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Dayton Business Journal...
Prescription drug
abuse costs lives, money
by Brittany Hart, DBJ Staff Reporter
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The costs of prescription medicine abuse in both lives destroyed and
economic costs for businesses and governments continues to increase as
the problem is getting worse each year.
As the economy plummeted in recent years, the number of professionals
getting addicted to prescription medications has soared. And people
getting hooked on pills is becoming such a problem that politicians and
government officials are taking notice and trying to do something about
it.
Addictions to prescription medications have spiked among Dayton-area
young adults and professionals, such as business owners, because the
medications are so easy to get — from a doctor or even on the street.
“They go to the doctor for anxiety or pain and they get all of these
painkillers,” said Carla McConnell, a counselor at Greene Hall
Outpatients Services at Greene Memorial Hospital in Xenia. “Then they
just keep getting more refills.”
And the problems are spreading to the doctors themselves in some cases.
“For doctors, the drugs are right there,” McConnell said.
This accessibility issue has led to a rise in prescription medication
abuse in the region during the past year, and an alarming trend in
overdose deaths locally.
Montgomery County led the state in the number of deaths from
unintentional medication overdoses between 2004 and 2008, according to
Ohio Department of Health data.
Among Montgomery County residents, 645 died from unintentional
medication overdoses, a rate of 24 deaths per 100,000 people. This
drug-related death rate is more than twice that for the state and the
highest among all Ohio counties.
In 2008, the data shows that among the 132 drug-related deaths among
Montgomery County residents, 106 were attributed to prescription
opioids, primarily methadone, followed by oxycodone and hydrocodone.
These are the drugs of choice for many patients of Greene Hall,
McConnell said.
Over the past decade, the region’s treatment centers’ most common
patients were alcoholics, but that has shifted in the past few years to
prescription drug addiction, said Jack Campbell, an addictions
admissions counselor at Greene Hall.
To combat this growing problem, Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery
County is working with Wright State University. An Ohio Department of
Health-sponsored study — Unintentional Prescription Drug Poisoning
Project — is being completed by The Center for Interventions, Treatment
& Addictions Research at Wright State’s Boonshoft School of
Medicine. Researchers hope to find what triggers opioid addiction by
studying addicts physical and mental health, family life and other
environmental factors.
One of the leaders of the groups, Russel Falck, an associate professor
in the Department of Community Health, said the local problem mirrors
the growing issue across the nation.
“It is a costly phenomenon,” he said.
From medical costs incurred by people who come to the emergency room
for unintentional overdose treatment to countless lost productivity
hours for businesses as employees use at work, the costs are extremely
high and virtually incalcuable, Falck said.
A research report in January by Angela Baldasare, a researcher and
former assistant professor of sociology at the University of Dayton,
found that emergency department visits related to pharmaceutical misuse
or abuse increased 98 percent in the U.S. from 2004 to 2009.
The report also said that in federal, state and local governments spent
a combined $467.7 billion on all substance abuse and addiction in 2005,
although an official breakdown for types of drugs was not available.
However, one report last year estimated that prescription drug abuse
costs are as high as $18 billion annually.
And the number of celebrities who are abusing prescription drugs
continues to grow, which researchers say can influence young people.
Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and Corey Haim died after allegedly
misusing prescription medicines. Actor Matthew Perry of TV sitcom
“Friends” also had a stint in rehab for prescription drug abuse along
with conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, and of course
Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe famously had prescription pills in
their systems when they died.
“It’s important for employers to continue to be aware of the fact that
drug abusers come in all shapes, sizes, ages, genders and races,” Falck
said. “Businesses need to have in place workplace intervention and
prevention programs.”
Montgomery County will receive funds to develop an Opiate Task Force,
part of a $36 million plan to help Ohioans addicted to prescription
drugs receive treatment and return to the workforce. Ohio Gov. John
Kasich announced the new funds in April.
“Gov. Kasich is really clamping down on painkiller prescriptions,”
Campbell said.
In addition to Montgomery County, the new Opiate Task Forces will be in
22 counties. The task forces will work to coordinate the efforts of
medical, treatment, law enforcement and community relations partners to
combat opiate and heroin addiction.
Among the drug companies that may be asked to take part in the efforts
are Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK),
AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) and Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY), which is
based in Indianapolis.
Both Bayer AG and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) have operations in
Ohio, while many of the drugmakers employ sales reps throughout the
Dayton region for such companies as McNeil Consumer Healthcare; and
Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN).
In addition, multiple pharmaceutical companies are based in the Dayton
region. They include Eurand Corp. in Vandalia, Encore Pharmaceuticals
in West Chester, AtriCure Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRC) in West Chester and
Waltham, Ma.-based Alkermes Inc. (Nasdaq: ALKS) that has a facility in
Wilmington.
New treatments
At Greene Hall, treatment for prescription drug abuse works like this:
• Patients undergo a two-hour assessment and a diagnosis is determined.
• If appropriate, patients are admitted to outpatient treatment at the
facility.
• Outpatient treatment includes individual and group therapy meetings
three evenings a week for eight weeks.
• If inpatient treatment is needed, Greene Hall patients often are
referred to Glenbeigh in Cleveland or The Woods at Parkside Substance
Abuse Services, which has locations in Columbus, Cincinnati and
Cleveland.
Greene Hall also has a therapy group devoted exclusively to doctors who
are addicted to prescription medication.
While the center would not release the number of patients in the group,
it has grown significantly in the past year, McConnell said.
Greene Hall is the only center in the region approved by the Ohio State
Medical Board to treat impaired physicians, she added.
Among new treatments for prescription addicts is Suboxone.
“With opiates, you get a really nasty withdrawal.” McConnell said.
This treatment helps patients through that tough period.
A related challenge, however, is that only a few doctors in area are
licensed to dispense the medication.
“We need more doctors to get licensed to offer it,” McConnell said.
On the upside, Greene Hall’s treatment program, which started in the
1970s, has helped thousands stay on track on their road to recovery.
“Most stay sober,” Campbell said. “You would be surprised how many
people there are out there in the community that have been through
recovery.”
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