Since pain can’t be measured, it can be almost imppossible to figure out with absolute certainty whether the patients Opiate Needs are legitimate or simply just a ruse - intended to feed an addiction. This conundrum has caused many doctors to become scene as villians, victims of the under/over opiate prescription dilemma.

A frightening report from the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), known as “The National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment 2009 (NPDTA),” was recently released and reflected an excessive abuse of nonmedical, prescription drug use in the US. The most startling figure, however, was the absorbent amount of youths (12-21) that were included in the results.

The very first sentence of the report reads: “Approximately 6.9 million individuals aged 12 or older were current (past month) nonmedical users of prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs (opioid pain relievers tranquilizers, sedatives, or stimulants) during 2007, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).”

The report goes on to note: “the number of deaths and treatment admissions involving CPDs, particularly prescription opioids, increased significantly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics, unintentional overdose deaths involving prescription opioids increased 114 percent from 2001 (3,994) to 2005 (8,541), the most recent nationwide data available.”

The data is based upon an accumulation of information collected from local law enforcement authorities and public health officials across the US. For the full report of The National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment 2009, please click the following links:
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs33/33775/index.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs33/33775/33775p.pdf

Last week the Florida State Senate passed legislation that would crack down on the long-standing problem the state has had with pain clinics and the growing number of people “doctor shopping” for addictive medications, by implementing a statewide database that would monitor prescriptions. The initiative was proposed by Sen. Mike Fasano and passed unanimously in the state senate.

Although 38 other states, nationwide, had previously established such monitoring systems, Florida meandered in its decision due to the implicated, privacy issues associated with monitoring personal prescriptions. Still, many Floridians are more than happy to compromise the possibility of minor unwanted inquiries to their prescriptions, in return for a system especially designed to target the more potent opiate painkillers like oxycodone that are responsible for prescription drug overdoses across the state.

Prescription-drug overdoses have seemed to reach epidemic proportions in recent years; for example, the Tampa Bay area has had an average of about 500 fatalities annually, due to prescription-drug overdose, which are almost as many fatalities as those of car crashes in the area. Statewide the annual fatality rate, attributed to prescription-drug overdose, averages at about 2,000 a year, which is currently more than 3 times that of either cocaine or heroin.

Currently, the bill awaits approval from the House, before it can pass on to Governor Charlie Crist for a final signature. Nonetheless, the controversial stigma of privacy issues the policy carries with it has addiction experts, like Joel Kaufman of Broward County’s Commission on Substance Abuse, skeptical about the bill’s final authorization and official implementation. “It feels great that it’s gotten this far,” Kaufman said in a recent interview, “but until it gets to the governor’s desk, I’m cautiously optimistic.”