Clearly, the misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers is a terrible problem that must be addressed - and the sooner, the better.
That's why our hopes soared when we heard about a new panel, called the Prescription Drug Abuse Community Team, created to tackle this very issue. The group is organized under the Missoula City-County Health Department, and includes physicians, social workers and law enforcement officers.
While these efforts are commendable, they fail to address the treatment side of prescription drug abuse. In fact, the group doesn't plan on taking up what we consider a more pressing problem in Missoula: the glaring lack of resources available to help physicians and addicts treat prescription drug addiction. According to Suicide Prevention Network coordinator Maureen O'Malley, the Health Department has always been, and will remain, prevention-driven.
And yet, as described in a recent series of stories in the Missoulian, our community is desperately in need of intervention programs as well. Prescription drug addicts are breaking into pharmacies and people's homes, buying drugs off the street and “doctor-shopping,” hopping from physician to physician with a slate of “symptoms” designed to score a prescription for narcotics. Untold numbers of people are already in the throes of addiction, and most of them have nowhere to go for help. There is no detox facility in Missoula, and unless they have money to burn, their treatment options are minimal at best.
This needs to change, and it will take a communitywide effort to make this change happen. The Prescription Drug Abuse Community Team, with its preventive focus, isn't going to be able to do this alone.
But a second group, with a focus on treatment resources, may provide the one-two punch needed to knock out the rising rate of prescription drug abuse in Missoula.
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