Fighting an opioid addiction crisis in the United States, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced bipartisan legislation that would limit the initial supply of opioid prescriptions for treatment of acute pain to seven days to help prevent abuse.
The Opioid Addiction Prevention Act would amend the Controlled Substances Act to require medical professionals to certify that they will not prescribe an initial opioid treatment for acute pain for more than seven days as part of their Drug Enforcement Agency licensure registration process.
“One of the main causes for the alarming increase in drug overdoses in the United States is the over-prescription of highly addictive opioids, which have increased by 300 percent over the last 15 years,” McCain said. “In fact, people who are addicted to prescription opioids are 40 times more likely to become addicted to heroin.”
In Arizona, heroin and opioid overdoses have skyrocketed. More than 1,000 people required emergency room treatment for drug overdoses in 2014 while heroin-caused deaths increased by 44 percent between 2013 and 2014, McCain said, citing Arizona Department of Health Services figures.
The bill’s seven-day initial opioid prescription cap would not apply to the treatment of chronic pain, treatment of cancer, hospice or end-of-life care, or treatment of pain as part of a palliative care plan.
“Our legislation builds on the important steps taken by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey last fall to tackle a root cause of this epidemic by limiting the supply of an initial opioid prescription for acute pain to seven days,” McCain said. “We have a long way to go to end the scourge of drugs across our communities, but this legislation is an important step forward in preventing people from getting hooked on these deadly drugs.”
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who cosponsored the bill with McCain, said it would address one of the root causes of the nation’s opioid addiction crisis.