More drug proposals start to take shape

State lawmakers rolled out new proposals on Tuesday to fight drug abuse, including requiring insurers to pay for more costly abuse- resistant formulas for narcotic painkillers and tightening rules for doctors who prescribe opioids to Medicaid patients.

A “Good Samaritan” law would exempt people from being arrested on drug charges when they seek emergency help for someone experiencing a drug overdose, and Ohio coroners would be required to provide more consistent drug toxicity tests in overdose cases.

The legislative proposals are the second major package in the past two years aimed at fighting Ohio’s epidemic drugabuse problems.

Ohio has been setting new records annually for drugoverdose deaths, reaching 2,110 in 2013, the last year for which statistics are available.

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Reps. Robert Sprague, RFindlay, and Denise Driehaus, D- Cincinnati, announced legislative plans at a Statehouse news conference.

“In the long run, we’re trying to chop at the root of the problem and stop people from becoming addicted,” Sprague said.

He said that one bill would require insurers to pay for prescriptions for new abuseresistant formulas for painkillers, which are more expensive but make pills nearly impossible to crush into powder or liquefy so they can be snorted or injected.

“As long as we have this new technology, we should have the insurance companies cover these drugs.” Sprague

One bill would require insurers to pay for new abuse-resistant formulas for painkillers,which are more expensive but make pills nearly impossible to crush into powder or liquefy so they can be snorted or injected.

said. “They cost more, but this heroin epidemic is costing us in terms of lives, not just dollars and cents.”

The “Good Samaritan” law, co- sponsored by Sprague and Driehaus, would prevent people from being arrested on drug charges if they phone for help when someone they are with is overdosing. Drug dealers could still be prosecuted, however.

Another proposal applicable only to the Medicaid system, which the state can control, would require prior authorization showing “medical necessity” for prescription narcotics covering more than 10 days’ dosage, or 80 morphineequivalent doses per day.

“All we’re doing is making sure there’s medical necessity for that prescription,” said Sprague, who noted that similar restrictions imposed in Maine reduced the number of narcotics prescribed by onethird.

Sprague is seeking other co- sponsors for the proposals, which he said have the support of Republican leaders in the Ohio House.