Five governors address opiate scourge

The junk problem ”“ opioid addiction ”“ now has the attention of five regional governors.

On Tuesday morning, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was to meet Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont to discuss a regional approach to opioid addiction. A press conference was expected to follow.

Nonurban opiate-pill and heroin abuse have been spiking, according to multiple national news reports, with a notable surge in heroin addiction finding suburbia and backwoods areas. A bust last week in Paterson, N.J., netted 80,000 glassine bags, plus guns, in a single apartment.

Later on Tuesday, Malloy was slated to hold a bill-signing ceremony in Wethersfield to commemorate a new law that authorizes anyone to administer an opioid antagonist ”“ such as Narcan ”“ to a person he or she believes, in good faith, is experiencing an opioid-related drug overdose.

Narcan is a prescription medicine that reverses an opioid overdose.

Previously, the law allowed only licensed health care practitioners to administer the medication without being civilly or criminally liable for the action. Emergency and law personnel are said increasingly to request it based on need on the streets.