Ramped-up fight against heroin must hit mark

So, once again, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has crisscrossed the state and signed into law a bill designed to fight the heroin scourge.

Let’s hope this helps those struggling with addiction. Let’s hope this provides relief to families coping with addicts. Let’s hope this creates a climate in which communities can heal and overcome the devastation brought on by this destructive drug.

Of course, the public knows this battle must go well beyond government action and requires a comprehensive community response.

As the governor said when he signed a package of bills several years ago designed to tackle opioid-related abuse, “This problem gets solved when neighbors and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles really recognize their responsibility, and the entire community takes responsibility for this situation.”

Nevertheless, strong laws must be in place, ranging from focusing more on treatment than incarceration to forcing insurance companies to cover more of those expenses.

Toward the end of the legislative session last week, Cuomo and legislative leaders did strike a broad-ranging agreement. One initiative is directed at stopping doctors from over-prescribing the initial supply of opioids for patients. Others are aimed at insurers, prohibiting them from requiring prior authorization for heroin-addiction treatment and including inpatient rehabilitation and medication to manage withdrawal symptoms.

A recent report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli showed New York has outpaced the national average in both opioid use and deaths. In fact, the number of opioid-related deaths rose 47 percent across New York between 2010 and 2014, according to the latest state Department of Health statistics.

This deadly trend is absolutely intolerable.

The state can, at least, point to some successes — and, tellingly, those wins have come from people on the front line of this fight. For instance, expanding first-responders’ access to naloxone, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, has unquestionably saved lives.

The governor has set a proper, humane tone in the fight against heroin, but whether this second dose of legislation goes far enough remains to be seen. However, the state does deserve credit for going back and trying again.