after Christie proposed the legislation, the New Jersey Senate unanimously approved the bill, which is expected to pass the Assembly and be signed into law soon thereafter, according to Schnure.
“In recent years, we’ve worked on a bipartisan basis to enact a number of legislative reforms that address different aspects of the problem,” Schnure said. “Previous efforts have focused on prevention, deterrence and punishing dealers. What makes the new effort unique is that we are placing a major emphasis on ensuring effective treatment for those battling addiction.”
In 2015, nearly 1,600 people died from an opioid overdose in New Jersey, and 28,000 people sought treatment for drug addiction. Many more were turned away or waitlisted.
In a press release, Christie reiterated the importance of easier pathways to drug treatment, stating that insurance carriers should not block those seeking help for a deadly drug addiction by requiring lengthy time-consuming prior evaluations. “Their lives hang in the balance; they cannot wait.”
