Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), electronic databases of prescriptions submitted by dispensers (pharmacies and practitioners who dispense out of their office) and run by state agencies, are useful to help coordinate care, prevent doctor-shopping, deter prescription drug abuse, and assist law enforcement authorities in preventing diversion. As of September 2011, … [Read more...] about CSAT: Accessing Prescription Drug Data to Maximize OTP Patient Safety
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U.S. Drug Strategy Focuses on Prescription Drug Abuse
The federal government has proposed a 19-percent increase in funding for domestic prevention, treatment, and enforcement dealing with the abuse of drugs, including prescription drug misuse. The increased availability of pain medications and the misconception they are safer than illicit drugs, even if taken improperly, have led to a dramatic rise in prescription drug abuse, … [Read more...] about U.S. Drug Strategy Focuses on Prescription Drug Abuse
Florida Pill-Mill Crackdown Increases the Need for OTPs
The 2011 national drug strategy singled out South Florida as the epicenter of the Nation’s prescription drug abuse epidemic, due to a tremendous growth in “pill mills.” Between January and June of 2010, Florida practitioners purchased more than 40 million oxycodone pills, compared with only 4.5 million bought by practitioners in the rest of the country (see chart below). When … [Read more...] about Florida Pill-Mill Crackdown Increases the Need for OTPs
Why Primary Care Doctors Are Walking Away From Buprenorphine
Primary care physicians in Vermont are walking away from prescribing Suboxone, saying that they are ill-equipped to treat the many problems of the opioid-addicted, the Burlington Free Press reported this fall. One physician, John Matthews, MD, with the Health Center in Plainfield, summed it up by saying the eight-hour course required by the federal government to be listed as a … [Read more...] about Why Primary Care Doctors Are Walking Away From Buprenorphine
ASAM Recognizes Addiction as a Brain Disease, Supporting the Need for Medication-Assisted Treatment
On August 15 the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) published its new definition of addiction—one that contradicts some prevailing beliefs. The Society holds that addiction is not a behavioral disorder, nor is it a form of “self-medication” for easing emotional pain. Addiction is a single disease of the brain comprising a group of disorders —addiction to alcohol, … [Read more...] about ASAM Recognizes Addiction as a Brain Disease, Supporting the Need for Medication-Assisted Treatment
