Rep. Buckbee Speaks in Favor of Legislation Creating Greater Prescriptive Safeguards

Hartford – State Rep. Bill Buckbee (R-New Milford) was joined by New Milford residents, Tracey and Tony Morrissey, at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday afternoon to give testimony before the legislature’s General Law Committee. The committee held a Public Hearing in order to consider public comment on several pieces of legislation, including S.B. 135 An Act Concerning Revisions to Pharmacy and Drug Control Statutes, a bill aimed at providing greater protections to individuals who may be susceptible to the misuse of opioid-derived medications.

“In light of the opioid crisis, I am proud to support Tracey and Tony in their fight against the ongoing epidemic and provide testimony to the General Law Committee. By supporting this legislation, we are limiting the chance of harmful opioids falling into the wrong hands by decreasing its overall availability,” explained Rep. Buckbee regarding his support of the bill. “This legislation does not keep helpful medicine from patients but ensures that providers have a strict prescriptive policy to follow when they are prescribing certain, potentially addictive, medications.”

During his testimony Rep. Buckbee pointed to statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has expressed prescription misuse and abuse is a rapidly growing issue across America with 3.6% of adolescents (aged 12-17) reporting misuse, to illustrate how prolific the issue has become.

Tony and Tracey spoke about their late son, Brian Cody, who fell victim to a fatal overdose in 2019. Committee members were very receptive to their message of cautioning the amount of pharmaceuticals prescribed to an individual and the propensity at which they are being prescribed at. In addition, there is a great need for more cohesive efforts in tracking prescribed opioids.

“This legislation clearly empowers pharmacists to utilize safeguards that will end up saving lives,” said Rep. Buckbee. “The more collaborative efforts there are between the medical community, first responders, and caregivers, the better chance we have to curb this debilitating epidemic.”

This public hearing marks the beginning of a short series of hearings related to this subject matter, Rep. Buckbee and The Morrissey Family will be providing testimony as those opportunities come up in various legislative committees over the coming weeks. Based on their joint testimony, and positive conversation had with committee members, they are hopeful the General Law Committee will take positive action to move these pharmaceutical safeguards along in the current legislative process.

To learn more about Brian Cody’s Law, please click here.

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