ST. LOUIS
(AP) -- While heroin, methamphetamine and even synthetic drugs tend to get much
of the attention, the nation's drug czar says prescription drug abuse is far
and away the most lethal drug problem in America.
Monitoring
programs adopted in 49 states are helping to address the problem of
prescription drug abuse, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
Director Gil Kerlikowske said in an interview with The Associated Press. The
lone holdout is Missouri, where Kerlikowske plans to be Wednesday to push for
such a program.
Kerlikowske
called prescription drug abuse an "epidemic." Nearly 21,000 deaths in
the U.S. were attributed to prescription drug overdoses in 2009, the most
recent year with statistics available.
"The
number of deaths as a result of prescription drug use and abuse are greater
than heroin and cocaine overdose deaths combined," Kerlikowske said.
Kerlikowske
is scheduled to be in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton on Wednesday. Among those
meeting with him will be state Sen. Kevin Engler, a Farmington Republican who
has unsuccessfully pushed for a state program.
Engler said
he'll try again in 2013. But the chief opponent, Republican Sen. Rob Schaaf of
St. Joseph, said he's willing to pursue another filibuster like the one that
killed Engler's proposal this year. Schaaf said the databases reveal sensitive
information that many people don't believe the government needs to know.
"All
they have to do is punch in your name and address and they can find out every
controlled substance you've been prescribed," Schaaf said this week.
The Office
of National Drug Control Policy said the number of deaths from prescription
drug overdoses has increased fourfold over the past decade. Addictions are up
sharply, too. Sometimes people being treated for legitimate pain become addicted,
Kerlikowske said, but in many other cases people looking to get high turn to
prescription drugs.
Some start
by stealing drugs from relatives or friends. "That's why they're now
producing medicine cabinets with locks," Kerlikowske said. "Realtors
will tell you to clean out your medicine cabinet before an open house."
Many
prescription drug abusers eventually "doctor shop" - that is, search
out physicians who will give them prescription drugs to feed a habit.
Kerlikowske said that's where monitoring programs are helpful.
The
programs involve electronic databases that can identify when a person is going
to multiple medical offices to obtain prescriptions. State licensure boards can
also use the databases to identify so-called "pill mills," or doctor
offices that overprescribe medicines.
Florida was
once known as the pill mill capital. Just a few years ago, more than 90 of the
nation's top 100 prescription-dispensing physicians were in Florida. That was
before the state instituted a tracking program in 2009.
"Now
they're down to 13 of the top 100," Kerlikowske said. "Many of those
(pill mills) have been opening offices in Georgia, Kentucky and Missouri."
Engler
said, "That's why we're turning into the pill mill capital of the
country."
But Schaaf,
a family physician, said he doesn't believe the databases are effective, noting
the increasing number of overdoses and deaths despite the rising number of
statewide monitoring programs.
Kerlikowske
and Engler say the problem is too significant to ignore and monitoring is
useful.
"The
doctors that use them call it a real patient safety tool," Kerlikowske
said.
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