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PRINTER'S NO. 3375
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
892
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY BURNS, READSHAW, BULLOCK, GAINEY, HEFFLEY,
GODSHALL, ROTHMAN, WARNER, McNEILL, TAYLOR, NEILSON, SAYLOR,
MARSICO AND A. HARRIS, MAY 18, 2016
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, MAY 18, 2016
A RESOLUTION
Requesting the Congress of the United States to urge the Food
and Drug Administration to reverse its directive allowing
OxyContin to be prescribed to children 11 to 16 years of age.
WHEREAS, Addiction is a primary, chronic and relapsing brain
disease that causes the addict to pursue reward or relief by
substance use and other behaviors; and
WHEREAS, According to the American Society of Addiction
Medicine, approximately 21.5 million Americans 12 years of age
or older had a substance use disorder in 2014; and
WHEREAS, Opioids are medications that relieve pain and
include the lawful prescription pain relievers oxycodone,
hydrocodone, codeine, morphine and fentanyl as well as the
illicit drug heroin; and
WHEREAS, In 2014, approximately 1.9 million Americans had a
substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers,
while an additional 586,000 Americans had a substance use
disorder involving heroin; and
WHEREAS, Opioid addiction resulted in 18,893 overdose deaths
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related to prescription pain medication and 10,574 overdose
deaths attributed to heroin use in 2014; and
WHEREAS, Four out of five new heroin users first misused
prescription pain medication; and
WHEREAS, As a result, the rate of heroin overdose deaths
quadrupled from 2000 to 2013, with the average rate increasing
to approximately 37% per year during the time period of 2010 to
2013; and
WHEREAS, OxyContin is an extended-release version of the
opioid medicine, oxycodone, which when prescribed and used
properly can help manage pain; and
WHEREAS, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested the
manufacturer of the pain management drug OxyContin to perform
studies evaluating safety and other important information about
oxycodone and OxyContin when used in pediatric patients; and
WHEREAS, Following the results of those studies, the FDA
approved OxyContin in August 2015 for children 11 to 16 years of
age as an alternative pain medication if pain cannot be treated
effectively with other medications; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania request the Congress of the United
States to urge the Food and Drug Administration to reverse its
directive allowing OxyContin to be prescribed to children 11 to
16 years of age.
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