Sen. Farley Reports NYS Senate Passes Legislation to Crack Down on Illegal Prescription Drug Abuse

With the abuse of illegally-obtained prescription narcotics growing rapidly, the New York State Senate has recently passed several bills to curb the black market in prescription pain killer.

This legislation includes calling for greater controls on Hydrocodone and Tramadol, highly addictive prescription pain medications, and increasing criminal penalties for physicians and pharmacists who illegally divert prescription drugs. It also calls for criminalizing the illegal sale of a controlled substance by a practitioner or pharmacist to address practitioners operating "mills," which fuel the black market for controlled substance medication, and it would also criminalize the first-degree illegal sale of a controlled substance to a minor under the age of 14.

The bills were sent to the Assembly.