HARRISBURG - To help save lives, Rep. Doyle Heffley (R-Carbon), along with Rep. Rosemary Brown (R-Monroe/Pike), Rep. Kurt Masser (R-Columbia/Montour/Northumberland), Rep. Dan Moul (R-Adams) and Rep. Stephen Kinsey (D-Philadelphia), today introduced a package of opioid-related bills.

Each bill was in response to the recommendations of the report of the Task Force and Advisory Committee on Opioid Prescription Drug Proliferation.

Heffley's legislation, House Bill 1698, would provide coverage requirements for insurance carriers and health insurance for abuse-deterrent opioid analgesic drugs.

This bill would ensure parity for the prescription of tamper-resistant drugs. A tamper-resistant pill guarantees that the state of the pill cannot be altered, and therefore it cannot be crushed, snorted or injected.

"This is an incredibly important issue that touches people from all walks of life across Pennsylvania. These bills would help alleviate the issue of misuse and abuse of opioids, Heffley said,

"The bill I will be introducing is intended to prevent any attempts to alter the state of prescription opioids. We have all heard heart-breaking stories of friends, neighbors and loved ones who have been tragically touched by this epidemic and it is my hope that these bills are a substantive step to ending this crisis."

Other bills in the package include Brown's bill which would regulate the prescribing of controlled substances in hospital emergency departments; Masser's bill which would encourage curricula about addiction in medical education; Moul's bill which would provide for the disposal of unused drugs; and Kinsey's resolution which would request a study on the enforcement of existing drug laws.