Bill Text: NJ A5489 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires hospital urine drug screenings to include test for fentanyl.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-05-18 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health Committee [A5489 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2022-A5489-Introduced.html

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ASSEMBLY, No. 5489

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

220th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED MAY 18, 2023

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  KEVIN J. ROONEY

District 40 (Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires hospital urine drug screenings to include test for fentanyl.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  

An Act concerning hospital urine drug screenings and supplementing P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et al.).

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.  As used in this section, "urine drug screening" means a chemical analysis intended to test a patient for the presence of multiple drugs, including, but not limited to, cocaine, opioids, and phencyclidine.

     b.    A general acute care hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136, (C.26:2H-1 et al.) that conducts a urine drug screening to assist in diagnosing a patient's condition shall include, in the urine drug screening, a test for the presence of fentanyl.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire on January 1, 2028.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill requires that, whenever a general acute care hospital conducts a urine drug screening to assist in diagnosing a patient's condition, the urine drug screening is to include a test for the presence of fentanyl. 

     Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic opioid that, even in very small amounts, can result in overdose and death.  Fentanyl use has significantly increased during the opioid epidemic, in part because, with growing frequency, fentanyl is used to cut other drugs, including heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine.  This practice has resulted in increasing overdose deaths, even among people who do not ordinarily use opioid drugs. 

     Currently, urine drug screenings typically include tests for cocaine, certain opioids, and phencyclidine, but not fentanyl.  It is the sponsor's belief that mandatory testing for the presence of fentanyl can help prevent overdose deaths by ensuring that patients who have ingested fentanyl, either intentionally or unintentionally, receive proper treatment for a fentanyl overdose.

     This bill will take effect immediately and expire on January 1, 2028.