EDITORIAL: Treating prescription drug abuse
The fact that more people in Montana die from prescription drug overdoses than from car accidents is a sobering statistic. Prescription drug abuse contributes to the deaths of roughly 300 Montanans each year.
And there are more startling statistics about the prescription drug abuse problem in our state. Montana teens have the third-highest rate of prescription drug abuse in the country. A whopping 70 percent of abusers get prescription drugs from family members or friends, according to medical tracking surveys.
The growing abuse of prescription drugs is a pervasive problem of epidemic proportions not only in Montana but also the entire United States. Prescription opiates cause 15 times more deaths than cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine combined.
Yet this problem is burgeoning away from the public eye. Most people don’t realize the damage that’s being done to so many people’s lives by the abuse of prescription drugs. That’s why the Montana Medical Association is tackling the subject in a new “Know Your Dose” campaign aimed at educating and providing resources to both health-care providers and patients.
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox and representatives of the Montana Medical Association were in Kalispell recently to announce the launch of the “Know Your Dose” online resource center. Among those making the announcement at the Montana Center for Wellness and Pain Management in Kalispell was center director Dr. Camden Kneeland, a leading advocate on the front line of bringing attention to the prescription drug problem.
The attorney general’s office partnered in the development of the resource-filled website (www.knowyourdosemt.org) designed to improve doctor-patient communication on the efficacy and proper use of prescription drugs. The one-stop resource center also seeks to help those currently abusing prescription meds get the treatment they need and encourages communities to actively combat prescription drug addiction.
“The website embodies the best of what we know now,” Fox told the Inter Lake’s editorial board last week. “The science of addiction is evolving, and the science of best practices is evolving.”
Public awareness is a big first step toward curbing prescription drug abuse, and we commend the medical community, the Montana Medical Association and our elected state officials for shedding light on the problem.