Health News
- Beshear Oks Prescription Bill, Telling Pill Mills, 'get Out Of This State'
Saying it couldn't get to his desk quickly enough, Gov. Steve Beshear signed a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse in celebration today, warning so-called pill mills to "Get out of this state, because we're coming after you." House Bill...
- Pill-mill Bill Passes; Attorney General Won't Get Drug-monitoring System But Narcotic-prescribing Doctors Will Have To Use It
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, center, walks with House budget committee chair Rick Rand and House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins. (Courier-Journal photo).Legislators have sent Gov. Steve Beshear a bill to curb prescription drug abuse and crack down on...
- Rx Drug Abuse Summit In Florida, Organized By Ky. Group, Set To Start As Lobbying On 'pill-mill Bill' Continues To Ramp Up
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News As a bipartisan group of political leaders pushes the General Assembly to pass a bill Thursday that would crack down on "pill mills" that contribute to prescription drug abuse, Eastern Kentucky's Operation UNITE...
- Doctors' Lobby Still Working For Changes In 'pill Mill' Legislation
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The Kentucky Medical Association, historically one of the most powerful lobbying interests at the General Assembly, has mounted a last-ditch attempt to change or perhaps kill the bill that would crack down on "pill mills"...
- Lawmakers Hear Testimony About State's Pill Mill Problem, Discuss Whether To Put All Prescription-drug Issues Into One Bill
With a raid on a pain clinic in Paintsville making headlines yesterday morning, state legislators heard from community leaders and officials telling them to pass legislation to curb the proliferation of pill mills. Lois Windhorst, best known as a leader...
Health News
Beshear tells national audience legislature should pass pill-mill bill
Today, Gov. Steve Beshear again called on legislators to pass a bill Thursday that would crack down on so-called pill mills and thus curb prescription drug abuse. Speaking at the National Prescription Drug Abuse Summit in Orlando, Beshear asked for comprehensive collaboration to fight the problem, which kills more Americans than car accidents.
"No state or community is an island. It will take all of us ? working across geographical and agency borders ? to make headway against prescription drug abuse," he said.
The three-day summit is sponsored by Operation UNITE, which serves Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District, and features 100 leaders and experts, including Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske, Fifth District Rep. Hal Rogers, and Centers for Disease Control Principal Deputy Director Illeana Arias.
Beshear outlined what has already been implemented in Kentucky to combat the problem, including working with Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia to identify those who exploit the system by crossing state borders and forming a panel of health professionals to develop criteria to identify suspicious drug-prescribing habits. But he also stressed the importance of passing House Bill 4, which would require pain clinics to be owned by doctors, require doctors to participate in the state's prescription-tracking system, and move the system to the attorney general's office from the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
The latter provision continues to draw opposition from the Kentucky Medical Association, which is lobbying hard to make changes to the bill, or perhaps kill it. Beshear has been touting the bill, considered the cornerstone of this year's General Assembly, since before it was filed. Al Cross, director of the University of Kentucky's Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, said on KET's "Comment on Kentucky" Friday night that if the bill does not pass, the legislative session will be a failure. (Read more)
- Beshear Oks Prescription Bill, Telling Pill Mills, 'get Out Of This State'
Saying it couldn't get to his desk quickly enough, Gov. Steve Beshear signed a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse in celebration today, warning so-called pill mills to "Get out of this state, because we're coming after you." House Bill...
- Pill-mill Bill Passes; Attorney General Won't Get Drug-monitoring System But Narcotic-prescribing Doctors Will Have To Use It
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, center, walks with House budget committee chair Rick Rand and House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins. (Courier-Journal photo).Legislators have sent Gov. Steve Beshear a bill to curb prescription drug abuse and crack down on...
- Rx Drug Abuse Summit In Florida, Organized By Ky. Group, Set To Start As Lobbying On 'pill-mill Bill' Continues To Ramp Up
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News As a bipartisan group of political leaders pushes the General Assembly to pass a bill Thursday that would crack down on "pill mills" that contribute to prescription drug abuse, Eastern Kentucky's Operation UNITE...
- Doctors' Lobby Still Working For Changes In 'pill Mill' Legislation
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The Kentucky Medical Association, historically one of the most powerful lobbying interests at the General Assembly, has mounted a last-ditch attempt to change or perhaps kill the bill that would crack down on "pill mills"...
- Lawmakers Hear Testimony About State's Pill Mill Problem, Discuss Whether To Put All Prescription-drug Issues Into One Bill
With a raid on a pain clinic in Paintsville making headlines yesterday morning, state legislators heard from community leaders and officials telling them to pass legislation to curb the proliferation of pill mills. Lois Windhorst, best known as a leader...