Does Opiate Abuse Boil Down to A Prescription Problem

prescription problemThe United States is currently experiencing a massive wave of drug use, but it’s not at all confined exclusively to street drugs. On the contrary, the drugs that are fueling what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling a “deadly epidemic” are coming from the pharmacy and are not being pushed by drug dealers but by medical doctors.

Pharmaceutical painkillers such as hydrocodone (Vicodin) and oxycodone (OxyContin) have become some of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S., and they are also some of the most widely abused drugs of any kind. It should not be assumed, however, that all doctors have turned into dope peddlers who are doing little more than helping the big drug companies line their pockets at the expense of their patients’ health. On the contrary, it is a small minority of doctors who account for a very large percentage of all prescriptions written for opioid drugs every year. This is according to a study presented earlier this my at the annual research meeting of AcademyHealth. In the years 2011-2012, fully 40% of all prescriptions for narcotic painkillers in the U.S. were written by only 5% of all the doctors who prescribed such drugs, meaning that only a very few of all the doctors in the country are to blame for putting these powerfully addictive drugs in the hands of the American public.

There is a name for this type of doctor and the office that he or she operates: “Pill Mill.” Some doctors refuse to prescribe opioid painkillers except for in the most extreme circumstances, such as for cancer patients and those suffering from terminal illnesses, on the basis that the risk of addiction is only justified in cases where the patient’s suffering is extreme or where the patient is not expected to survive long enough for addiction to be an issue. Others may be more lenient in the willingness to prescribe opioid painkillers for more commonplace complaints such as for back pain.

And then there is the small minority of doctors who will prescribe painkillers for just about anything, and often with little evidence that the prescription is necessary. Such doctors become magnets for addicts who are looking for another prescription to help them get their next fix, doctors who are willing to put their own profits ahead of the safety and even the lives of their patients.

Evidence Shows that Doctors Are Behind the Painkiller Epidemic

The actions of doctors who operate pill mills are most certainly being felt by the American public. According to statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, around 7 million people in this country were abusing prescription drugs, as an example. For every one of these people, there are many others whose lives are also negatively impacted, spouses, children, parents and friends who are feeling the pain of watching a loved one succumb, quickly or slowly, to drug addiction.

The good news is that people are starting to wake up to the dangers of prescription painkillers, and doctors are becoming more and more aware of the risks of these drugs. Furthermore, drug companies, law enforcement agencies and more are taking measures to prevent painkiller abuse. On the downside of this is the fact that many painkiller addicts are graduating to heroin as a cheaper and more readily available substitute for opioid drugs, and it is the major prescribing doctors who we have primarily to blame for this recent trend. For every prescription they write for painkillers, they are potentially writing a death warrant for their patient, and it has to stop now.

Source:

http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/consumer%20issues0/Top-5-Percent-of-Opioid-Prescribers-Write-40-Percent-of-US-Narcotic-Prescriptions.shtml