Approving prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation is a top priority for Missouri House Democrats in 2019. A PDMP is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield says PDMP could go to the House floor this week.
Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP. Quade tells Missourinet her caucus supports Sikeston GOP State Representative Holly Rehder’s PDMP bill. Rehder says about six-thousand Missouri children are removed from substance abuse homes annually.
Legislation aimed at preventing maternal mortality has been filed by a St. Louis County state lawmaker. Shrewsbury Democratic State Representative Sarah Unsicker says a woman giving birth today is more likely to die in childbirth than her mother was.
Unsicker tells Missourinet that African-American mothers have a mortality rate twice that of the general population. Her legislation would establish the “Healthy Mothers Initiative,” which would create a committee of doctors, nurses and other professionals to study maternal mortality and recommend solutions.
A mid-Missouri state lawmaker has filed legislation to create a pilot program offering free sterile needles and syringes in exchange for new items. Columbia Democratic State Representative Martha Stevens says Missouri has a drug addiction crisis and says the pilot program would reduce the spread of disease among intravenous drug users.
Under Stevens’ bill, the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) would have at least one exchange site in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. The pilot program would also provide educational materials, counseling, and testing.
