Lawmakers Fast-Track Proposed Remedy to Rx Pad Snafu

California lawmakers are rushing to fix a problem of patients being been cut off from medications as a result of a bill passed last year that was intended to reduce prescription drug abuse and diversion. The Legislature last year enacted Assembly Bill 1753, requiring doctors prescribing controlled substances to use new forms with a unique serial number than can be tracked in the state’s drug-monitoring database, called the Controlled Substances Utilization Review Evaluation System, or CURES. But the new prescription pads weren’t available until the third week of De...