Issue Position: Combating the Opioid Crisis in our Country

Issue Position

The opioid crisis is damaging far too many families in the 86th district and throughout Michigan. Thomas has talked with key members of the Drug Court in Ionia County, local health care providers and recovering addicts in order to better understand this epidemic. Legislation that Thomas supported to combat opioid addiction include the following:

Require health care providers to have bona fide prescriber-patient relationship.
Require health care providers that prescribe opioids to give patients information on substance abuse disorder services.
Allow pharmacists to partially fill prescriptions for Schedule 2 narcotics.
Limit a prescriptions for treating an acute pain patient to no more than a seven-day supply of an opioid within a seven-day period.
Allow Medicaid to cover treatment costs for addiction recovery and detoxification.
Require the Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Commission to develop recommendations on teaching about opioid abuse in public schools.
Require the Michigan Department of Education to make available to public schools a model program of instruction on prescription opioid drug abuse.
Require a prescriber to discuss certain issues and obtain a signed parental consent form before issuing the first prescription to a minor

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