A state task force created to recommend solutions to Alaska’s opioid drug epidemic will finalize its recommendations Wednesday.
The Alaska Opioid Policy Task Force’s draft list is primarily geared toward public health agencies, tribal officials and those who work directly with addicted Alaskans, said Kate Burkhart, executive director of the state’s Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, which helped create the task force.
“There’s not actual legislation,” Burkhart said, but lawmakers are members of the task force, and recommendations approved by the task force could later become law.
A staffer for Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, said there has been no word of any opioid task force legislation yet.
Opioid addiction — whether to prescription drugs or heroin — has become a significant public health and criminal threat nationwide. Last year, the Alaska Legislature passed a bill that encourages the distribution of Naloxone, a drug that can treat opioid overdoses.
At the time, lawmakers said Naloxone is the equivalent of a fire extinguisher, and more work is needed to fight the epidemic.
Even if the recommendations don’t result in legislation, Burkhart said she hopes institutions across Alaska will want to implement the suggestions.
