A measure designed to address North Carolina’s opioid abuse crisis has cleared a Senate panel.
The Senate Health Care committee unanimously approved a bill Thursday to make changes to the rules on prescribing and dispensing drugs like Oxycontin or morphine. The drugs come with a high risk of addiction and can be a gateway to heroin use.
The measure would also strengthen requirements for doctors and pharmacists on the use of a statewide controlled substance database.
The bill was changed to remove veterinarians from the bill and include a provision for a study on how they’ll comply with reporting their opioid prescription practices.
The bill would also require electronic prescriptions for controlled substances. Doctors would also generally be limited to 5-day and 7-day supplies when first prescribing the potent drugs for pain or after operations.
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