ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – As opioid and heroin related deaths continue to rise across the state New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is pushing legislation to fight the epidemic.

On Friday the senator, along with those affected by drug use will call on congress at the HOPE house to pass bipartisan legislation that would require the CDC issue new opioid prescriptions guidelines for acute pain, similar to their recently released guidelines for chronic pain.

According to the most recent data from the New York State Department of Health, opioid related deaths in the Capital Region have increased by 410 percent from 10 deaths in 2004 to 51 deaths in 2013. 51 people die each day in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids according to the CDC, nearly five times the number in 1999. Between 1999 and 2010, there was a 400% increase in sales of prescription opioid pain relievers in the United States. However, in that same period, there was no increase in the amount of pain Americans reported, according to the CDC.

Senator Gillibrand’s legislation, the Preventing Overprescribing for Pain Act would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue guidelines for the safe prescribing of opioids for the treatment of acute pain. The CDC recently finalized guidelines for opioids prescribed to treat chronic pain. However, many individuals become addicted to opioids after taking prescriptions for acute pain. Acute pain includes pain following a broken bone, wisdom tooth extraction, or other surgeries, whereas chronic pain is long-term pain that can last weeks, months, or years.