HARTFORD -- Governor Dannel Malloy is expected to sign a final passage of opioid legislation as part of International Overdose Awareness Day Thursday.
The new legislation is aimed at preventing prescription opioid diversion and abuse.
Some important pieces of this new law include:
- Increasing security by requiring certain controlled substance prescriptions be electronically prescribed
- Using registered nurses to facilitate the destruction of unused medication
- Allowing patients to file a voluntary non-opioid form in their medical records to show that they do not want to be prescribed or administered opioid drugs
- Encouraging communication among state agencies about the risks and signs of addiction, as well as the dangers of drug interactions
Just this week, Connecticut's Chief Medical Examiner released the latest statistics on the ongoing opioid epidemic in the state. So far, there were 539 accidental drug overdoses in the first half of the year. Officials say Connecticut is on track for more than 1,000 accidental drug abuse deaths for the year. That's an 18 percent increase from a year ago.