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<DIV>Great news: </DIV>
<DIV>Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts&nbsp;is limiting the amount of pain killers that can be prescribed, under certain conditions, to&nbsp;limit the amount of&nbsp;these medications that go unused.&nbsp; Although these&nbsp;new rules&nbsp;may&nbsp;cause some patients to have to&nbsp;have follow-up visits to get a&nbsp;second prescription, in my opinion, the positive effects of reducing unused medications&nbsp;will be tremendous.</DIV>
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<DIV>"Since the changes were implemented in July 2012, prescriptions for opioids including Percocet have declined by 20 percent, and those for long-lasting drugs such as OxyContin have declined by 50 percent"</DIV>
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<DIV><A href="http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/community-related/largest-health-insurer-in-massachusetts-has-cut-narcotic-prescriptions?utm_source=Join%20Together%20Weekly&amp;utm_campaign=e2fe24e444-JTWNHndhldDvcThtDlvrsOpdOdTrtmntApprvdFDA41014&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_0a25dfa1a1-e2fe24e444-221449341">http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/community-related/largest-health-insurer-in-massachusetts-has-cut-narcotic-prescriptions?utm_source=Join%20Together%20Weekly&amp;utm_campaign=e2fe24e444-JTWNHndhldDvcThtDlvrsOpdOdTrtmntApprvdFDA41014&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_0a25dfa1a1-e2fe24e444-221449341</A></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 5pt 0in; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Ed Gottlieb<BR>Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal <BR>Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator <BR>Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility<BR>525 3<SUP>rd</SUP> Street<BR>Ithaca, NY 14850<BR>(607) 273-8381<BR>fax: (607) 273-8433<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>