AG, Lt.Gov. agree to bury the hatchet

Attorney General Adam Laxalt and Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison issued a joint statement on Thursday effectively agreeing to bury the hatchet in their dispute over Hutchison’s lawsuit seeking dismissal of the vouchers law challenge.

They filed a joint stipulation in Clark County District Court putting Hutchison’s lawsuit on hold.

After Hutchison filed to join the case challenging the vouchers suit, Laxalt issued statements charging that would just create more problems in the battle to support the constitutionality of the vouchers law. He charged Hutchison was using the case to raise campaign funding and asked that the judge toss the lieutenant governor’s action out. Treasurer Dan Schwartz, whose office is charged with managing the so-called Educational Savings Accounts program, termed it a political ploy.

Hutchison said he filed the case on behalf of clients in his capacity as a private lawyer, not as lieutenant governor and denied it has anything to do with campaign fundraising.

“We have set aside our strategic differences and are united behind the position that the best legal course of action now is to stay the Norman (Hutchison filed) case and support the Attorney General’s efforts in defense of this critical program,” they said in a joint statement.

AG joins call for tighter guidelines on opiate prescriptions

Attorney General Adam Laxalt has joined the nationwide call by state prosecutors for approval of tighter guidelines on prescribing opiate drugs.

The Center for Disease Control considering new ruled for prescribing drugs that treat chronic pain including codeine, Vicodin and OxyContin, all of which are opiate narcotic pain medicines that are also highly addictive.

Laxalt said the proposed guidelines “better inform prescribers by providing them with clear guidance on how to assess the potential benefits and harms of opioid use.”

“Throughout the country, including in Nevada, prescription drug and heroin addiction is on the rise, devastating our families and affecting our criminal justice system,” he said. “We must attack the problem with an ‘all of the above’ approach.”

He said the guidelines, which are backed by 35 other attorneys general around the country, will help ensure that patients who actually need these medicines are the ones who get the prescriptions.

Nevada Appeal Capitol Bureau