Action | Initial regulations |
Stage | Emergency/NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 5/3/2017 |
These new regulations are hurting people that have a documented hypersensitivity/allergy on record. They are already being turned away from treatment because the doctors hands are tied. According to the legislative site the bill was never signed. When I called the Governors office on march 16th I was told the bill hadn't been signed. It was put into effect anyway. I can understand regulations on medications but to turn patients away because they cannot have the combination drug is wrong. These patients have been trying to get their lives together, and as far as I know most doctors won't write buprenorphine mono unless they have a reason too in the first place. I urge you all to amend the regulations and allow people with a hypersensitivity/allergy to also be allowed to get a prescription at the very least. I believe OTP cinics should also be allowed to dispense it in take homes, because patients that go to these clinics have earned their take homes just like a methadone patient did. They went for months on end to earn their couple of take homes and after around 9 months they earn a week. Switching what medications an OTP can dispense increases cost to the patient and the clinic. The patients that do have a documented allergy on file should be allowed to continue to get a prescription. It isn't their fault they cannot have the combination drug. I'm sure if they could they would rather do that than lose treatment all together. The 2 closest clinics in my area are both around 50 miles away one way. One of them is in Virginia, and this town has no doctors in it so a lot of the people that are struggling with opiate dependency are now back on the streets. I am from Virginia originally and live right on its boarder now. In this war on addiction kicking people out of treatment because of something they cannot control doesn't do anything but hurt the communities around us.