A new bill is being born from a key phrase as lawmakers try to tackle Oregon's overdose crisis.
"The key [phrase] here is harm reduction, harm reduction, harm reduction," said Rep. Lisa Reynolds, the Democrat representative of House District 34 in the Oregon State Legislature.
Harm reduction is the concept of engaging with people who use drugs to lessen the negative consequences of usage and giving them tools to stay alive.
House Bill 2395 is making its way through Oregon's House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care.
The committee held a hearing on January 30 to hear testimony from health providers, law enforcement, first responders, schools, and those who have lost loved ones to the opioid epidemic.
Reynolds told KATU the biggest concern from her colleagues right now is the illicit fentanyl crisis.
"It’s terrifying and I’ve met with several families who have lost a son or daughter to these fentanyl pills," Reynolds said. "And, in particular, something we didn’t have to worry about as much five years ago – if you get a pill that you don’t know exactly the provenance of that pill, it can end your life. It was never great to take a pill that you didn’t know the provenance for. It was always a little dangerous. But it didn’t have the fatality rate that it seems to have now."
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the CDC. Most recent cases of fentanyl-related overdose are linked to illicitly-manufactured fentanyl, which is distributed through illegal drug markets for its heroin-like effect. It is often added to other drugs because of its extreme potency, which makes drugs cheaper, more powerful, more addictive, and more dangerous.
Oregon Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-District 33) is a chief sponsor of HB 2395, and gave a statement to KATU:
As a physician for over 20 years, I have worked with patients treating their pain as well as walking the journey of addiction with them. More tragically, in the Intensive Care Unit I have told far too many families that their loved one has died or suffered brain damage as a result of an opioid overdose. Currently, an average of three Oregonians per day die as a result of opioid overdoses and these are often preventable. We have the power to put life-saving tools in the hands of every Oregonian and give people suffering with addiction access to ways to preserve their health and increase access to care. As a State Representative, a mother and a physician I’m committed to breaking down barriers to care so that we can all partner to help protect our community and start to save many more lives immediately. This package is the result of months of stakeholder engagement with healthcare providers, treatment organizations, harm reduction experts, educators, those with lived experience, student leaders, law enforcement, local governments, Oregon’s public health system, first responders and more.
The Oregon Health Authority estimates the illicit synthetic drug was involved in nearly 90 percent of opioid overdose deaths last year.
"While Oregon has made notable progress in reducing prescription opioid overdose, the state is experiencing a significant increase in overdoses from manufactured fentanyl (IMF) and non-opioid drugs such as methamphetamine. Fentanyl overdose deaths increased nearly 600% between 2019 and 2021, and [fentanyl] has now surpassed methamphetamine as the most frequent drug involved in overdose deaths," wrote Rachael Banks, the Oregon Health Authority's Public Health Director, in testimony to the committee.
The supporting lawmakers of HB 2395 want to increase access to Narcan nasal spray or its generic naloxone, the opioid overdose-reversing medication. Plus, the bill's authors want to protect anyone who uses it in an emergency from civil and criminal liability.
KATU asked Reynolds if more Narcan availability is a solution.
"It’s not a solution, right, at all. But it can save lives. And it can literally buy people time to hopefully get treatment."
As of Tuesday, as the bill is written, the omnibus package also wants to tackle the definition of drug paraphernalia. There's debate over whether the term should exclude hypodermic syringes or needles and fentanyl test strips, a tool that allows someone to test whether the drug they are taking is laced with the highly potent and potentially deadly substance.
The legislature staff summary explains the bill "exempts specified items, including pipes and single-use drug test strips from drug paraphernalia prohibitions."
Right now, HB 23395 has widespread backing. But one Oregon lawmaker disagrees with the latest amendment presented in this bill package.
Oregon Rep. Bobby Levy (R-District 58) writes in opposing testimony that "Excluding access to hypodermic syringes and needles is very important to beginning the recovery we all want. This will continue to enable people to become addicted and I cannot support that aspect of this bill."
KATU asked Reynolds about that stated aspect of tools enabling drug users.
"In a way, you're right... if you're alive you can still use drugs and if you're dead you can't. But I do think that if you're dead we can't help get you into recovery," Reynolds said.
If recovery is the ultimate goal, lawmakers hope the next step is to just pass the bill out of the committee soon - and on to the full Oregon House - for the sake of safety.
"You listen to these stories of people who have lost a family member to opioid overdose. It’s devastating," said Reynolds.
We can’t give that person another chance if they’re dead.