U.S. Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ) announced Thursday a bill that would limit the supply of an initial opioid prescription for acute pain to seven days in effort to combat opioid addiction.
Medical practitioners are required by law to register with the Drug Enforcement Agency to prescribe a schedule II, III, or IV controlled substance in the United States. The Gillibrand and McCain bill would require medical professionals to certify, as part of their DEA registration, that they will not prescribe an opioid as an initial treatment for acute pain in an amount that exceeds a seven-day supply, and may not provide a refill.
“Our bipartisan bill would target one of the root causes of the opioid addiction crisis, which is the over-prescription of these powerful and addictive drugs for acute pain,” Sen. Gillibrand said. “Too many lives have been destroyed, too many families have been torn apart, and too many communities all over New York are suffering because of this tragic epidemic. I am proud to join with Senator McCain in this urgent fight against the over-prescription of opioids, and I look forward to seeing it pass through the Senate as quickly as possible.”
The bill’s limit does not apply to the treatment of chronic pain, pain being treated as part of cancer care, hospice or other end of life care, or pain treated as part of palliative care.