Holland Sentinel: Peters introduces bill to expand access to opioid addiction treatment for adolescents

Ottawa County had 26 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016.

U.S. Senators Gary Peters, D-Michigan, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, introduced legislation Wednesday, Nov. 1, to expand access to opioid addiction treatment for adolescents.

The Youth Opioid Use Treatment Help (YOUTH) Act will expand access to medication to treat adolescents suffering from opioid addiction, according to a press release from Peter’s office.

The bill would also renew an existing substance abuse program at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

In 2015, 14 people died from opiate-related overdoses in Ottawa County. In 2016, that number increased to 26 people, an 85.7 percent increase in just one year.

“The opioid epidemic has devastated communities across the country, and it’s tragic that hundreds of thousands of young people suffering from opioid addiction are struggling to get the care they need,” Peters said. “This bipartisan bill would help hospitals and other healthcare providers expand life saving addiction treatments and care to adolescents and set them on a path toward recovery.”