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UPDATE ON MADISON AREA EFFORT TO CURB PAINKILLER ABUSE
WPR News - Update on Madison area effort to curb painkiller abuse
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Tuesday April 24, 2012
by Shamane Mills
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(DANE COUNTY) The Madison area is six months into a coordinated effort to curb overdoses from prescription painkillers and heroin. Officials say their immediate goal is to prevent the problem from getting bigger.
Medications like OxyContin and Vicodin have been called "gateway" substances which can lead to abuse of a cheaper illegal drug, heroin. Dane County Executive Joe Parisi says vehicles crashes have been linked to this drug activity, "People driving into Madison or the center of Dane County from more rural areas to purchase heroin. They shoot it up and then try to drive home and disaster follows. "
Dane County hopes to reduce access to prescription painkillers by increasing the number of police station drop boxes for unwanted medication. There will now be ten MedDrop boxes in rural and urban areas. In addition, a task force will be formed to look at how patients get drugs. Dr. Geoffrey Priest says opiates are much more powerful now than they were say ten years ago, and not all physicians have changed prescribing habits, "I think patients are getting on more powerful medications with a larger supply for a longer time probably than physicians really intend."
A report by Public Health Madison/Dane County says middle age adults have the highest overdose rates for prescription pain killers. And teens are using opiates too: six percent report non medical use.
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