BATON ROUGE — Gov. John Bel Edwards is backing legislative proposals aimed at reducing opioid deaths in Louisiana.
The governor’s office announced Tuesday that Edwards supports legislation to limit first-time prescriptions of opioids for acute pain to a seven-day supply for adults, with some exceptions.
The measure by New Orleans Rep. Helena Moreno and River Ridge Rep. Kirk Talbot also would restrict all acute pain prescriptions of opioids for children to seven days.
Edwards also backs a proposal by Parks Sen. Fred Mills to toughen a state prescription monitoring program.
The bills will be considered in the legislative session that begins Monday.
An Associated Press review found Louisiana had more painkiller prescriptions than people in 2015, 1.03 prescriptions per person, the sixth-highest rate nationally.