State Rep. Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville, held a press conference Wednesday to introduce legislation that would limit the amount of opioids that doctors could prescribe.
The bill seeks to prevent overprescribing opioids by limiting the dosage that doctors can give their patients. It would also encourage the use of "step down" programs that would help offenders assimilate back into the general population and provide privacy for patients going through an online Intensive Outpatient Education program.
"This bill is my baby," Edwards said. "I've been working on it for a while. It's something I talked about during the campaign."
The legislation, formally known as House Bill 167, is also called "Daniel's Law" after Daniel Weidle of Germantown, who passed away in 2015 after several years of drug addiction. Weidle's father, along with State Sen. Bob Hackett, R-London, State Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, State Rep. Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted all spoke in support of the bill at the press conference Wednesday.
Edwards will be coming to Athens on Friday to unveil the legislation at the City Council chambers at 10 a.m.
"I'm going to talk about why we need (the bill) and get community input," Edwards said. "I'm going to be in my district because it's where I represent, but we'll be traveling around the state. ... We felt we needed to go out and get the word out."
