Legislation designed to cut into prescription opioid abuse is making progress. House Bill 2743 requires such pills be made with ADP-abuse deterrent properties.

Dr. Dennis Rademacher, a family physician and addiction medicine specialist at Springfield Clinic says that's important because it would prevent the prescription drugs from being turned into a powder, which creates a whole new set of often deadly problems.

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Overdose deaths due to prescription opioids has quadrupled nationally over the past decade. A number of co-sponsors have been added to the legislation since it passed through the Human Services Committee.