Ducey signs Arizona law designed to tackle rising opioid crisis

PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law Friday a bill that was designed to crack down on opioid use and overdose deaths in the state.

The then-bill was passed by both the state House and Senate on Thursday. Ducey called lawmakers into a special session on Monday to pass the legislation.

Ducey’s law bars doctors from prescribing more than an initial five-day supply of pain medication in most cases, boosts pain clinic regulation and adds $10 million to help uninsured and underinsured people get addiction treatment. It requires electronic prescriptions for narcotics as early as next year.

Republicans senators worried about unintended consequences on patients needing painkillers and on doctors who will soon need to consult with pain specialists in some cases and add new computer systems to write electronic prescriptions. Paper prescriptions would be banned to cut down on forgeries.

House Republicans voiced similar concerns about the costs to doctors and hospitals of putting the electronic prescription software in place. Health care providers in large counties would have to begin using the systems by Jan. 1, 2019, although an amendment allows a one-year waiver. Smaller counties get an extra six months.

“I feel like it’s not only an unfunded mandate for all these practitioners but I feel like the time frame is pretty quick,” said Rep. Regina Cobb, a Kingman dentist. “Especially when there’s companies that I work with daily that don’t even have the software.

The law also places limits on the maximum dose most chronic pain patients can be prescribed, and requires a consultation with a pain specialist for new high dosage prescriptions.

The law also includes a “good Samaritan” provision that bars prosecution of someone who seeks help for an overdose victim if they’re discovered with drugs as a result. Similarly, an overdose victim can’t be prosecuted for drug possession when they call for help.

Republican Rep. Eddie Farnsworth objected, saying the provision was backed by a drug legalization group and lawmakers had no chance to object “because we’re ramming it through in a short period of time.

“They call it a good Samaritan law so that everybody feels good about it,” he said. “It’s a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

Backers of the provision said they were just trying to save lives.

Ducey declared an opioid emergency in June and the state Health Services Department put in place real-time overdose reporting rules. Between June 15 and Dec. 28, 2017, the department tracked more than 4,900 suspected overdoses and 716 suspected deaths.

Sen. Nancy Barto said during a meeting of GOP senators that she’s hearing from patients that doctors are unwilling to provide needed medicine.

“We’re already hearing from some patients where doctors are sending them somewhere else because they’re unwilling to prescribe because they’re afraid,” Barto said.

Others in the meeting worried about the rushed process of the special session Ducey called and over-regulation.

Sen. Bob Worsley, who noted that there had been a 74 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths since he came into office in 2013, questioned why his colleagues would worry about the law.

“I don’t know why we’re suddenly getting weak-kneed about addressing this,” he told fellow GOP senators in the meeting. “It’s out of control.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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