Stivers and Clark Legislation to Combat Opiate Epidemic Passes House

Press Release

As part of a series of bills taken up by the U.S. House this week to address the opiate epidemic across the country, Representative Steve Stivers (R -- OH) and Representative Katherine Clark (D -- MA) won House support for the Reducing Unused Medications Act (H.R. 4599). This legislation would allow prescriptions for opioid medications to be partially filled by pharmacists at the request of patients or doctors, thereby reducing the number of unused painkillers that could be diverted or abused.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that roughly 6.5 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs, and according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 70 percent of them are getting those drugs from friends or relatives.

"Combatting the opiate epidemic is a multi-front battle," Congressman Stivers said. "This legislation will help prevent highly-addictive painkillers from getting into the wrong hands as we work in other ways to provide services and treatment to help addicts, and to support our law enforcement and health care professionals as they deal with the consequences of drug abuse."

"Millions of half-filled bottles of unused prescription drugs line our families' medicine cabinets, and too often, that is where opioid addiction begins," Representative Clark said. "This is an important step in reducing the amount of unused and unwanted pain medication that is fueling our opioid epidemic. I'm grateful that the House put its differences aside to give our communities one more tool to save lives."

Current Drug Enforcement Administration regulations permit drugs in schedules III, IV, and V to be partially filled, but the regulations are narrower and less clear for schedule II drugs, which include prescription opioids. The Reducing Unused Medications Act will clear up the ambiguity, thereby allowing states considering partial fill policies to move forward.

Other measures taken up by the U.S. House this week seek to expand treatment, prevent overdoses, combat international drug trafficking, provide more resources to local governments in the fight against opiate abuse, work with health care professionals to evaluate the prescription and use of opioids in treating pain, and better educate citizens about the addictive nature of prescription painkillers.

Representatives Clark and Stivers have previously worked together on opiate-related legislation. In 2015, they passed legislation, now law, designed to curb the instances of neonatal abstinence syndrome. There has been an alarming rise in the number of babies born to addicted mothers, causing newborns to suffer from withdraw and serious and costly health complications. The Protecting Our Infants Act passed with strong bipartisan support in the U.S. House and Senate and was signed into law in November.

Clark and Stivers hope to see the Reducing Unused Medications Act also become law in the near future. In this effort, they are working closely with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), who jointly sponsored companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.

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