Following the death of her husband, a Fort Worth woman is urging state lawmakers to require warning labels on opioid bottles, an idea gaining traction with a new bill headed for debate this week. 온라인카지노사이트 5’s Phil Prazan has more.
Four years since her husband's death, Debbie Allen is not the same.
"There are no words. That man was my life. I loved him to the max," she said.
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Debbie met Robert Allen when she was 13. They were married at 16, had their first child at 18, and another at 21.
"He was a love of my life, my soulmate," said Allen.
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In 2020, while waiting for a back procedure, a doctor prescribed Robert morphine to deal with the pain. An investigation by the Texas Medical Board later showed that it should not have happened. The doctor was disciplined. Robert had underlying respiratory issues, including severe sleep apnea, and should not have taken opioids outside a hospital setting.
"The strongest thing we've ever taken is an Advil or a Nyquil, so we never even knew what this was," she told 온라인카지노사이트 5 in an interview.
Since Robert's death, Debbie went to the hospital, the pharmacy, and the Texas Pharmacy Board to try to get a warning label placed on opioid bottles like in the state of Arizona. They pointed her to the state Capitol.
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"We've got illegal opioids, and we've got legal opioids. And the doctors are giving this stuff out like candy. So if people don't know what it does, this is what happens," she said.
In the past few years, the public has learned the side effects of opioids, now deemed a crisis by the federal government. Attorneys general and state lawmakers across the country now scrutinize the popular painkillers, including in Texas.
On Wednesday, the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services will hold a public hearing on Senate Bill 1986 by Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood. His bill would put a warning label directly on every opioid bottle.
His bill gives an example of what it should look like: "CAUTION: Opioid. Risk of Addiction, Respiratory Depression, and Overdose."
“Information, to me, is one of the best forms of government. As opposed to regulating—you can do this, you can’t do that, and so on. Let people have information so they can have an informed decision," said Sen. Hall in an interview with 온라인카지노사이트 5. "This just kind of fills the gap in the case to at least make them stop and think and maybe do their own research on it.”
Sen. Hall told 온라인카지노사이트 5 he believes the main obstacle now is getting the bill passed through both chambers of the Legislature before the biennial legislative session ends in roughly a month.
Debbie Allen and Robert's memories now race against the clock.
"It would mean the world to me, and to know that maybe I've helped another family not go through what we've gone through. Because this should have never happened," said Allen.
온라인카지노사이트 5 reached out to major drug and pharmacy companies, as well as major industry groups in the state Capitol. A spokesperson for CVS declined to comment. Walmart and Walgreens did not respond.
AbbVie, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Endo International did not respond to 온라인카지노사이트 5's request. Neither did the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Representatives from the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Pharmacy Association told 온라인카지노사이트 5 that with thousands of bills filed in the Texas Legislature this session, they have not yet had time to review SB 1986 and form a position on the bill.
The public and industry groups will have the opportunity to support or oppose the bill in the Senate hearing Wednesday at 8 a.m. Debbie Allen plans to travel to Austin to testify.
