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Senate backs bill to limit prescriptions

The state Senate this week approved legislation limiting the number of prescription opioids.

State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, is the chief sponsor of the bill that puts a seven-day cap on prescriptions to individuals for controlled substances containing opioids unless there exists a medical emergency jeopardizing their health or safety.

The bill does include exceptions for cases involving acute pain, cancer treatment or palliative or hospice care. Exceptions are also included for patients in in-patient or hospital settings and when a prescriber is continuing a treatment initiated by another member of the practice.

“While we must do everything we can to curb doctor shopping and reduce illicit prescription drug abuse, I want to ensure that we are not unintentionally hindering access to medicines without evidence of abuse for patients who rely on them on a daily basis,” Yaw said.

Yaw noted that hearings held with the Center for Rural Pennsylvania during the past three years revealed that an oversupply of medications prescribed to patients can lead to opioid addiction.

State Rep. Jeff Wheeland, R-Loyalsock Township, said Yaw’s bill sounds like legislation he could support.

Many doctors, he noted, have prescribed painkillers in large volumes.

He said many times prescription opioids are stolen — either to feed an addict’s drug problem or to be sold on the street.

“There is just so much of this stuff being accumulated in medicine cabinets,” he said. “They get stolen. Something has to be done to limit it.”

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