Pot times
Agents Get Script To Track Drugs
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1097/a03.htmlNewshawk: chip
Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jul 2005 AGENTS GET SCRIPT TO TRACK DRUGS
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2005 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact:
yourviews@oklahoman.com
Website: http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Jim Killackey and Ken Raymond
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As prescription drug abuse continues to increase nationwide, Oklahoma's drug
agents are expanding their ability to track the sale of popular but addictive
medications.
Forged prescriptions, teenagers bringing prescription drugs to school and a rise
in deaths from the abuse of controlled drugs have become a societal plague,
officials said.
Changes are occurring.
"We started back in 1990 putting together a prescription monitoring system
for category two drugs, which is the highest level of drugs, such as codeine or
morphine," said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of
Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
"Over time, so many new categories of drugs have surfaced and become more
sought after by drug-dependent people, such as Hydrocodone ... that we
have had a hard time tracking them."
As the number of prescription drugs has increased, he said, so has the number of
abusers.
According to a 214-page report released Thursday by the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, more Americans abuse
prescription medications than cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin
combined.
From 1992 to 2003, the report shows, teen abuse of prescription drugs jumped 212
percent, while adult abuse rose 81 percent. The number of Americans
abusing prescription drugs increased seven times faster than the increase in the
country's population.
At least 15 million Americans are believed to be misusing prescription
medications.
Oklahoma drug agents are hoping an expansion of their prescription drug tracking
system, which already is under way, will help them better fight the problem,
Woodward said.
In 2004, lawmakers approved the expansion, Woodward said, and the drug bureau
has obtained a federal grant to help.
The expanded system will track all categories of prescription drugs, Woodward
said, but only will alert authorities about suspicious activity.
"This computer, it has specific criteria that will send up a red
flag."
One of the main prescription drug abuses the system should detect is so-called
"doctor-shopping," he said.
"Someone who is addicted to painkillers, for example, they'll often go to
four or five different doctors and get four or five different prescriptions,
then go to four or five different pharmacies and get them filled -- sometimes
every day," Woodward said.
Often, the drugs are then resold, he said, with some selling illegally for as
much as $50 a pill.
Blame for the problem, state officials said, can be spread around.
"The issue boils down to the ease at which individuals can obtain
prescription medications today," said Phil Woodward, executive director of
the Oklahoma Pharmaceutical Association.
"Physicians are bombarded by their patients on a daily basis requesting
various prescription medications. Most physicians are under a great deal
of pressure from patients to give them what they want instead of what they need.
"The majority of physicians in this country are very responsible, but there
always are a few who would rather write Rxs for their patients than just say no
to them."
