The opioid epidemic is hardly unique to Pennsylvania. Many states are reeling from the one-two punch of heroin and prescription painkillers like OxyContin and fentanyl. It’s worse in New Jersey. Overdose deaths peaked there at 5,641 in 2015 — nearly 20 percent of the 30,000 overdose deaths in the United States that year. The toll receded to 3,769 in 2016, but the pace has picked up again, with 4,001 fatal overdoses recorded in just the first half of 2017.

It’s with more than passing interest, then, that Harrisburg watches as Trenton considers looser limits on law enforcement to save lives.

New Jersey is the latest state to consider allowing police and prosecutors to access the state’s prescription drug monitoring database without a court order, pitting patient rights to privacy against the government’s ability to investigate so-called doctor shopping.

Legislation introduced last week would help officials target doctors who might be illicitly prescribing powerful prescription medications, according to the bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Robert Singer.

Previously, the Butler Eagle has advocated a tougher application for Pennsylvania’s prescription drug registry — specifically when pharmacists become aware of patients who drive while taking medications that are known to impair driving ability.

The New Jersey proposal goes farther. It would give routine access to the database to police and prosecutors. Currently, the registry is considered protected health information (PHI) under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Giving law enforcement access to any PHI for any specific case would require extenuating circumstances and a court-issued search warrant.

The initiative would seem to have no chance of becoming law. If enacted, it’s certain to face a court challenge. It’s difficult envisioning a victory there because it would overturn the premise of constitutionally protected doctor-patient confidentiality.

The bill faces another monolithic hurdle: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Christie is not only a former state attorney general; he’s also the chairman of a White House commission that’s tasked with addressing the opioid crisis.

Christie agrees that the registry should be off-limits without a warrant. “You shouldn’t just be able to look at it for jollies,” he told the Associated Press. “If you have a case and you have some probable cause, OK that’s fine. Go to a court and get a judge to give you permission to look at that information.”

By the way, the commission being headed by Christie was expected this week to make preliminary recommendations in the fight against opioids. But it won’t make that deadline. Established four months ago by President Donald Trump’s executive order, Christie’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis is closely aligned with the White House Office of Innovation, headed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner has been preoccupied recently — on Monday, he was testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee about Trump campaign meetings with a Russian lawyer.

It should be noteworthy, once released, how Christie’s recommendations will differ from the legislation proposed for his state. With only five months remaining in his final term, does Christie have enough political capital in reserve to propose changes for New Jersey that he’s recommending at the federal level?

We’ll see. For the time being, it’s imperative to perceive the battle lines as they now stand if we want to make sense of what’s about to transpire. And an epidemic continues to take its toll.