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The Value of Prescription Monitoring Programs

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A recent study from Vanderbilt University in Nashville proclaimed that prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) can reduce prescription drug–related overdose deaths. According to the study results published in the June issue of Health Affairs, “If Missouri adopted its own PDMP, and every state enhanced its existing program, some 600 overdose deaths would be avoided annually.”1

Missouri is referred to because, as of this writing, it is the only state without a PDMP. Establishment of a PDMP is being debated in the Missouri legislature, however, as other states have enjoyed incredibly successful PDMPs for years. Missouri is not only a haven for in-state seekers of illegitimate refills, but the state also attracts offenders from bordering states! The prescribers and dispensers with whom I have spoken over the past few years are fed up with the problem and the legislature’s lack of response to it. [Read more…]

Heroin Abuse: How It Differs from Rx Drug Abuse

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I recently had the pleasure of being asked to present at a conference in Dayton, Ohio, on the topic of prescription drugs and their relationship to the ongoing heroin problem. Dayton, along with most of the rest of Ohio and much of the nation, is inundated with heroin abuse. Law enforcement is doing everything it can, but it has not stopped the unprecedented number of overdose deaths.

One of the big questions I hear is: did the pharmaceutical companies cause the current heroin problem? If not, what is the role of the untold number of over-prescribers and their sometimes abettors—pharmacists? These questions reflect our society’s tendency to blame somebody for our ailments, and pharmaceutical companies probably top the list as the best villain, but local health care providers and pharmacists can be in the crosshairs, too. [Read more…]

Hospital Emergency Departments Are Adopting Drug-Use Tracking Systems

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It was recently announced that some hospitals in certain states are using a system to track patients who shop hospital emergency departments (EDs). These hospitals’ electronic records use a bright-red indicator to highlight particular patients who repeatedly seek prescription drugs in the ED. This tracking program was initiated due to the excessive amount of scammers visiting US EDs.

ED employees (physicians, nurses, etc) are not surprised by the move, as this practice has been going on for decades. With prescription drug abuse intensifying over the past 10 to 15 years, I am sure the instances have increased to levels higher than ever before. Keeping track of these folks is time-consuming and difficult at best. [Read more…]

Drug Diversion and Abuse: Nighttime Drug Diversion

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A topic I haven’t covered in a very long time is the activity of drug seekers at night and after the close of most businesses, including doctors’ offices and clinics. The places affected by nighttime diversion are emergency departments (EDs) and 24­hour and late­night pharmacies.

Drug seekers have been presenting to America’s EDs for decades, and this activity hasn’t decreased much, if at all. The supposed injuries and problems for which drug seekers come to the ED are as varied as prescription drug seekers themselves. I’ve seen cases of people who in order to receive a pain shot burned parts of their bodies, including their testicles; aggravated existing root canal work in the ED parking lot; and carried their own blood in syringes to feign vomiting it. [Read more…]

Prescription Monitoring Programs-2014

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If you have followed this column, you know I am a big proponent of prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) in this country. However, I am not a proponent of a single PMP being run nationally by a federal governmental entity. Rather, I support management by individual states that establish their own laws as to who has access and how it can be used. I don’t agree with how some of them restrict law enforcement to easily access the data, but I recognize that the whole system works better when states do their own thing! [Read more…]

How BIG is the problem?

Year after year, state and local law enforcement statistics indicate that pharmaceuticals are almost 30% of the overall drug problem in the United States, running a close second only marijuana abuse. However, until recently, law enforcement, health care professionals, and the general public have placed little emphasis on this huge problem.

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Pharmaceutical Diversion Education (PDE) is designed to assist a wide range of the population in understanding the potential abuse and addiction that can be associated with prescription medication.

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