The New Jersey State Legislature has the opportunity to make small but meaningful progress in the fight against the epidemic of opiate addition in our state by passing A-4760, the Parent Notification Act, which mandates that doctors discuss the potential risks of dependency and discuss alternative treatments with parents of children under the age of 18 who are prescribed such medication. Unfortunately, Assemblyman Herb Conaway, Chairman of the Assembly Health Committee and the only licensed medical doctor currently in the Legislature, has indicated that he does not intend to bring the bill to a vote in his committee. This all but ensures that this well-intentioned, common sense piece of legislation will meet its demise when the current legislative session ends in mid-January.

Abuse of prescription medication is the nation’s fastest growing drug problem. According to the Obama Administration’s National Council on Drug Control Policy, opioid pain relievers are the most frequently abused category of drugs. Opiate addiction is one of the few epidemics that affect all Americans, regardless of gender, age, race, socioeconomic status or geographic location. Opiate addicts are children, students, parents and grandparents. Opiate addicts are social workers, police officers, soldiers, lawyers, doctors, politicians and leaders of industry. Opiate addicts are homeless people sleeping on sidewalks in America’s roughest cities and those living in spacious estates in some of the most exclusive and expensive suburban communities.

According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), users of prescription drugs are 40 times more likely than others to use heroin. Experts attribute it to the fact that most addicts who abuse opiate prescription medication inevitably run out of money, hit rock bottom and turn to the cheaper and deadlier opiate alternative – heroin.

The opiate addiction epidemic isn’t unique to New Jersey, but it’s certainly hitting the state particularly hard. Earlier this year the CDC announced that the rate of heroin overdose deaths in the US had nearly tripled since 2010. And in New Jersey, that rate is more than triple the national average.

Recognizing this growing epidemic is the first step. The next step is actually doing something about it. And one way to slow the escalation is through public education.

Before you dismiss this approach out of hand, consider the effect a coordinated public education effort has had on the number of adults in America who smoke. In 1997, the first year the CDC compiled this statistic, 24.7% of adult Americans smoked cigarettes. Following government mandated warning labels on packaging and years of public- and private-sector led efforts to educate the public about the health risks related to smoking, that number dropped to 14.9% this year.

The “Parent Notification Act” was introduced in early December and immediately garnered overwhelming bipartisan support in both the state senate and assembly. And based on his past record on such issues, the expectation is that Governor Chris Christie would sign the bill into law if it reached his desk.

But that’s a big if, thanks to Conaway, who has close ties to the Medical Society of New Jersey and the Academy for Family Physicians – two organizations leading the fight against the legislation. Their stated rationale is that they oppose any government mandate that affects the time doctors spend with patients and the ability of doctors to use their own discretion.

Requiring doctors to have this important conversation with parents about the medication being prescribed for their child isn’t an overly burdensome mandate, it’s just the right thing to do. Educating parents is particularly important because when it comes to addiction, children and teenagers are especially vulnerable.

In fairness, simply educating the public about the addictive qualities of opiates isn’t going to end addiction. But if we can save even one life through education, isn’t it worth the effort?

Please take a minute to e-mail Assemblyman Herb Conaway at asmconaway@njleg.org to show your support for opiate addiction prevention efforts and to ask him to post A-4760 for a vote in this legislative session.