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Governor Baker signs bill restricting prescription drugs

neversickanymore

neversickanymore

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Governor Baker signs bill restricting prescription drugs
Mar 14, 2016

BOSTON (WHDH) -
Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill Monday that will put tighter restrictions on powerful prescription drugs.

Baker pushed for the legislation as Massachusetts struggles to stem a growing tide of opioid deaths, including overdoses from heroin.

The bill limits initial painkiller prescriptions to a seven-day supply and set an evaluation requirement within 24 hours for overdose victims seeking help at hospital emergency rooms.

The legislation gives patients the ability to fill only part of their painkiller prescriptions at a time.

It also requires schools to verbally screen students for potential drug abuse. Parents could opt their child out of the screenings.

The Massachusetts House and Senate unanimously approved the bill last week.

Governor Baker plans to put the new restrictions into effect immediately.

On Monday, Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian released a statement:

The historic legislation signed into law by Governor Baker today marks a significant step in our collective efforts to bring the Commonwealth’s opioid epidemic to an end. The comprehensive legislation passed unanimously by the House and Senate sets us on a path to creating a healthier, safer Commonwealth by placing an emphasis not only on treatment, but also on education and increased prescriber responsibility.

I want to thank Governor Baker and the members of the legislature for their leadership, as well as the countless advocates and members of the medical and public safety communities who came together to shape this landmark legislation.

While we rightly pause to celebrate today’s signing, we recognize the hard work of implementation remains and the same spirit of collaboration, which has brought us to this moment, must continue unabated. We also remain cognizant we must continue to revisit and revaluate this legislation to ensure it works as intended and we make necessary updates on a routine basis.
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Please take a sec to click on the source http://www.whdh.com/story/31460503/governor-baker-set-to-sign-bill-restricting-prescription-drugs

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Verbally screen? Are you all fucked up on drugs kid? Why yes teacher.
 
These may be positive changes, but they may end up having negative unitended consequences like driving current opiate patients out on the street to heroin. If this law is revisited like they say they should grandfather in current patients for a one year period. Have the law apply to to new patients. Otherwise you run the risk of sending the current patients out of the pharmacies and down to the corner to pick up bags instead.

Going to be some seriously overworked pharmacists.
 
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Thank God I dont live in Mass. :) It will cost legit patients money too, copays every week an such.
 
Kittycat5 said:
Thank God I dont live in Mass. :) It will cost legit patients money too, copays every week an such.
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This is so true. Honestly I think it will punish legit patients more than stem any flow of drugs. An addict is going to find a way to use whether it be pills or heroin.

There is no legislation that is limiting that will stop opiate abuse. Rehabs and mental health help need to be funded more.
 
Yeah limiting prescription drugs and causing more innocent people to be criminals will definitely reduce heroin overdose deaths. It astonishes me that people are this fucking stupid, anywhere in the world, at all, let alone people in charge of making rules.
 
Their pockets get fatter bc you have to go to more Dr apts and get smaller rxs filled, the dope man gets more biz bc its inconvient as shit to have to worry about running out if you only have a week of pills. And the patient gets to roll the dice by buying possibly tainted fent dope and od in a car park somewhere. All is great in the US.
 
Have lawmakers learned nothing from the disaster of the last 3 years? The more you crack down on pain pills the more people are going to switch to heroin.
 
cj said:
Have lawmakers learned nothing from the disaster of the last 3 years? The more you crack down on pain pills the more people are going to switch to heroin.
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Isn't that the point? They would rather addicts be "criminals" than "victims"...
 
avcpl said:
Isn't that the point? They would rather addicts be "criminals" than "victims"...
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Not from a public health standpoint. Because the law says that even "criminals" get long-term medical care, of which you need a lot more if you're using heroin vs Rx meds.
 
Felonious Monk said:
Not from a public health standpoint. Because the law says that even "criminals" get long-term medical care, of which you need a lot more if you're using heroin vs Rx meds.
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no, not from a public health standpoint. But when patients turn to heroin it places the blame on them and not the doctors. They (the patients) now become criminals which helps the politicians rationalize the DEA and the prisons. (we need more money to fight this growing drug problem!)
 
neversickanymore said:
I know where to get it. The companies that are part of the root. The OxyContin Clan: The $14 Billion Newcomer to Forbes 2015 List of Richest U.S. Families
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They will never be held accountable. Even if you strip most of their money away, they will still be rich beyond anything you or I could Imagine. I believe they should have civil asset forfeiture take everything they own (I mean they made it selling drugs right?) given a felony charge which will change their lives irreversibly, and then given them a sentence that befits the law: If you sell drugs to someone and they die as a result, you are charged with first degree murder. That would be only fair right?

The only way to stem this problem is to face it from a health standpoint. People are going to use regardless of incarceration. In fact you can still get heroin in prison so even that is not a deterrent. Why not cut down on the cost to the average person by using preventive measures such as needle exchanges, and destigmatizing drug use so addicts will actually seek medical attention before they need urgent life saving measures.
 
Because politicians and much of the public are ignorant and/or liars and hypocrites.
 
This isn't good at all. This will have zero effect on the flow of drugs. Opiates are a necessary evil for killing pain for some people. Making it harder for people to get what they need will just make them turn to other things that are much more dangerous like heroin. This isn't how you cure addiction or prevent OD's. 7 days worth is plenty to OD. Who the fuck do they think they are helping? The insurance companies will get more co-pays. How does this help patients? Oh that's right it's not meant to. Fucking assholes.
 
ThaDudeAbides said:
This isn't good at all. This will have zero effect on the flow of drugs. Opiates are a necessary evil for killing pain for some people. Making it harder for people to get what they need will just make them turn to other things that are much more dangerous like heroin. This isn't how you cure addiction or prevent OD's. 7 days worth is plenty to OD. Who the fuck do they think they are helping? The insurance companies will get more co-pays. How does this help patients? Oh that's right it's not meant to. Fucking assholes.
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Another thing that doesn't get mentioned much, is that since they won't fill opiate prescriptions through the mail anymore the patient has to physically come in. Now they have to come in more often. So they have to find someone to take them (which can be difficult) or they have to drive while medicated (which is either dangerous or puts the patient in a potential liability) or they have to drive while in pain, which may be even worse than driving while medicated.

No common sense.
 
cj said:
Have lawmakers learned nothing from the disaster of the last 3 years? The more you crack down on pain pills the more people are going to switch to heroin.
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Freakin' knuckleheads, I tell ya!

Just how thick-headed are these imbeciles; to continue attempts to legislate the state's way out of a complex medical issue after several decades of a completely-avoidable civil conflict which has utterly ruined relations between the public and law enforcement (possibly permanently)?

We can always count on our species to repeat the same enormous mistakes over and over, despite the fact that the nation's gargantuan amount of publicly-accessible literature on legislating morality has comprehensively underscored warning after warning - which we continue to blatantly ignore at our peril - of the long term implications inevitably coming for us.
 
Forgive these limelight whores we call politicians. They have to look like they're doing something about a pressing social issue, and prescribers are the weakest link in the chain.
 
MyDoorsAreOpen said:
Forgive these limelight whores we call politicians. They have to look like they're doing something about a pressing social issue, and prescribers are the weakest link in the chain.
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Second weakest. While I dont envy your role as a physician in this at all, MDAO, the pharmacist, my chosen profession are the federal regulatory agencies target that is easiest to scare into basically perceiving any patient with a script for a controlled substance as a junky criminal and drastically limiting dispensing.
 
Hopefully these actions will continue to increase the demand for heroin and make it more abundant cheaper and stronger....making these policy makers look like the dumb fucks they are.

They learned nothing from prohibition, people still drank, they drank fucking methanol and gasoline to get drunk until they went blind and poisoned themselves....alcoholism increased during prohibition and the deaths did too.

Americans are actually this fucking stupid to keep repeating the exact same mistake
 
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