COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Ohio continues to battle an opioid epidemic, Ohio lawmakers are working to give people battling an addiction a new tool to break the cycle.
House Bill 300 would set up a pilot program to provide remote treatment for those dealing with opioid use disorder. The co-sponsors say it would be especially important for those in rural areas.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021, nearly 5,400 Ohioans died of drug overdoses. That equates to 48 of every 100,000 people in the state.
House Bill 300 is co-sponsored by Republican Representative Sharon Ray and Democrat Rachel Baker. It would require the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction services to give grants to provide remote methadone treatment to people trying to overcome opioid addiction.
The treatment would be administered through ten approved opioid treatment providers. The patients would be monitored on a day to day basis and would have to follow strict rules or be kicked out of the program.
"They would be able to take take-home doses of the medication and have an app or some kind of technology on their phone or on their computer where they could dose at home by scanning their bottles," Rep. Baker said. "There would be an audio-visual recording of them dosing and that would be transmitted to their provider."
"If you don't have a methadone clinic close by, sometimes it would be 30 minutes to an hour away. and a lot of our folks who are participating in these programs don't have a drivers license and the rural areas don't have buses," Rep. Ray said. "So this will allow them to participate without giving up three hours of their day."
The bill would earmark $750,000 in each of the next two fiscal years for the program.
Tuesday's hearing was the first hearing for the bill in the Behavioral Health Committee.