Reducing Unused Medications Act of 2016
Floor Speech
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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, over the last decade, we have seen a staggering increase of opioid overdose deaths. In 2015, this epidemic claimed 125 lives in my district alone. There are a lot of different causes of this crisis, but the number of prescription opioids in circulation is a critical factor.
Over the last 15 years, the amount of prescription painkillers has quadrupled and generic Vicodin is now the most prescribed drug to Medicare beneficiaries.
Now, we know that often patients don't use all the opioids they are prescribed. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, over 70 percent of adults who misuse prescription drugs get them from friends or relatives.
Millions of half-filled bottles of unused and unwanted prescription drugs line our families' medicine cabinets, and too often that is where opioid addiction begins.
One promising way to reduce the amount of unused and unwanted painkillers that are fueling this public health crisis is by allowing patients and doctors to only partially fill opioid prescriptions.
By allowing pharmacists to partially fill a prescription for opioids at the request of a patient or doctor, we can reduce the number of unused pills and help stop pill diversion and misuse.
Currently, the DEA allows partial filling of prescriptions for many drugs, but the regulations are narrower and less clear for opioid drugs. That is why I, along with Representative Stivers, have introduced the Reducing Unused Medications Act.
This legislation will resolve any ambiguity and clearly establish that a prescription for schedule II substances, like opioid painkillers, may be partially filled upon the request of a patient or doctor.
We have all heard the stories. Just last weekend I ran into a dad whose son had been given a 30-day prescription of opioid painkillers for having a wisdom tooth taken out, and he had just received an unwanted prescription, also for 30 days, after having minor surgery.
This bill will empower patients to manage their prescriptions and can be a critical tool in an effort to address the opioid epidemic. This is a commonsense bill that will help us stop the misuse of prescription drugs that has fueled the use of heroin and this opioid epidemic.
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