February 24, 2012

Rep. Richard Morrissette, District 92
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
State Capitol – Room 543
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Contact: Jacklyn Brink-Rosen
(405) 557-7404

(Oklahoma City, OK) This week a spate of bills to address the prescription drug addiction epidemic in Oklahoma were either passed out of committee or tweaked for floor consideration in both the House and Senate; through the process, handily.

“I know this is an area of great concern for every Oklahoman. Drugged driving is about to eclipse drunk driving and our emergency rooms are loaded with tragedy in the aftermath. Law enforcement resources are stretched to the breaking point and most of us don’t see that side until our friends and family members are torn apart by the insidious affects of prescription drug abuse.” said Rep. Richard Morrissette (D-OKC) at the passage of his two-part remedy, HB2468, from the House Public Health committee.

Last interim, Morrissette requested an official study on the subject but instead formed a legislative panel of interested House members who came with their own research and no taxpayer funded staff. On September 14, 2011, experts filled a standing room only hearing at the state capitol to share the latest data to include the startling revelation that Oklahoma had reached the #1 standing in distribution with a rapidly rising #9 ranking for overdose deaths, due to prescription drug abuse. As of this month, opiate overdose deaths are up 500%.

HB2468 will require physicians to reference the PMP or prescription monitoring program for all new patient intakes. The measure also requires that the most widely prescribed opiates, hydrocodone based medications, be raised to a Schedule II, requiring a prescription. Thousands of illegal prescriptions are phoned in every week in Oklahoma.

The recent high profile overdose deaths don’t seem so distant when Oklahoma is ranked # 1 over California and New York for prescriptions issued.

According to the FDA, symptoms of overdose may include:
·narrowed or widened pupils
·slow, shallow, or stopped breathing
·slowed or stopped heartbeat
·cold, clammy, or blue skin
·excessive sleepiness
·loss of consciousness
·seizures
·death

“I appreciate the determination of every member of the House and Senate to address this issue as we consider several solid pieces of bi-partisan legislation this session. Protecting any special interest at this point in time is just wrong. If we were even 30th on the list for dispensing and abusing hydrocodone based medications, we could say some of what were doing was working and hold on to that much, but any effort to salvage any part of the existing process would hinder efforts to stop a social and economic emergency of epidemic proportion.”

“I give much of the thanks for the progress we are making today to the original legislative panel that included Rep. Al McAffrey, District 88 (Senator), Rep. Donnie Condit, District 18 and Rep. Seneca Scott, District 72.
Attached find a list of those experts who originally testified on the 14th of September, 2011 as well as a list of hydrocodone medications currently dispensed in Oklahoma as Schedule III.

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