Arizona Opioid Epidemic: Governor Ducey Calls For Special Session

PHOENIX, AZ – Governor Ducey on Monday called for the state Legislature to consider legislation combatting the opioid epidemic facing the state. He was joined by legislators from both sides of the aisle along with law enforcement officials, state health officials, and other community leaders and officials from non-profit organizations.

Last week, Ducey and state legislators introduced the Arizona Opioid Epidemic Act, a series of measures aimed at expanding treatment, improving enforcement, preventing addiction, and reversing overdoses.

"Arizona is taking immediate and aggressive action against the opioid epidemic," Ducey said. "The time to act is now, so let’s get to work and get this legislation passed."

The act includes several measures that would:

• Identifying gaps in and improving access to treatment, including for uninsured or underinsured Arizonans, with a new $10 million investment;
• Expanding access to the overdose reversal drug Naloxone for law enforcement or corrections officers currently not authorized to administer it;
• Holding bad actors accountable by ending pill mills, increasing oversight mechanisms, and enacting criminal penalties for manufacturers who defraud the public about their products;
• Enhancing continuing medical education for all professions that prescribe or dispense opioids;
• Enacting a Good Samaritan law to allow people to call 911 for a potential opioid overdose;
• Cracking down on forged prescriptions by requiring e-prescribing;
• Requiring all pharmacists to check the Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program prior to dispensing an opioid or benzodiazepine;
• And limiting the first-fill of an opioid prescription to five days for all opioid naïve patients and limiting dosage levels to align with federal prescribing guidelines. These proposals contain important exemptions to protect chronic pain suffers, cancer, trauma or burn patients, hospice or end-of-life patients, and those receiving medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder.

“This is an important first step in addressing the devastating opioid epidemic in Arizona," said Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs. "We won’t win this battle with one bill, so it’s critical that we build upon this over time to break the systemic causes of addiction."

Photo courtesy Governor Ducey's office.