MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Wisconsin Senate passed nine bills designed to fight opioid abuse on Tuesday. They now head to Gov. Scott Walker, who is expected to sign them all into law.
The bills would:
- make $2 million a year available to counties to use for treating people with drug and alcohol offenses rather than sending them to jail.
- hire four new special agents at the Department of Justice, at a cost of $420,000 annually, to investigate drug trafficking and other related crimes.
- spend $400,000 to train school staff to screen students for addiction.
- require the University of Wisconsin to create a charter high school, on a four-year pilot basis, for up to 15 high school students recovering from addiction.
- protect school employees and volunteers, and residence hall directors on University of Wisconsin or technical college campuses, from lawsuits if they administered Narcan or other drugs to combat an opioid overdose. They would have to be trained on how to use the medication and call 911 as soon as possible after using it in order to qualify for immunity.
- require prescriptions for any drugs that contain the opioid codeine, which is sometimes found in cough syrups and other medicines to treat severe colds.
- create two or three regional treatment programs in underserved but high-need areas for opioid and methamphetamine addiction.
- provide $63,000 a year in grants to hospitals to train more doctors in treating addictions.
- create a new program to connect doctors working in rural areas with expert guidance on treating addiction.
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