The federal government is proposing new guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain. And as Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports, some state leaders are encouraging Ohioans to voice support for those changes now.
Attorney General Mike DeWine says it’s believed that three-quarters of heroin abusers in Ohio started off by using prescription pain meds. That’s why he says new proposed guidelines for prescribing them need to be adopted.
“We are not going to arrest our way out of this problem.”
DeWine and some state lawmakers are urging Ohioans to contact the federal Centers for Disease Control to voice support for a newly proposed policy that focuses on prescribing fewer does of opioids at a time and encourages more use of alternative ways to deal with pain. And he says he’s urging all law enforcement agencies to get and stock Narcan or naloxone, the drug that stops overdoses, for future emergency runs.
