North Carolina Passes Bill to Limit Opioid Prescriptions

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Legislation designed to address North Carolina’s opioid abuse problem is headed to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk.

The House gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would improve the rules on prescribing and dispensing certain drugs like Oxycotin and morphine. The painkillers come with a high risk of addiction and can be a gateway to heroin use.

Last week, the Senate voted for the measure, which would require electronic prescriptions for controlled substances and strengthen requirements for doctors and pharmacists on the use of a statewide controlled substance database.

It would also generally limit doctors to five- and seven-day supplies when first prescribing the potent drugs for pain or after operations.

Bill sponsors say the measure is an important step to combating the state’s opioid crisis.

The governor also wants his state to make a drug that can save the lives of people overdosing on pain killers as widely available as possible.

Cooper announced North Carolina’s Opioid Action Plan on Tuesday as the state held a summit on how to stop misuse and overdoses of the popular drugs.

Cooper said in a news release that along with making naloxone available, the plan also calls for fewer prescriptions for opioids, fighting the illegal diversion of drugs from people given them by a doctor and expanding drug addiction treatment.

Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen presented the plan to the summit, saying the state has a lot of work to do.

The agency says opioid-related deaths in North Carolina increased 20 percent last year.