STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2570

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2157

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2157 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to clarify the right of a pain patient to be prescribed controlled substances to relieve pain.

     Specifically, this measure adds to the pain patient's bill of rights a provision that the relief of pain shall be guided by the medical principle that physical tolerance and dependence are normal consequences of sustained use of opiate medication, distinguishable from psychological dependency or addiction.  This measure also provides that patients suffering severe acute or chronic pain shall be entitled to receive a prescription of opiate medication, if requested by the patient; provided that the patient is not addicted to the opiate and the opiate is appropriate for treatment.

Furthermore, this measure extends the length of time for a schedule II controlled substance prescription to be filled from three to seven days after the prescription is issued to the patient.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, the Hawaii Family Forum, Kokua Mau, Kauai Hospice, and seven individuals.  The Department of Public Safety and the Hawaii Pharmacists Association submitted testimony supporting the extension of the prescription deadline.

     Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended this bill by indicating that a patient who suffers severe acute pain or severe chronic pain secondary to a diagnosis in any form of disease and chronic conditions "may" be, rather than "shall" be, entitled to receive a prescription of opiate medication for the treatment of the pain, in order to preclude any assumptions regarding mandating a physician's practice of medicine.  Your Committees have also made technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2157, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2157, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Health,

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair