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Bipartisan Bill Would Allow DEA to Factor Overdoses, Public Health Into Opioid Quotas

March 16, 2018

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate would widen the Drug Enforcement Administration’s discretion in setting opioid production quotas, allowing the DEA to factor abuse rates and overdose deaths into its decisions.

Between 1993 and 2015, the agency approved a 39-fold increase in oxycodone production and a 12-fold increase for hydrocodone, largely based on the existing law that requires the agency to base its decisions only on factors such as past sales and estimated demand.

Under current quotas, 14 billion opioid doses reach the market annually — enough to prescribe a month’s worth for every adult in the country, according to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who co-sponsored the bill with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), John Kennedy (R-La.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

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