Prescription Drug Abuse Targeted

This story was recently published in the Deseret News:

Utah’s other drug problem — prescription drug abuse — has caught the attention of state lawmakers who are nationally known for their crackdown on street drugs and drunken driving but run a state regularly deemed the country’s prescription drug abuse capital.

“This is a No. 1 ranking we don’t want, we’ve got a problem in this state and we need to address it,” state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told a group of physicians and care center providers recently.

It is well-known to Shurtleff, to public and private health care providers, pharmacists, drug treatment counselors and police officers who encounter firsthand what they say is a growing problem that has taken a back seat to other state-sanctioned prevention efforts such as stiffening criminal penalties for drunken driving and cracking down on street drugs, particularly methamphetamine.

Lawmakers have wanted to get a handle on prescription drug abuse long before now. Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, has been raising the topic since he was elected in 2004. He has introduced four bills so far for the upcoming legislative session. Rep. Trisha Beck, D-Sandy, is also preparing legislation aimed at clarifying language in the state’s four main prescription medication laws.

Recent prescription overdose deaths and a spate of pharmacy holdups in which robbers took painkillers but left the cash are signs of how powerful addiction is and are clear indication that lawmakers can no longer ignore a public safety problem that is not about to go away, the legislators said.

Physicians and law enforcement officers say they’re on board.

Daryl Bingham, a Lindon police officer who has become known for his capacity to detect someone driving under the influence, said many people using prescription drugs don’t know they can be as impaired on doctor-prescribed medication as someone using alcohol.

An older driver who Bingham found passed out in her car became incensed when he suggested that she might have a pill problem and that she might want to talk to her doctor about it. The state Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing database showed that in the past year three different doctors had prescribed 15,000 pills for various medical conditions.

“She had no alcohol or illegal substances on board, but she angrily said that (the pills) came from her doctor, they’re safe and therefore it’s all right,” Bingham said, adding that people need to keep in mind that substances — controlled or illegal — can put someone under the influence without them knowing it.

“Driving under the influence of prescription drugs is still driving under the influence,” he said.

Daw’s legislation focuses on the state’s licensing database. Under one bill, if a person is admitted to an emergency room for an overdose, the hospital will be obligated to report to DOPL the person’s name and inform the doctor or caregiver that one of their patients has overdosed.

Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, supports the idea in general but is wary of its implications of criminal behavior and the likelihood that the person involved likely has no intention to commit a crime or even knowledge one is being committed.

Huthchings said two people at his work are facing that issue right now. One not only had no idea she was under the influence while in her car, “she didn’t even know she was driving and didn’t realize that until she woke up in her car on top of a fire hydrant. She was in a complete stupor.”

She was using a popular sleeping pill, Hutchings said. “I don’t know how in the world we prescribe this stuff then not make sure they’re handcuffed to their bed,” he said.

Dr. Don Fairbanks, an urgent-care physician and BYU professor, said he endorses the legislation because it amounts to a wake-up call to average medical care providers “who are sitting behind a prescription pad not realizing they are contributing to someone’s substance use or abuse problem.”

Reporting incidents to DOPL isn’t about catching people or doctors, and the proposal specifically states the purpose is not to add liability on care providers, Daw said, noting it wouldn’t change current restrictions on access to the database.