South Carolina has nine new laws to help combat opioid addiction.

Gov. Henry McMaster signed the bills into law last week.

“We’re making great progress, but this is only the beginning – certainly not the end,” said McMaster. “This epidemic and the response to it, I believe, are unique. It is a health crisis, but also a law enforcement crisis. I don’t know of another challenge that our state has faced that has been met with the entire panoply of talent, understanding, professionalism, and organization of our state.”

In December of 2017, McMaster declared a public health emergency throughout the state for the opioid epidemic and created the state Opioid Emergency Response Team, which has been tasked with utilizing South Carolina’s emergency management infrastructure developing a statewide plan for addressing the crisis.

The new laws include:

• Requiring that doctors speak with minors in educating them and their families on opioids before prescribing said opioids and to assess whether the minor may have a mental health or substance use disorder issue. It also requires a consent form known as “Start Talking” to be signed by a minor’s parent/guardian after the doctor discusses the opioids that are being prescribed.

• Requiring that DHEC must report any changes made to the schedules listing controlled substances and the addition, deletion, or rescheduling of a substance to the Code Commissioner.

• Requiring that DHEC develop the form and content for a counterfeit-resistant prescription blank, which must be used by practitioners for the purpose of prescribing a controlled substance. This bill is aimed at combating prescription fraud.

• Allow DHEC to release data from the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) to a drug court official seeking information related to a specific case involving a designated person.

• Authorizing DHEC to provide data in the Prescription Monitoring Program to a coroner, deputy coroner, medical examiner, or deputy medical examiner who is involved in a specific inquiry into the cause and manner of death of a designated person.

• Requiring anyone representing himself as an addiction counselor to be licensed by LLR and establishes requirements for licensure.

• Requiring a 7-day limit on the initial prescription of opioids for acute pain management or post-operative pain management, except when clinically indicated for cancer pain, chronic pain, hospice care, palliative care, major trauma, major surgery, treatment of sickle cell disease, treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome, or medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorder.