{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://meadows.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/new-opioid-legislation-to-limit-prescriptions", "New opioid legislation to limit prescriptions", "2017-12-06", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "NC", "Mark Meadows", "M001187", "meadows.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressmen Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, and Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, introduced the Opioid Abuse Deterrence, Research and Recovery Act last week with hopes of tackling opioid addiction at the source.\nThe legislation would place more parameters on initial opioid prescriptions for acute pain in order to limit the risks of addiction. It would place a limit on a patient\u2019s first opioid prescription for acute pain to no more than seven days, except in cases of traumatic injury, chronic conditions, cancer care, end-of-life care, palliative care or based on a physician\u2019s recommendation.\nThe proposed limitation to seven days stems from research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows the risks for addiction to prescription opioids dramatically increases around seven days after they are first prescribed.\nMeadows and Renacci took to Facebook recently to discuss the difficult process of crafting such a piece of legislation. Despite the limit on opioid prescriptions, Meadows emphasized that the bill would still give physicians the flexibility they need to help their patients.\n\u201cIt\u2019s very complicated \u2014 these things are in place to alleviate pain and none of us want to endure pain,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re trying to craft legislation to allow doctors to continue to be a doctor \u2014 that was critically important. It\u2019s tough to make sure the real need gets met but the abuse gets addressed in a meaningful way.\u201d\nRenacci, who represents a state that is No. 1 in the country for opioid addiction and overdoses, said he and Meadows worked closely with a number of medical associations, law enforcement agencies and families of those who suffer from addiction to find a balance between restricting opioids without stepping on others\u2019 rights.\n\u201cWe worked with physicians and associations to put this bill together \u2014 it doesn\u2019t trump states rights,\u201d Renacci said during a Facebook live interview. \u201cIt allows states to decide more or less than seven days. This gives them a standard and lets the states make their own decisions.\u201d\nMeadows said the bill doesn\u2019t address all the issues surrounding opioid addiction but does provide a good start. The bill directs the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to continue to work with stakeholders to encourage the development of opioids with abuse-deterrent properties. It also directs the Commissioner to conduct a study on the feasibility of replacing the prescribing limits in the Controlled Substances Act with evidence-based clinical guidelines for opioids.\nThe bill also calls for the Government Accountability Office to study and report back on any policy changes that may have contributed to the opioid epidemic. Meadows pointed out a provision in the Affordable Care Act that grades doctors on how well they treat their patients\u2019 pain levels, which in turn encourages doctors to write longer pain prescriptions.\nIn the end, Meadows said, the six-page legislation doesn\u2019t include every possible solution \u2014 it\u2019s just a start to what needs to be done to address the epidemic on many fronts.\n\u201cThe Government Accountability Office is putting together some real statistics on how to address this issue \u2014 that\u2019s one thing that\u2019s not in there,\u201d Meadows said about the bill. \u201cIt was just recommended this morning perhaps we need to make sure other opioid alternatives get reimbursed through Medicaid and Medicare so people are not looking for alternatives.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://meadows.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/new-opioid-legislation-to-limit-prescriptions"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.794592011719942, "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"}