SB 272, SB 273
AND SB 401
THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC
By Chris Hall
In America, 2.1 million people suffer from substance use
disorders related to prescription painkillers. While recognition
of the problems caused by substance use disorders is relatively
new to Washington, DC, and the coast-to-coast media, West
Virginia has been fighting this epidemic locally for nearly
two decades.
Between 2010-2017, there were more than 25 legislative and
executive actions taken to reduce the impact of opioids in the
Mountain State, but Governor Jim Justice and legislative lead-
ers recognized additional action was needed during the 2018
legislative session. They offered three bills—Senate Bills (SB)
272, 273 and 401—to address various aspects of the opioid
epidemic, all of which were signed into law on March 27, 2018.
SB 272
SENATE: 32-0 HOUSE: 97-0
SB 272 provides the Office of Drug Control Policy the ability
to establish a Community Overdose Response Demonstration
Pilot Project. The project’s purpose is to encourage government
agencies and community groups to work together in coordi-
nating responses to drug overdoses and help educate families
and the public on how to identify and react to an overdose.
The pilot program creates quick response teams that would
visit victims within a week of a reported overdose. The teams
would coordinate care and resources for overdose victims to
ensure they receive addiction recovery assistance. Communi-
ties with a high frequency of drug overdoses compared with
national averages are eligible for participation in the demon-
stration pilot project. The project’s creation was based on a
quick response team created in Huntington, a city hit especially
hard by the opioid epidemic. Since the bill’s passage, other
organizations have announced their preparations to begin their
own quick response teams.
SB 272 also requires all first responders to carry naloxone
and be trained in its use. In addition, the bill requires health
care providers and emergency responders to report additional
overdose-related data.
longer than seven days would be required to execute a narcotics
contract with their provider, and subsequent prescriptions
would require patients to receive notices of associated risks
and alternative treatment options. The bill also establishes a
procedure allowing patients to provide a directive refusing the
administration of opioids in medical emergencies.
SB 273 was the subject of hours of floor discussion in the
House during the final days of the session when delegates
rejected two amendments that would have imposed a 10-cent
tax on pharmaceutical companies for every opioid prescription
filled in the state and required disclosure of how many pain
pills are shipped into the state. Ultimately, the amendment was
defeated based on concerns that the taxes would be passed on
to patients and could strain the Medicaid budget.
SB 401
SENATE: 33-1 HOUSE: 90-7
Another opioid bill, SB 401, was proposed to require private
health care insurers to cover up to 180 days of inpatient or out-
patient substance abuse treatment without prior authorization.
Lawmakers heard testimonies from patients waiting to be ad-
mitted into treatment facilities pending pre-authorizations from
their insurance companies. Under this bill, insurance coverage
of treatment and timely access to the coverage will increase.
These three bills individually will not solve West Virginia’s
opioid epidemic, but they are three new and meaningful tools
for the coordination of resources, a reduction in the supply of
opioid prescriptions and the expansion of access to treatment.
These actions by West Virginia’s leadership should produce
long-term results in our state’s substance use disorder preven-
tion, treatment and recovery efforts.
SB 273
SENATE: 33-0 HOUSE: 97-1
The most debated opioid response legislation introduced
was SB 273, which was designed to allow West Virginia to join
two-dozen other states in establishing limits on opioid prescrip-
tions for acute pain. Patients receiving care at an emergency
room or urgent care would be limited to four-day supplies of
opioid medications. Other practitioners may only prescribe
for seven days initially. Patients receiving prescriptions for
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SPRING 2018
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