Easier to say no to opioids

The ease of relapsing into opioid addiction has led a growing number of states to help residents make it clear to medical professionals they do not want to be prescribed the powerful painkillers.

Connecticut and Alaska are two of the latest considering legislation this year that would create a “nonopioid directive” patients can put in their medical files, formally notifying health-care professionals they do not want to be prescribed or administered opioid medications.

Legislators in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania last year voted to create similar voluntary directives.

While patients typically have the right to make decisions about the medical care they receive, proponents of non-opioid directives con- tend they make an incapacitated patient’s wishes clear. They are also seen as a way to prevent someone in addiction recovery from relapsing. The National Institute on Drug Abuse notes exposure to drugs is one of the most common triggers for relapse.

“We have a right to choose what we want in our care,” said Kelvin Young, who is recovering from opioid and heroin addiction and is now director of Toivo, an alternative drug-rehabilitation program in Hartford.

Sue Kruczek, of Guilford, Conn., has worked to pass opioid legislation since her 20-year-old son, Nick, died in 2013 of a heroin overdose following an addiction to prescription drugs.

“It seems like the hospitals are unaware of the history,” she said.