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Akron
Beacon Journal...
Prescriptions for an
epidemic
Ohio has a mounting drug problem
Published on Friday, Feb 11, 2011
Large numbers of Ohioans live reasonably healthy and productive lives
because prescription drugs provide relief from pain. These drugs play
an increasingly larger role in managing painful health conditions.
Unfortunately, mounting evidence also points to the scourge that
prescription drug abuse is becoming in communities across Ohio. This is
particularly true for high-potency opium-based painkillers such as
oxycodone and hydrocodone.
Attempts failed in the Ohio House during the last legislative session
to clamp down on the illegal distribution of controlled drugs. A
renewed effort to address the problem should fare much better. A bill
introduced in the House this week would tighten regulations, among
other provisions targeting overprescription by providers. Mike DeWine,
the attorney general, has announced he will devote more funding and
staff to pursue the problem aggressively.
In a report last fall, a task force commissioned by former Gov. Ted
Strickland described prescription drug abuse in the state as an
epidemic. In the past decade, Ohio deaths from accidental drug
overdoses surpassed the national average, rising from 2.9 per 100,000
in 1999 to 13 per 100,000 in 2008. In 2007 and 2008, unintentional drug
overdose exceeded suicides and automobile crashes as the leading cause
of injury death in the state. The death rate from prescription drug
abuse, the study found, is more than three times the rate for the
crack-cocaine epidemic at its peak.
The drug epidemic is especially acute in southern Ohio. In Scioto
County, enough prescription painkillers were dispensed last year to
provide 123 doses for every resident. In several counties, the
unintentional death rate is close to 15 per 100,000.
If legislators require an incentive to act, they would do well to
consider that an epidemic of drug abuse carries additional costs, among
them physical and mental illnesses and increased crime.
Read it at the Akron Beacon Journal
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