(1) The general assembly finds that: (a) Opioid addiction has emerged as a significant public health concern in Colorado, with more than ten thousand deaths attributed to drug overdoses since 2000, and the annual rate of death from drug overdose doubling from seven-point-eight deaths per one hundred thousand people in 2000 to fifteen-point-seven deaths per one hundred thousand people in 2015. This rate is significantly higher than the national rate. (b) The abuse of prescription drugs is the fastest growing substance abuse problem in the United States, particularly among adolescents; (c) Each year, there are approximately seventeen thousand overdose deaths from opioid painkillers nationally and approximately three hundred such deaths in Colorado; (d) According to the centers for disease control, Colorado's drug overdose mortality rate has increased by five hundred percent since 2014; (e) Colorado and other states in the region have the highest death rates attributable to alcohol in the country, and approximately eighteen percent, or one out of every five, of all Colorado adults engaged in heavy or binge drinking monthly; (f) In addition to opioids, prescription drugs, and alcohol, surveys show use rates for methamphetamine, cocaine, and other illicit drugs are higher in Colorado than in other states; and (g) There is a lack of sufficient research on the most effective strategies for addressing substance use disorders across the full continuum of recommended services that include prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery support services. (2) The general assembly therefore finds that for Colorado to respond to these issues and to foster the health, welfare, and safety of the state's residents, it is hereby declared that it is the state's policy to facilitate research into substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies. (3) A center for research into substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies, referred to in this section as the "center", is established in the university of Colorado health sciences center. Subject to available appropriations, the center's mission is to: (a) Establish or expand programs for research concerning prevention, treatment, and recovery support strategies for substance use disorders, including but not limited to opioid addiction; (b) Establish or expand innovative treatments for substance use disorders, including but not limited to opioid addiction; (c) Expand partnerships and collaboration with substance use disorder professionals, other programs at the university of Colorado, and other organizations with similar missions throughout the state and nation; and (d) Seek federal and private resources to further the center's research activities. (4) (a) The center shall develop and implement a series of continuing education activities designed to help a prescriber of pain medication to safely and effectively manage patients with pain and, when appropriate, prescribe opioids or medication-assisted treatment. The educational activities must also include best practices for prescribing benzodiazepines and the potential harm of inappropriately limiting prescriptions to chronic pain patients. The educational activities must apply to physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and dentists, with an emphasis on physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and dentists serving underserved populations and communities. (b) The center shall also develop education and training for law enforcement officers and first responders concerning the use of opioid antagonists for opioid overdose and community- based training for persons at risk of opioid overdose. (c) The center shall engage in community engagement activities to address substance use prevention, harm reduction, criminal justice system response, treatment, and recovery. (d) For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, the general assembly shall appropriate seven hundred fifty thousand dollars to the center from the marijuana tax cash fund created in section 39-28.8-501 for the purposes of this subsection (4). (5) (a) The center shall develop and implement a program to increase public awareness concerning the safe use, storage, and disposal of opioids and the availability of naloxone and other drugs used to block the effects of an opioid overdose. (b) For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, and each state fiscal year thereafter, the general assembly shall appropriate two hundred fifty thousand dollars to the center from the marijuana tax cash fund created in section 39-28.8-501 (1) for the purposes of this subsection (5). (6) (a) The center may employ up to three additional employees to work as grant writers in order to aid local communities in need of assistance in applying for grants to access state and federal money to address opioid and other substance use disorders in their communities. The center shall determine the communities in which to provide the grant writing assistance. (b) For the fiscal year 2019-20, the general assembly shall appropriate money from the marijuana tax cash fund created in section 39-28.8-501 (1) to the department for allocation to the center for the purposes of this subsection (6). The center may use the money to hire new employees and for the direct and indirect costs associated with this subsection (6).
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