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Pilot Program To Prevent Addiction Delayed By Budget Impasse

"Pills" by Flickr User Shardayyy / (CC BY 2.0)

A pilot program geared toward preventing addiction by promoting the use of locking bottles for prescription pain medication was supposed to kick off in 2016. But the program is delayed because of the lack of a state budget.

Democratic Representative Michael Zalewski of Riverside sponsored the legislation creating the program.

“Most heroin addiction comes from easy access to drugs. Preventing or deterring people from accessing drugs they’re not supposed to access, pain pills and things like that, will likely reduce the amount of instances of heroin addiction and opiate addiction,” Zalewski said.
 
But he says without state money for a rebate to reduce the cost of the caps, it can’t get started.    
 
Zalewski says he plans to introduce legislation to extend the pilot program by a year.
 
The number of fatal drug overdoses in the U.S. has doubled in the past 15 years.

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