State amps up fight against prescription drug abuse

Arkansas lawmakers and law enforcement continue to devise measures to address prescription drug abuse with a new law mandating monitoring by prescribers and by supporting programs such as the Arkansas Take Back program.

The country continues to struggle with a prescription drug addiction and opioid overdose epidemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Arkansas is no exception.

Arkansas Take Back

Drop-off events are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in Northwest Arkansas.

• Harps, 1274 N. Colorado Drive, Fayetteville

• Harps, 412 Gutensohn Road, Springdale

• American Legion post, 154 W. Glenwood Ave., Cave Springs

• Prairie Grove Police Department, 955 E. Douglas

• Harps, 266 Three Dogs Lane, West Fork

Check the Arkansas Take Back map at www.artakeback.org for list of permanent drop-off locations.

Source: Staff report

The CDC reported more people died in 2015 from overdoses than any previous recorded year and the state's numbers also are on the rise, totaling 1,067 deaths in a three-year span as of 2015.

[EMAIL UPDATES: Get free breaking news updates and daily newsletters with top headlines delivered to your inbox]

Today, nearly half of all U.S. opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription. In 2015, more than 15,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids, according to the CDC. Arkansas has consistently been in the top 20 percent of states that prescribes the most painkillers per capita, with 96 to 143 prescriptions per 100 people, according to the National Prescription Audit from 2012.

"Prescription drug use has become so accepted that people don't recognize that they are just as dangerous as illicit drugs," said John Kirtley, executive director of the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy. "When people think that, 'Oh, it's just prescription pain pills; it's not heroin.' Well, in many ways it's the same thing."

The abuse of prescription drugs is the No. 2 drug threat to residents after methamphetamines, multiple police officers said.

"It's very prevalent and we see cases of abuse and overdose all the time," said Sgt. Craig Stout, Fayetteville Police Department spokesman. "It affects a large group of the population: all walks of life are abusing prescription drugs, especially opiates."

Opiates are of high concern, because while police see many other prescriptions, such as Xanax, being abused, it is much more likely to see overdoses caused by opiates, Stout said.

"It affects all ages, but there is an extra concern with kids," he said. "Kids have less understanding about the consequences, and these drugs are readily available to teens who wouldn't necessarily have access to illicit drugs."

More than half of people who reported using prescription painkillers non-medically for the first time got their drugs from a friend or relative, according to a 2010 CDC study based in Arkansas. However, drop-off locations and events, along with state mandated monitoring, seem to be helping reduce numbers, White said.

"People are dying from 100 percent preventable deaths. Any number is a bad number," White said, "but when you increase access to safe disposal, evidence shows us you see a reduction in the number abused. That's why these events are important."

Take Back The Drugs

Arkansas launched a statewide effort in 2010 to collect unneeded and unused prescription medications. Across the state, Arkansas Take Back, which started as part of a national initiative, reports decreasing the availability of unnecessary prescription drugs by properly disposing of expired and unneeded medication.

While it is no longer part of a national campaign, Arkansas Take Back numbers continue to rise with the support of grassroots campaigns and support of officials, said Christopher White with the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco and Drug Free Coalition, which works alongside local police to organize bi-annual Take Back events.

The statewide program usually has about 169 sites and has had a steady increase of medications collected. Last year, during spring and fall events, sites collected 48,723 pounds. That's a 160 percent increase from 2011. More than 211,000 pounds have been collected as of Oct. 22, according to calculations from the initiatives records. Northwest Arkansas locations have some of the highest individual collection numbers.

"It really speaks to how passionate our attorney general's office and local DEAs are that we continue at a grassroots level and we continue to take in thousands of pounds a year," White said. "We really believe in prevention in Arkansas."

Northwest Arkansas has 19 permanent drop-off sites and five event sites, according to the Arkansas Take Back drop-off location map. The state has more than 130 permanent drop-off locations.

Police and sheriff departments are participating today in drop-off events throughout the region. The events will go on rain or shine, White said. Many Harps Food stores will be accepting prescription medication along with local police and sheriff offices.

"The event is designed to keep drugs of any kind out of people's home, whether that be drugs people are not using anymore or pain pills they don't want kids to get, and to keep them from flushing the pills into the water supply," said Brandon Davis, pharmacist manager at the Harp's at 1274 N. Colorado Drive in Fayetteville, which is hosting a drop-off event today. "So the events are no questions asked, and good for the environment, kids and to clean out their cabinets."

While these one-day events can collects hundreds and even thousands of pounds of prescription drugs, they really act as a promotional tool for permanent drop boxes, White said. Benton and Madison counties have no special events planned today, but all Northwest Arkansas sheriff's offices and most police departments act as permanent drop-off locations.

"We collect these medications all year, 24 hours a day. You can always bring your stuff in," said Keith Foster, the Roger's Police Department spokesman.

Mandatory Monitoring

Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law this month Act 820, which seeks to strengthen the monitoring of prescription medication by making it a legal duty of prescribers.

"Other states that have implemented mandatory drug monitoring programs have seen a sharp decline in prescription drug-related deaths. I am hopeful our state will experience similar results. This is a great step forward in our fight to combat prescription drug addiction," U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Rogers, wrote in his column a couple weeks ago.

Act 820 states prescribers must "check the information in the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program when prescribing an opioid from Schedule II or Schedule III for every time prescribing the medication to a patient."

The law also mandates a licensing board will require practitioners to check the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program before prescribing opioids or benzodiazepine to first time patients. Exceptions include times before and during surgery, recovery from surgery while the patient is in a healthcare facility, hospice patients, nursing home patients or in emergency situations.

The Arkansas monitoring program has reduced doctor shopping -- individuals getting the same prescription from multiple doctors -- in the state by 75 percent, Denise Robertson, program administrator, said Friday.

Since the database went online in 2013, about 35 percent of prescribers and 50 percent of pharmacists sign up and use it, she said. Prescriber numbers are now closer to 60 percent, partly because Blue Cross and Blue Shield mandated all their prescribers sign up by April 1, Robertson said. She said everyone mandated by law should be online by July.

"The more people you have looking and analyzing, it will take more of this medication out of circulation that could potentially be misused," Robertson said.

It also gives doctors a better picture of what is going on with their patients, she said, and if the patients are abusing, to find them the proper treatment.

"You need to know what (a patient's) baseline is," Kirtley said. "If you are a bartender and you over-serve someone, you get in trouble and you could lose your job. In many ways, it is as protecting the prescriber as much as protecting the patient. This (law) ensures a prescriber has a full picture and can make a correct assessment, and there are already a lot of prescribers doing this in daily practice."

NW News on 04/29/2017

Upcoming Events