Several mothers came to the Puerto Rico Senate to participate in the public hearing of the Commission on Community Initiatives, Mental Health and Addiction, chaired by independent Senator José Vargas Vidot, and related their heartbreaking experiences at the loss of their children due to an overdose of opioids. In this way, they expressed their support for Senate Law No. 71 of Authorship, precisely from the President of the Commission, Vargas Vidot and the Senatorial President, José Luis Dalmau Santiago.
This project aims to provide certain protection with the enactment of this law to people who suffer from an overdose and who need urgent medical attention; put in place certain safeguards for persons seeking emergency medical care for a person suffering from an overdose; Establish certain protections for the use of naloxone by non-healthcare professionals, as well as for other purposes.
The first case presented at the public hearing was that of Ms Marisol Villegas of the Mothers in Duel organization. She spoke of the ordeal that her son, a young man, had experienced, who she said was “suffering from chronic substance use disease.”
“In addition to my professional experience, I have experienced the addiction disease of one of my children throughout life. Unfortunately, he could not enjoy a drug-free life and was the victim of a heinous crime in January 2017. As a mother I lived in constant fear that my son would one day be found dead or that the news would bring me that he had died in a small hospital ”, confessed this mother who has worked at organizations such as Hogar Crea and Iniciativa Comunitaria.
Villegas lamented that many of those who died did not have the chance to count on the drug Naloxone to prevent those deaths. “Today they die from a drug that is contaminated with fentanyl. Perhaps the story would have been different for many of them if they had Naxolone, the antidote for opioid intoxication, on hand. “
Another of the shocking moments at the hearing was when Dr. Elba J. Guzmán-Faría told those in attendance how she lost her only son after taking oxycodone.
Apparently he started using oxycodone in 2015 after suffering a torn ankle ligament while running. She became aware of her dangerous behavior when I told her with alarm in June 2017 that deaths from opioid use had turned into an epidemic. About five weeks after that conversation, my son died. He died on August 3, 2017, that day at 6:07 a.m. I got that call that no parent wants to receive, ‘Guzmán Faría said in tears.
“I and all the mothers who have lost children as a result of this pandemic, thank Senators Vargas Vidot and Dalmau Santiago for their willingness to draw attention to an overwhelming problem affecting the entire North American nation, including the territory of Puerto Rico. faced. ” Dr. concluded.
Given these stories that moved those in attendance, Senator María de Lourdes Santiago not only thanked them for their appearance, but also congratulated them on their courage. “My respect and thanks; and above all, her generosity, not only because she rejects a measure, but also because she opens herself to the greatest suffering a mother must suffer, ”said the legislature.
A mother sent another report to the committee that her son also died of substance use and that she is demanding that the measure be approved.
Another of the delegates was the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL, for the English acronym), an organization that brings together all Spanish state legislatures in the United States and appeared before the Commission to also speak out for Senate Bill 71.
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“It is the first time that the Caucus has come to Puerto Rico to testify on a bill; that speaks of the importance of what the P. del S. 71 represents, ”assured the organization’s executive director, Lcdo. Kenneth Romero Cruz.
According to the Hispanic Caucus, they support the measure because it seeks to promote the same goals and mechanisms as Spanish state legislatures in the United States, to protect people suffering from opioid problems or prone to drug-related overdoses. so they can get the help they need. Likewise, they also suggest some changes be made to it to strengthen it.
Meanwhile, the first community organization to drop off the Community Initiative in which its coordinator of the Punto Fijo Harm Reduction Program’s Opioid Prevention Project, Carielys Flores López, found the project in question to be a core one. from the center.
“We endorse this project because it covers an aspect of major importance for the prevention of deaths from opioid overdose, especially in the population provided by the Community Initiative. This legal measure minimizes one of the great barriers our participants and their support networks have (who usually witness overdose events), which are punitive interventions when an overdose occurs in a person taking opioids. Illegal for non-medical purposes, ”said Flores López.
Regarding the use of naloxone, Flores López understands that the project also guarantees access to said drug, which was economically accessible in the past and is currently not as accessible to all people. In fact, the dispatcher indicated that a “nose kit” of this drug costs $ 168.00.
The Institute of Forensic Sciences (ICF), for its part, focused on providing data on opioid deaths. They assure that approximately 30,000 to 36,000 deaths are reported annually on the island, of which 5,000 to 6,000 are referred to the ICF. In total, about 2,500 to 3,000 are referred to the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory for chemical analysis to determine the presence of drugs that may be linked to death.
All delegates in this public hearing were in favor of the project.