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Transcript
The Drugging of America By Representative Gene DiGirolamo and Deb Beck Pseudo-addiction. A term utilized to minimize and misrepresent the dangers of addiction to prescription opiates according to a lawsuit filed in California against the major manufacturers of prescription opiates. Zohydro ER, an extended release hydrocodone product (an opiate) was approved for sale in the United States by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration despite an 11-2 vote of disapproval by its own medical advisory panel. Opana, a new narcotic painkiller believed to be ten times stronger than morphine was approved by the FDA in 2006 with an extended release product approved in 2013 and now, there is widespread diversion of suboxone, a prescription opiate that is intended to be used to treat heroin addiction. In addition, recently we learned that the FDA has approved the use of the painkiller Oxycontin for children as young as eleven. What’s going on here? In August of this year, the Washington Post reported that the federal government “. . . proposed $133 million in new spending to curb the overprescription of opioid painkillers, the drugs that have proved to be the primary gateway to heroin use . . .” (Washington Post, August 16th) Overprescribing? Yes indeed. Over 16,000 pounds – 8 tons of unneeded, discarded prescription and other drugs were taken off the streets of PA through the drug take-back program in a single year. 16,000 pounds of these drugs were prescribed but were apparently unneeded. Certainly there are legitimate uses for these drugs – but how could our aim be this bad? A report of Pennsylvania’s Joint State Government Commission (June, 2015) identifies family and friends as the leading sources for these prescription drug opiates. Family and friends – not some Colombian drug cartel. And where do family and friends get prescription opiates? Overwhelmingly, they are gotten from physicians who are subject to a thunderous, murderous marketing campaign to prescribe these drugs. With 2,525 people dead in one year in Pennsylvania, it’s time to turn off the faucet. In 2014, members of the General Assembly met with representatives of the manufacturers of prescription drug opiates and asked them to fund some minor initiatives including drug take-back boxes and PA’s new Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to address a problem primarily created by the manufacturers themselves. The industry has never responded to this request. In the meantime, the companies project $15 billion in profits on the sale of prescription opiates in 2016. Also, in the meantime, 2,525 Pennsylvanians lost their lives to prescription drug overdoses in 2013 with higher numbers expected in subsequent years. Recently, the PA General Assembly enacted legislation to save Pennsylvanians from the very overprescribing discussed here by making Narcan widely available and by establishing the Prescription Drug Monitoring program. It’s time for the prescription drug manufacturers to step up and take responsibility. It is time for accountability. House Bill 1511 (DiGirolamo, prime sponsor), would establish just such accountability by imposing a 10% impact fee on the sale of opiates in the Commonwealth. This impact fee on the manufacturers will be utilized to clean up the damage done to our communities by these powerful addictive drugs. Funds will go to the counties to purchase life-saving Narcan for local police, to fund opiate-related criminal justice costs and to provide drug and alcohol counseling in county jails. In addition, the impact fee will provide long term residential addiction treatment through the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and will be utilized to support the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program in the Department of Health. 2,525 Pennsylvanians are dead. It is time for accountability. Representative Gene DiGirolamo is the Majority Chairman of the PA House Human Services Committee and represents the 18th District in Bucks county. He can be reached at 215-750-1017 Deb Beck is President of the Drug and Alcohol Service Providers Organization of Pennsylvania and can be reached at [email protected] 8/27/15