Wolf Signs Package Of Bills To Address Opioid Crisis
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has signed into law a package of bills aimed to battle the state's heroin and opioid crisis.
Governor Wolf says all five of the bills he signed Wednesday are important in tackling the opioid epidemic. But he says one thing that is perhaps most important of all is something that can't be legislated: that is overcoming the stigma of addiction.
"We're losing so many people to this disease, and we cannot afford to have stigma stand in the way of treatment, of facing up to the reality," the governor said. "We have a lot of work to do, and stigma is the number one priority."
Among the bills signed by the governor are measures that would limit opioid prescriptions to minors, and would prohibit emergency rooms and urgent care centers from prescribing a supply of opioid medications lasting more than seven days.
Another bill signed into law would require physicians to check a state prescription drug monitoring database every time they prescribe opioid and benzodiazepine drugs.