BILL NUMBER: S9890
SPONSOR: ROLISON
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act directing the commissioner of health to conduct a study to iden-
tify, analyze, report, and medically combat new or previously unseen
opiate/opioid compounds found in overdose patients in New York state for
the purpose of establishing more efficient overdose medical treatment
protocols
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Directs the commissioner of health to conduct a study to identify,
analyze, report, and medically combat new or previously unseen opiate/
opioid compounds found in overdose patients in New York state
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 - This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "identify
dangerous drugs act (IDDA)"
Section 2 - The opioid settlement fund advisory board shall direct the
commissioner of health to conduct a study of 250 random urine samples
collected anonymously throughout the state of New York. Provides for
who the samples shall be collected and from whom the samples
will be collected.
Section 3 - The samples collected in this study shall be only used for
the purposes of this study
Section 4 - All samples collected, obtained, stored, and transported
should follow department of health protocols. Such samples shall be sent
to a designated laboratory with access to advanced chromatographic tech-
niques, specifically liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and
gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Section 5 - The study findings, data, results, treatment recommendations
and suggested emergency room protocols shall be compiled into a report
published by the commissioner of health.
Section 6 - Within one year of the effective date the commissioner of
health shall submit the report to the governor, the temporary p resident
of the senate, the minority leader of the senate, the speaker of the
assembly, the minority leader of the assembly, and the chairs and rank-
ing members of the senate and assembly committees on health. As well as
post such report on the department of health's website.
Section 7 - The commissioner of health shall be authorized to promulgate
rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this ac
t.
Section 8 - This act shall,. Lake effect immediately and shall expire
and be deemed repealed thirty days after the delivery of the report.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Hundreds of new deadly synthetic drugs have been introduced onto the
streets of New York since 2009, yet the drug testing utilized in hospi-
tals across the state is not capable of identifying the NPS (Novel
Psychoactive Substances). Patients cannot be diagnosed and properly
treated without knowing which drugs are in their system. The Identify
Dangerous Drugs Act (IDDA) will commission a study about overdose
patients receiving treatment in our hospitals. So that we can better
understand and help solve this issue that plagues New York.
Since 2009, several new synthetic opioids including fentanyl and nitaz-
enes have been introduced across New York State and the rest of the
country. These deadly substances often lead to terrible consequences
including thousands of deaths, addiction, and the destruction of fami-
lies. Their continued use often leads to repeated theft and/or violence
by people who suffer from addiction. Unless the new and commonly used
opiate/opioid compounds, used in combination with other illicit
substances, are identified and studied, the patients cannot be properly
treated or given the proper antidotes to save their lives.
Emergency room or hospital-based toxicology labs do not have the neces-
sary equipment, trained personnel or time to identify these new synthet-
ic drugs and properly develop treatment protocols. Most hospitals only
have the equipment designed to detect basic street drugs and cannot
identify specific opiate analogs that cannot be combated by universal
opiate-reversal drugs such as Narcan. Accordingly, comprehensive drug
screening is expensive and generally not covered by insurance. As a
result, many overdose patients do not receive medical treatment effec-
tively targeting and combating their deadly symptoms related to the use
of new or uncommon opiate/opioid analogs, additives or combinations of
illicit drugs.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately