WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) recently introduced the Stopping Suspicious Orders of Opioids Act, which will change the standard in current law to make it easier for law enforcement to immediately stop potentially dangerous shipments of prescription opioids.
“A small West Virginia town with fewer than 3,000 residents received nearly 21 million prescription opioids over a seven-year period. That’s a serious red flag, and a clear sign that more needs to be done to prevent suspicious and irregular prescription opioid orders and distributions,” Senator Capito said. “This bipartisan legislation takes an effective and comprehensive approach to help solve this problem. It will empower law enforcement officials to more easily stop suspicious distributions and will help hold opioid manufacturers and distributors accountable for failing to stop them.”
Reporting by the Washington Post and 60 Minutes demonstrated that current law has inadvertently made it far more difficult for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to intervene in situations where opioid manufacturers and distributors fail to report suspicious orders of opioids or to implement sufficient procedures to ensure these opioids do not end up on the black market.
Opioid manufacturers and distributors are required to report to the DEA orders of opioids that are suspicious due to their size, frequency, and patterns. Despite this requirement, manufacturers and distributors often fail to report, allowing millions of prescription opioid pills onto the black market. For this reason, more than 400 state, local, and tribal governments have filed suits against opioid manufacturers and distributors for their alleged roles in fueling and perpetuating the opioid crisis.
The Stopping Suspicious Orders of Opioids Act further ensures that bad actors are held accountable by establishing backstops and consequences for when opioid manufacturers, distributors, dispensers, and prescribers fail to take corrective action.
The bill would require those who manufacture, distribute, dispense, or prescribe opioids to fully implement any corrective action plan that is accepted by the Justice Department within 30 days. Failure to do so will result in the immediate suspension of a registration until the reinstated proceedings to deny, revoke, or suspend the registration permanently have concluded.
The full text of the legislation is available here.
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