Bill > A5157

Introduced Session

In order to protect against the occurrence of opioid addiction in student athletes, who regularly suffer from pain and injuries that necessitate the prescription of pain relief medications, this bill would establish certain limitations and requirements to restrict the prescription and dispensation of opioid medications to student athletes and provide for the close monitoring of a student athlete's use of such medications. The bill would define the term "student athlete" to mean: a student, enrolled in a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school, who participates in an interscholastic athletic program governed by the rules of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, or who engages in any other school-sponsored athletic activity. Pursuant to the bill's provisions, a prescriber - including a licensed physician, advanced practice nurse, or physician assistant - would be required to exercise extreme caution when determining whether to prescribe opioid medication in the course of treatment afforded to a student athlete. The prescriber would be required to make every reasonable effort to utilize non-narcotic drugs, including acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, and salicylates, as well as non-medicine alternatives such as cryotherapy and transcutaneous nerve stimulation, as an alternative to opioid medication. Whenever a prescriber determines that such alternative treatments are insufficient to address the student athlete's medical needs, and prescribes an opioid medication for the treatment of the student athlete's injury or pain, the prescriber would be required to: - make every effort to ensure the student athlete's safe use of the opioid medication; - prescribe no more than a seven-day, non-refillable supply; - indicate, on the face of the prescription blank, that the prescription is being issued for a student athlete, pursuant to the bill's provisions; - provide the completed prescription blank to the student athlete's parent or guardian, as opposed to providing it directly to the student athlete; - provide the student athlete's parent or guardian with instructions as to how to administer the opioid medication and the ways in which the parent or guardian can engage in medication monitoring, on a daily basis, to determine the continued need for, and effectiveness of, the medication; - provide the student athlete, and the student's parent or guardian, with information or educational materials regarding the risks that are associated with the use of opioid medication, including information about drug tolerance, the possibility of developing physical and psychological dependence or addiction, and the warning signs of these conditions; - emphasize to the student athlete and the student's parent or guardian the importance of preventing the student athlete from engaging in the unsupervised self-administration of the opioid medication; indicate that the student will be required to engage only in the supervised administration of the drug supply while on school grounds or under the authority of school officials, as provided by section 2 of the bill; and strongly encourage the parent or guardian to continue to supervise the student athlete's administration of the opioid drug supply when the student athlete is at home or is otherwise not under the authority of school officials; and - notify the school nurse of the fact that an opioid medication has been prescribed to the student athlete, and indicate the amount of medication prescribed, as well as the expected duration of the student's opioid use. The bill would prohibit a pharmacist from dispensing a prescribed opioid medication directly to a student athlete, and it would require the pharmacist, instead, to require the parent or guardian of the student athlete to sign for, and accept possession of, the medication. The bill specifies that a student athlete is to be prohibited from engaging in the unsupervised self-administration of an opioid medication while on school grounds, or while otherwise subject to the direct oversight of school officials. Any school nurse who receives notice from a prescriber about a student athlete's prescription for opioid medication, as provided by the bill, is to require the student athlete to turn over the supply of opioid medication to the school nurse at the beginning of each school day, for the duration of time that the medication is authorized. On a daily basis during such period, the school nurse would be required to: monitor the amount of opioid medication in the supply, in order to ensure that the student athlete is complying with the prescribed medication regimen; supervise the student athlete's administration of the medication during the school day, except in the circumstances described below; and return the remaining supply of opioid medication to the student at the end of the school day. If a student athlete has a prescription for opioid medication and is scheduled to be off school grounds for an off-site school-sponsored sporting event or other athletic activity, the bill would require the school nurse to provide an appropriate amount of the opioid medication to the school's athletic trainer who is directly responsible for overseeing the off-site event or activity, and the athletic trainer would be required to supervise the student athlete's administration of the drug while the student athlete is present at the off-site location.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Lisa Swain (D)*,  Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health Committee (on 12/16/2020)