NY Lawmaker's Proposal Limits Opioid Pain Killers Doctors Can Prescribe Initially
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A New York state lawmaker has an idea on how to avoid further opioid-related deaths.
WCBS 880's Sean Adam reported that with opioid and heroin-related deaths on the rise in New York, state lawmakers are looking to prevent people from getting hooked in the first place.
One proposal would limit the opioid pain killers doctors can prescribe initially with just a five-day supply.
"The Drug Enforcement Agency now says that about 50 percent of the people that are addicted to opioids get their first pills free from someone's medicine cabinet," Rockland state Sen. David Carlucci. "So that's something that we really have to focus on to make sure that the doctors are doing their part to not help push these opioid products into the market."
Opponents, like the Medical Society of the State of New York, said this is a decision best left to trained physicians and not lawmakers.