Health Ministry Cuts Opioid Prescription Window to Five Days

The Knesset legal file says Israel's opioid reform generally moves dispensing to electronic prescriptions, limits manual prescriptions to narrow cases, connects pharmacies with HMO systems and delayed final implementation to July 3, 2026. Ynet's Hebrew explainers say the linkage is designed to stop forged paper scripts and duplicate dispensing, while limiting paper-prescription exceptions to short windows. Israel should protect patients who truly need pain care while closing the black-market path that turns legitimate medicine into addiction.