PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on a special session of the Arizona Legislature to enact a bill cracking down on opioids (all times local):
7 p.m.
The Arizona House has joined the Senate in approving a proposal backed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey that is designed to crack down on opioids and cut the number of overdose deaths.
The unanimous action comes after the governor called lawmakers into a special session on Monday to pass the legislation. He’s expected to quickly sign it into law.
Ducey’s proposal limits opioids to an initial five-day supply, boosts pain clinic regulation and adds $10 million to help uninsured and underinsured people get addiction treatment.
Majority Republican lawmakers voiced concern about unintended consequences for patients needing pain-killing drugs, the cost of requiring doctors to buy software allowing electronic prescriptions and a good Samaritan provision some lawmakers say shields lawbreakers.
But in the end no one broke ranks and voted no.
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6:15 p.m.
The Arizona Senate has passed a proposal backed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey that is designed to crack down on opioids and cut the number of overdose deaths.
The House is poised to do the same Thursday evening. The action comes after the governor called lawmakers into a special session on Monday to pass the legislation.
Ducey’s proposal limits opioids to an initial five-day supply, boosts pain clinic regulation and adds $10 million to help uninsured and underinsured people get addiction treatment.
It has broad support despite some heartburn from Republican lawmakers who groused about some parts of the proposal during meetings Thursday.
GOP senators voiced concern about unintended consequences on patients needing pain-killing drugs. House Republicans voiced concerns about the cost of requiring doctors to buy software allowing electronic prescriptions and a good Samaritan provision some lawmakers say shields lawbreakers.
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12:50 p.m.
A number of Republican Arizona senators are raising concerns about parts of Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposal to crack down on opioid prescribing.
The Republicans met late Thursday morning in advance of expected debate and votes on the governor’s plan to cut down on addiction and deaths from prescription painkillers.
Senators voiced concern about unintended consequences on patients needing pain-killing drugs. They also worried of impacts on doctors who will soon need to consult with pain specialists and add new computer systems to write electronic prescriptions.
Sen. Nancy Barto says she’s hearing from patients that doctors are unwilling to provide needed medicine. Others worried about the rushed process of the special session Ducey called and over-regulation.
The House and Senate are expected to debate and vote on the measure starting Thursday afternoon.
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12:30 a.m.
The Arizona House and Senate are poised to debate Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposal to cut down on addiction and deaths from prescription painkillers.
The proposal that the Republican governor says is prompted by an “opioid emergency” has been the focus all week during a special session he called.
Both the House and Senate are expected to debate the bill Thursday, with votes to follow.
Ducey’s proposal limits opioids to an initial five-day supply, boosts pain clinic regulation and adds $10 million to help uninsured and underinsured people get addiction treatment.
It also places limits on the maximum dose most chronic pain patients can be prescribed and requires that an opioid antidote drug called naloxone be prescribed when people are on high doses of narcotics.
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