Painkiller Abuse
We’ve been talking a lot this week about the rising rates of painkiller abuse and overdose in the United States. Buying drugs on the street or taking them from ailing family members who are legally prescribed the drugs are common but it seems that news of fraudulent doctors prescribing illegal amounts of opiate painkillers pops up every other day. How extensive is the problem of prescription drug trafficking exactly?
From the highest profile celebrities to soccer moms in the suburbs, there isn’t anywhere that prescription painkiller addiction doesn’t reach. Over the past four years, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has prosecuted 108 physicians for illegal drug trafficking and fraud. Of these, 83 doctors pleaded no contest or not guilty, one doctor is still at large, 16 were convicted for their crimes by a jury and another eight doctors are still in the midst of their legal problems.
Joseph T. Rannazzisi is the DEA’s deputy assistant administrator. Under oath during a congressional testimony, he said that less than 9000 doctors (or under 1 percent of all doctors) provide illegal pain prescriptions to their patients. It is by far a more likely scenario that those who are illegally taking painkiller prescriptions are doing so through other means: online pharmacies that do not require prescriptions, friends and family with opiate prescriptions or purchasing them individually on the street. All of this, however, is still illegal. Rannazzisi says, “It is not merely illegal but could feed or lead to an addiction and place that loved one in a life-threatening situation.”
John Charles is the director of medical affairs at the Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in Myrtle Beach. He practices pain management but has decided to stop prescribing opiate painkillers completely. However, he recognizes that there is a medical need for opioid-based pain relievers in many situations: “People with cancer are surviving longer, elderly people are living longer. So, physicians are walking a fairly fine line. We’re walking a narrow path. And I think we’ll continue to see it for a while.”
Suboxone treatment is one way to break an addiction to painkillers and find alternative ways of managing chronic pain that are less threatening to your emotional, mental and physical wellbeing. While the extent of painkiller abuse is hard to measure in society, only you can know if you have a problem with prescription pills. Be honest with yourself and assess your situation then find a doctor like the ones at Meditox that can help you break that addiction and move on.
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