Maine Gov. Paul R. LePage recently signed into law a new state law that limits the doses, duration, and overall prescription of opioid therapies.
The law, “An Act To Prevent Opiate Abuse by Strengthening the Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program," will officially be implemented beginning on Jan. 1, 2017. The restrictions will limit opioid prescriptions to a maximum of 100 morphine milligram equivalents (MEE) each day.
People who have chronic pain (which is specifically defined in the new law) will receive a prescription limited to no more than 30 days. People who have acute pain will receive no more than seven days worth of opioid medication.
Exceptions specified in the law include opioids for cancer-related therapy or palliative care.
Maine develops new approach for limiting opioid prescriptions
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