Dover – Legislation proposed by Attorney General Beau Biden and sponsored by two registered nurses serving in the General Assembly was unanimously approved by the House of Representatives on Tuesday and now heads to the Senate for consideration. House Bill 154, introduced by Rep. Rebecca Walker, D-Townsend, and Sen. Bethany Hall-Long, D-Middletown, is part of a two-bill package from the Attorney General and the two lawmakers to fight back against prescription drug abuse.

“Prescription drug abuse is a public health epidemic and a serious public safety issue,” said Biden, noting that more than 6,000 Americans begin abusing prescription drugs every day and that number of deaths from prescription painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin more than tripled between 2000 and 2010. “The bills we have proposed will more effectively punish those who steal prescription drugs, enhance oversight and monitoring efforts, and give medical professionals more information about the addictive nature of the powerful medications they prescribe. As nurses, Rep. Walker and Sen. Hall-Long are on the front lines dealing with the pain and damage prescription drug abuse inflicts on individuals and families, and I am proud to have their support.”

“Diversion is one of the most significant problems we have in health care today,” said Rep. Rebecca Walker, D-Townsend. “The purposeful taking of another person’s medications for one’s own benefit has caused professionals to have action taken against their licenses, left hospitals and other facilities vulnerable and most importantly has left those who needed these medications in pain or suffering. These two bills will tighten up the reins on those individuals who take patients medications, and will send a clear message that this behavior is not only wrong and egregious, but criminal.”

HB 154 creates a new criminal offense of “Medication Diversion” that applies to anyone who intentionally diverts prescription narcotics from patients who are under the care of a healthcare program in medical or other 24-hour facilities such as hospitals, group homes, or nursing homes. This felony-level charge subjects offenders – whether licensed healthcare workers who provide treatment to patients, patients’ family members or their visitors, or non-healthcare workers employed by programs and facilities that serve patients – to potential jail time. In addition, a conviction more adequately subjects offenders to being placed on the Adult Abuse Registry and more specifically addresses criminal conduct that subjects an individual to professional licensing discipline as opposed to current law which subjects an offender to a misdemeanor-level conviction for theft.

The bill also requires all medical professionals who are licensed to prescribe controlled substances, as well as licensed pharmacists, to take continuing medical education courses on risks associated with prescribing, administering, and diversion of controlled substances.

The second half of Biden’s legislative proposal to fight prescription drug abuse, Senate Bill 119, unanimously passed the Senate last week and will be considered on Wednesday by the House Health and Human Development Committee. SB 119 enhances Delaware’s prescription monitoring efforts to respond to the recognition that increasing numbers of addicts are turning to emergency rooms and urgent care clinics to obtain narcotics as enhanced enforcement has limited previous sources of drugs. Specifically, it:
• Limits all medical facilities except licensed pharmacies from dispending more than a 72-hour supply of a controlled substance to patients;
• Requires all “dispensers” to enter any prescription of a controlled substance into the PMP, just as pharmacies are currently required to do, and
• Requires the Department of Health and Social Services to establish a uniform protocol to guide caregivers regarding the proper disposal of controlled substances upon a patient’s death. Hospice care providers would also assist family members and caregivers to inventory and dispose of a patient’s remaining supply of controlled substances upon that patient’s death

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