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Arizona Legislature Passes Law Tackling Rising Opioid Crisis

U.S. News & World Report: PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature unanimously approved Gov. Doug Ducey's proposal to crack down on excess opioid prescribing and add other regulations designed to cut down on addictions and overdose deaths.

Thursday's action came despite a number of majority Republican lawmakers who had expressed deep concerns about parts of the proposal. The Republican governor was expected to sign it Friday.

Ducey's proposal bars doctors from prescribing more than an initial five-day supply of pain medication in most cases, boosts pain clinic regulation and adds $10 million to help uninsured and underinsured people get addiction treatment. It requires electronic prescriptions for narcotics by early next year in large counties and by mid-2019 in smaller counties.

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