Unfortunately, this kind of drug abuse is also relatively easy to sweep under the rug, because unlike more high-profile drugs - say, meth or marijuana - many of us have some in our medicine cabinets at home.
But it has the same power to devastate our lives. Perhaps more.
n In 2007, the abuse of prescription painkillers was directly involved in 141 deaths, and emergency rooms in Missoula reported treating 231 prescription drug overdoses.
n Since 2001, fatal overdoses of prescription painkillers have increased by
65 percent in Missoula County. Nine people died of prescription drug overdoses in Missoula County in the first half of 2008 alone.
n Montana comes in ninth in a national ranking of prescription pain reliever abuse among teens - and we come in third in a per-capita comparison. More than 13 percent of Montanans ages 18 to 25 reported abusing pain relievers in 2006.
While these disturbing trends may have gone unnoticed by the majority of Montanans, the skyrocketing rise in prescription drug abuse in the state has caught the attention of local health workers, law enforcement agencies and others who deal with the aftershocks of illegal drug use on a daily basis. And they are actively looking for ways to get a better handle on this growing scourge.
They are finding, however, that the problem is immense and the resources to handle it are sorely lacking.
The ubiquitous nature of prescription drugs makes them among the easiest to abuse. Addicts can buy or steal them them from acquaintances with legitimate prescriptions, or from unscrupulous online “pharmacies.” Or, they can go “doctor shopping,” hopping from one physician to the next with made-up complaints aimed at getting them a prescription for powerful painkillers.
Montana is one of only a handful of states that do not have a statewide prescription drug registry doctors can use to see which medications their patients are already on - but it does have legislation pending to create one. A bill creating a statewide database is expected to go up before the next Legislature.
The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program seems like a no-brainer, but questions of privacy rights and who might have access to this registry of medical information remain to be worked out before Montana can require such a database.
As it stands, there are scant tools available to physicians who want to make sure their patients remain able to get appropriate pain management without unwittingly helping addicts continue their prescription drug abuse.
And there are scant resources available to prescription drug addicts looking for help. Those that are available in Montana are being overwhelmed by demand. There is no single facility in Missoula where they can go for detox treatment and follow-up addiction services, for instance. In fact, many must land in the corrections system before they can finally get the help they need.
Ultimately, the responsibility lies with each and every one of us to demand that this be addressed. We must provide adequate resources to our existing agencies, and we must support the creation of new programs.
We know we can do it - we've done it before, with meth. The Montana Meth Project, which got its start a mere three years ago, has helped reverse the trend of rising meth use in the state. With enough public support, a similar effort aimed at prescription drug abuse could have the same happy results.
But it will take all of us working together, in coordination with our state and local agencies, to pull it off.
The Missoula City-County Health Department is off to an excellent start. Recently, the department went public with its intention to focus more attention on prescription opiate abuse. It has even put together a focus group - including police officers, health care workers and addicts - designed to help it navigate these as-yet-uncharted waters.
The Missoulian stories that ran earlier this week described the heart-wrenching stories of four opiate addicts who are slowly rebuilding lives destroyed by prescription drug abuse. These brave people allowed their personal stories to be told in the hopes that others would be compelled to take action.
It is time for us to pull together as a community to do just that.
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