3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2018
Oregon grapples with patients’ chronic pain amid opioid crisis
State may limit
access to drugs
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
In an effort to reduce opi-
oid addiction, a state commis-
sion is considering changes
to dramatically decrease how
much opioids some chronic
pain patients could receive
under the Oregon Health Plan.
A proposal recommended
by the Oregon Health Author-
ity’s Chronic Pain Task Force
would limit prescriptions
to treat certain pain condi-
tions to short-acting opioids
prescribed for no more than
seven days. The opioids could
be prescribed for no more
than 90 days. Patients would
be able to access previously
uncovered alternative treat-
ments by acupuncturists, chi-
ropractors and other specialty
providers.
“We are in an opioid cri-
sis in Oregon,” said Jonathan
Modie, an Oregon Health
Authority spokesman. “Over
prescribing has been the main
driver of overdose and death.
We want to make sure patients
have more nonpharmacologi-
cal options such as acupunc-
ture, massage therapy and chi-
ropractic care.”
The proposal follows
guidelines that the Health
Evidence Review Commis-
sion approved earlier this year
Tim Harless, of Tigard, demonstrates in support of opioid
access for chronic pain patients during an event at the
Oregon Health Authority office in Salem.
Photos by Paris Achen/Capital Bureau
Chronic pain patients and their supporters demonstrate outside the Oregon Heath Au-
thority offices in Salem on Thursday.
for patients with chronic back
pain.
A group of patients with
chronic pain conditions has
already organized to oppose the
proposal. They demonstrated
against the proposal Thursday
outside of the Oregon Health
Authority office in Salem.
They said the proposal
shows a lack of understanding
of what it’s like to live with
chronic pain.
Tigard resident Tim Har-
less, who is a Marine Corps
veteran, said he has had back
pain since falling off a roof
in 1986. He has had a lumbar
reconstruction and recently
had two discs in his back
replaced.
Without opioids, he said,
it would be too painful to
perform basic daily activi-
ties such as showering, driv-
ing or participating in the
demonstration opponents held
Thursday.
“It gives me a respite
and increases quality of life
because with that respite
they’re able to do stuff,” Har-
less said.
The commission should
distinguish between addicts
and pain patients, demonstra-
tors said.
The policy on opioids is
not final and could change
as commissioners hear sto-
ries from patients during a
public comment period, said
Dana Hargunani, the Oregon
Health Authority’s chief med-
ical officer.
The commission could
vote on the proposal as soon
as October, she said. It could
hear the final recommenda-
tion for the policy as soon as
its Aug. 9 meeting.
Oregon saw a more than 5
percent spike in drug overdose
deaths in the 12-month period
ending in April, according to
the federal Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention.
In March, Gov. Kate
Brown declared drug addic-
tion a public health crisis and
signed an executive order that
McConnell withdraws Trump pick minutes before vote
Bounds is
an Oregon
prosecutor
By JEFF MAPES
Oregon Public
Broadcasting
The nomination of Ore-
gon prosecutor Ryan Bounds
to a seat on a powerful fed-
eral appeals court collapsed
Thursday after it became
clear he didn’t have enough
votes to win U.S. Senate
approval.
In a surprise move, U.S.
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell pulled
Bounds’ nomination from the
Senate floor instead of going
ahead with a planned vote.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas,
told reporters in the Capi-
tol that the decision to pull
the appointment was made in
consultation with the White
‘Instead of judging him on his life’s
work as a successful federal prosecutor
and respected member of the legal
community, he was trashed for a couple
of columns he wrote as a 21-year-
old college student at Stanford.’
Rep. Greg Walden
House.
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley had joined
with their Democratic col-
leagues
in
hammering
Bounds for weeks over his
two-decade-old
writings
about race, gay rights and
other topics that they said
disqualified him for the seat.
The key figure in the
unexpected drama, though,
was South Carolina Sen.
Tim Scott, the only Afri-
can-American Republican in
the Senate.
Scott said he talked with
Bounds on Wednesday night
and met the nominee Thurs-
day. However, Scott said in a
statement, “I had unanswered
questions that led to me being
unable to support him.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Flor-
ida, also shared Scott’s con-
cerns. In the closely divided
Senate, that was enough to
doom Bounds, a 45-year-old
prosecutor in the U.S. Attor-
ney’s Office, for a seat on
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals.
“Today, the Senate came
to its senses in respect to
judges,” an exultant Wyden
told Oregon Public Broad-
casting. “This process has
been flawed for months and
months.”
Rep. Greg Walden, Ore-
gon’s only Republican in
Congress, said Bounds
deserved better. The con-
gressman had championed
President Donald Trump’s
appointment of Bounds, who
grew up in his district and
whose family has been active
in GOP politics. His sister,
Lorissa Bounds, is Walden’s
chief of staff.
“There was a day when a
man of his intellect, experi-
ence and ability would have
easily won confirmation,”
Walden said in a statement.
“Instead of judging him on
his life’s work as a success-
ful federal prosecutor and
respected member of the legal
community, he was trashed
for a couple of columns he
wrote as a 21-year-old col-
lege student at Stanford.”
Bounds wrote for a
provocative student newspa-
per founded by conservatives
pushing back against campus
liberalism.
requires the state Alcohol and
Drug Policy Commission and
certain state agencies, such as
the Oregon Health Authority,
to develop a statewide strate-
gic plan for addiction preven-
tion, treatment and recovery.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
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