Bill aids students getting substanceabuse help

Esty introduces legislation to defer college loans

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., a member of the House Opioid Task Force, introduced bipartisan legislation with Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., to allow studentloan borrowers enrolled in a stateapproved substance-abuse treatment program to defer payment on public student loans while actively receiving treatment, without interest accruing during the deferment period. Esty made the announcement in a press release issued Friday.

“Families shouldn’t have to choose between seeking treatment for their loved ones struggling with opioid addiction and paying the bills,” Esty said, in a written statement. “The pain of helping a family member seek treatment and recover is difficult enough; no one should have to tell their son or daughter that the family can’t afford to treat their child.”

“The opioid epidemic continues to destroy communities across the United States, and in many cases, young Americans transitioning to adulthood are the most heavily impacted by this crisis,” MacArthur said in the statement.

If anyone knows this it’s Maria Coutant Skinner of the McCall Center for Behavioral Health in Torrington.

“One in ten. The percentage of people suffering with a substance use disorder who get the treatment they so desperately need is nothing short

of tragic,” she said.

The legislation, she said, “removes a substantial barrier to that treatment. Fully committing to an effective recovery program optimizes the chance that a young person can change the trajectory of their life — the lasting outcomes to that investment are enormous.”

In addition to her work on the Opioid Task Force in the House, Esty was a leader on the bipartisan Opioid Conference Committee for the House and Senate versions of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) last year.

The legislation authorized $77.9 million per year from fiscal years 2016 through 2020 and devoted funds for treatment and recovery services, alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders, law enforcement initiatives, and programs to prevent overdose deaths and improper prescriptions. Two Esty-sponsored provisions on consumer and provider education about the risk of prescription opioid addiction were included in the final legislation.

Connecticut’s chief medical examiner estimates that the state’s fatal drug overdoses could exceed 1,000 for the first time in history this year, largely due to the surge in deaths from powerful opioids like heroin and fentanyl, according to the release.