal Foster and Paul Seaton. A combination of a permanent funds earnings restructure and state income tax, the bill would increase state revenue enough to cover the vast majority of the budget gap, leaving the remainder to be addressed through cuts, other minor revenue measures and/or restructuring of oil tax credits.
There are other plans, such as that proposed by Gov. Bill Walker last year, that would use slightly different mechanisms but achieve the same basic end. What matters less than any particular plan is that the matter of revenues is dealt with in a substantive way this year.
The meaningful discussion about new revenue in Juneau is heartening. But it’s still a long way from a solution. Alaskans should stay engaged with developments on budget and revenue measures. Most importantly, they should ensure their representatives in Juneau are aware that anything short of a full-fledged revenue plan to balance the state budget this year is not acceptable for Alaska’s future. This is the Legislature’s third chance to chart a course to a balanced state budget - three strikes and you’re out.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.