LANSING, Mich. (WILX) -- A new law takes effect July 1, limiting prescriptions for opioids to seven days for acute pain.
It's a move to help curb the states opioid epidemic. But those who suffer from chronic pain are worried how it will affect them.
"Without them, my pain can be so severe that I'm just shriveled up on the sofa," Karlyn Beavers said.
Diagnosed with diagnosed with Crohn's disease, Beavers suffers from chronic pain. Now that opioid prescriptions are shortened, she says sufferers are still getting hit with consequences.
"And so now our doctors are telling us, 'we've got to ween you back, we've got to take you off, in some cases, cut you off completely.' And so that's where the problem lies."
But Lt. Governor Brian Calley says that those with chronic pain won't be affected. The law is designed to stop addictions before they start, by cutting down on unnecessary long prescriptions.
"We know that these types of changes will make a very very big change on the number of people addicted to prescriptions, but also those addicted to heroin," he said.
Calley says the idea for the law came from looking at how other states handle their opioid problem, and it is necessary to reduce overdoses.
"One of the tragedies of the opioid addiction epidemic is how many addiction cases, how many kids get addicted by experimenting on leftover pills that are left in a medicine cabinet," he said.
But chronic pain suffers are left waiting, hoping they are still able to get the meds that keep them going.
"You can be healthy, happy, and feeling fine today and something can happen tomorrow to you or a loved one and the next thing you know you're fighting pain every day," Beavers said.
Also apart of the law is a system that allows prescribers to see how often patients are receiving Schedule 2-5 prescriptions.
That was enacted last year.
