Massachusetts Passes Legislation To Combat Opioid Addiction

On March 14, 2016, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed legislation to combat opioid addiction. Governor Baker's office believes the legislation is the nation’s “most comprehensive” opioid addiction treatment law because it has provisions  targeting prescribing, screening, training, access to treatment, and prevention.

The provisions of the new legislation include:

Sets a seven day limit on first-time opioid prescriptions for adults and on every opioid prescription for children
Requires prescribers to check the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) database before writing a prescription for a Schedule 2 or Schedule 3 narcotics.
Provides funding for screening to identify . . .