Posted by
Rich on Sunday, February 17, 2008 8:54:28 AM
Finally
there seems to be a slow awakening to the growing problem of easy
access to prescription drugs that are then abused and at times lead to
death.
In our column, "
What if"
we lamented the amount of time, money, media attention and political
capital spent on stopping smoking. We have seen governments ban smoking
in public places, hospitals, businesses, restaurants, public beaches,
and recently an attempt to ban smoking in our homes. We have police
patrolling beaches looking for smokers rather than tracking down drug
dealers. We asked what if all these resources were focused on illegal
drugs instead?
We pointed out in our column that it takes
decades to die from the effects of life long smoking but mere seconds
to die from a lethal mixture of heroine, cocaine and prescription
drugs. We also pointed out that tobacco does not fund narco-terrorism,
gangs and drug cartels. Trafficking in illegal and now prescription
drugs does.
In a local editorial, "
Needed: coordinated effort on prescription-drug use"
we find a call to arms, finally. Recently we attended a short
discussion of the growing prescription-drug abuse problem from attorney
Ronald. J. Flipkowski. Ron has been in the business of apprehending and
prosecuting illegal drug dealers for over 20 years. He pointed out the
growing problem with a lack of checks and balances in both prescribing
and dispensing dangerous but legal prescription drugs such as
methadone, oxycodone and fentanyl.
What is even more shocking is
the comment by a local pharmacist that, "The amount of dubious
prescriptions for oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl, other miscellaneous
opiates and benzodiazepines that enter my pharmacy is not only
frightening, it's appalling."
The pharmacist said he suspects most of the purchasers resell the drugs at huge markups, a suspicion echoed by police.
Dubious
prescriptions? If the pharmacist thinks they are dubious then why
doesn't he check them out? Where are the doctors, drug companies and
pharmacies on this issue? That is, in part, where the solution lies. A
computer system that links doctors, hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies
would go a long way in preventing this abuse. It would also help real
patients know that what they are getting from different doctors is not
a deadly mix. We have hundreds of thousands of people killed annually
from the normal use of prescription drugs.
Ron pointed out in
his overview of the prescription drug abuse problem that people "doctor
shop" by going to different doctors with complaints that require one of
the opiates or benzodiazepines, they get multiple prescriptions, and
then go to different pharmacies to get their prescription filled. While
they may pay a few dollars per pill over the counter they can make
hundreds of dollars selling them illegally. Luckily a representative
from Congressman Vern Buchanan's office (FL, D-13) was at the same
presentation and took notes. The issue is gaining interest. However, we
do not believe that government is the solution.
In our previous
column we asked" What if we outlawed the glorification of drug use in
Hollywood, in our society and by our children? What if we made our
businesses, our homes, our beaches, our neighborhoods, our schools and
ourselves drug free rather than smoke free?
Answer: We would solve this growing problem.