{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases/golden-bipartisan-colleagues-introduce-bill-to-protect-patient-access-to-drug-information", "Golden, bipartisan colleagues introduce bill to protect patient access to drug information", "2025-09-04", "2025", "2025-09", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Jared F. Golden", "G000592", "golden.house.gov", "golden", "https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 Congressmen Jared Golden (ME-02) and Cliff Bentz (OR-02) today introduced the Patients\u2019 Right to Know Their Medication Act \u2014 legislation designed to block recent efforts by the pharmaceutical industry to stop including hard copies of medical information with prescription drugs.\n\nDetailed labels of a drug\u2019s appropriate dosage, possible side-effects, and other necessary details are commonly included when a patient receives their prescription from a pharmacist. However, this printed information is not legally required, and the pharmaceutical industry has pushed to replace hard copies with digital landing pages to reduce expenses and boost profits \u2014 despite barriers it would create for patients, including those with limited internet access.\n\n\u201cMainers shouldn\u2019t have to go out of their way to get the information they need about how their medicine works,\u201d Golden said. \u201cRequiring hard copies of instructions to be included with medicine is a no-brainer to make prescription drugs safer, make treatment easier for families and their pharmacists, and prevent large pharmaceutical corporations from cutting corners at the expense of quality health care.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn rural Oregon, access to reliable internet or to a pharmacist is not always guaranteed. But what should be guaranteed are clear, printed instructions on how to take your medication safely,\u201d Bentz said. \u201cIf enacted, this bill will provide patients with accurate, FDA-approved information. This would ensure fewer mistakes, fewer expensive hospital trips, and less strain on families and our small, local pharmacies. Additionally, this is at no cost to the government or to the rural pharmacies. It is a practical improvement that will help rural communities.\u201d\n\nThe Patients\u2019 Right to Know Their Medication Act would mandate drug manufacturers to provide printed, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved information about medicine to all patients picking up a prescription. These hard copies would be limited to a one-page standardized format, and required to be updated as new information becomes available.\n\nTwin Rivers Paper in Madawaska, which employs more than 500 people in northern Mainers, is a leading manufacturer of the paper that medical information is printed on.\n\n\u201cWe fully support the Patients\u2019 Right to Know Their Medication Act to help safeguard prescription medicine safety for patients and pharmacists,\u201d Twin Rivers Paper CEO Tyler Rajeski said. \u201cAll of us at Twin Rivers greatly appreciate Congressman Golden's continued leadership and support on this important issue.\u201d\n\nGolden has repeatedly stepped up to defend Maine manufacturing jobs in the forest products industry. In 2021, Golden successfully worked to defeat a pharmaceutical industry-backed amendment to the FDA appropriations bill that would have required prescription medicine information to be distributed electronically instead of physically.\n\nFull text of the legislation can be found here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases/golden-bipartisan-colleagues-introduce-bill-to-protect-patient-access-to-drug-information"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7010209374129772, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}