House OKs Bill To Combat 'Doctor Shopping' By Opioid Addicts

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Doctors would be required to check a prescription database before prescribing painkillers and other powerful drugs under legislation nearing final approval in Michigan's Legislature.

The bill was passed 86-24 in the House Wednesday, and the Senate may vote later in the day. Other bills winning passage would limit the amount of opioids that can be prescribed and require a "bona fide" physician-patient relationship to dispense drugs.

The measures are lawmakers' latest attempt to combat a deadly opioid epidemic in a state with the 10th-highest per-capita rate of opioid pain reliever prescriptions in the country.

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