TODAY: State health officials announce new initiative to crack down on opioid crisis

Jan. 22--State health officials will announce a new initiative on Tuesday afternoon to crack down on prescription opioid misuse amid a growing nationwide epidemic.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will give details on the initiative at a press conference at 2 p.m.

Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Courtney Phillips and Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt will join Paxton in the announcement.

Texas is among states with the lowest opioid prescribing rates in the nation, with 53.1 prescriptions written in 2017 per 100 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number fell significantly in the last decade, from 71.2 prescriptions written per 100 people in 2007, records show.

In Austin, opioid prescribing rates -- already lower than the state and national averages -- are also dropping. In 2012 there were 69.9 prescriptions per 100 people. By 2016, there were 51.2 per 100, according to the city's public health authority, Philip Huang. "Our physicians and our community is doing better than some places," Huang said last year.

Still, numerous law enforcement officers, health professionals and criminal justice experts testified to the Texas House Select Committee on Opioids and Substance Use over the summer about the problems they are seeing with opioids, including prescription painkillers, and other drugs. The committee in its final report made several recommendations, including efforts to further cut down on opioid prescribing.

Last year, nearly 3,000 people in the state died from drug overdoses, according to the CDC. It is not clear how many of those were related to opioid use.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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