Tennessee Making Progress In Battle Against Opioid Addictions

With Governor Bill Haslam’s signature last week, Tennessee now has one of the strictest laws in the country when dealing with the opioid crisis. The new law focuses on three key areas, prevention, treatment, and enforcement. Dave Chaney with the Tennessee Medical Association says awareness of the problem is growing as well.

(Dave Chaney: “Many of them did get that way from that initial prescription, so the medical community has actually been working for many years to turn back that dial, and we can see now just in the last five years that dramatic drop.”

Last year in Tennessee, more than six and a half million prescriptions for opioids were filled in the Volunteer State. Tennessee, is in line with a national trend of decreased prescriptions.