U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
WASHINGTON – New York’s Junior Senator in Washington is continuing to push for prescription drug reform in an effort to reduce the number of people getting addicted to Opioids and other pain killers.
On Tuesday U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) joined WV Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) to introduce the Preventing Over-prescribing for Pain Act – bipartisan legislation that would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue guidelines for the safe prescribing of opioids for the treatment of acute pain.
The CDC is currently only focused on guidelines for opioids prescribed to treat chronic pain. However, according to Gillibrand, many individuals become addicted to opioids after taking prescriptions for acute pain. Acute pain includes pain following a broken bone, wisdom tooth extraction, or other surgeries, whereas chronic pain is long-term pain that can last weeks, months, or years.
The legislation is a follow up to a letter the two sent out earlier this month, urging the CDC to issue guidelines for prescribing opioids for acute pain.
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