TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody joined seven states in pushing federal regulators to consider more information as they set manufacturing limits on prescription painkillers in hopes a more thorough review will lead to fewer overdose deaths as the fight against the opioid crisis continues. The coalition filed comments late Tuesday arguing Drug Enforcement Administration officials must do more to account for over-prescribing and expand its universe of information sources.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Seventeen Floridians are dying every day from opioid abuse, as the national opioid crisis continues to ravage our country. To help reduce the excess supply of prescription opioids and save lives, I am calling on the DEA to reexamine the quotas that drug manufacturers have for specific painkiller production. This action could help reduce drug overdose deaths by limiting the amount of leftover pain medication that could fall into the hands of Floridians struggling with addiction.”
The coalition recognizes that current data sets make accounting for diversion difficult but argues such complexity cannot hinder progress. For instance, its members suggest that the DEA take into greater account data from its Drug Take Back Day as evidence of over-prescribing.
The states also suggest DEA officials should consider best practices developed by the medical community and state regulators, in addition to improving the usability of its reporting system and its suspicious orders database.
The DEA’s proposed limits for 2020 slash hydrocodone manufacturing by 19 percent and oxycodone by 8.8 percent in one year.
Florida’s attorney general joined six other states in the filing, including attorneys general in Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska, West Virginia and the governor of Kentucky.
To read the filing, click here.
