UNDATED (WKZO AM/FM) — The New York Times says according to their figures the new #1 killer for Americans under age 50 is not heart attacks or cancer or auto wrecks. It’s heroin and opioid abuse.
They estimate the death toll climbed 19% last year to 59,000 and we are on pace to beat that in 2017.
The announcement comes as two bills sponsored by Senator Tonya Schuitmaker have cleared committee and are headed to the State Senate floor.
One bill would rein in doctors who over-prescribe opioids and the second would identify patients who travel from doctor to doctor to collect prescriptions, what police call “doctor shopping”.
The bills require that anytime a doctor prescribes a schedule 2 or schedule 5 controlled substance, that they check with the MAPS System first. THat is a recently improved digital computer network that records which patients receive prescriptions for painkillers, so that doctors do not duplicate.
The new bills outline punishments for doctors who do not look before prescribing.Michigan ranks 18th in the country when it comes to the number of deaths attributed to opioid overdoses.
