Avi and Julie Israel of New York never expected their son to become entangled in a prescription drug addiction that would lead to the end of his life. Yet in 2011, their son, Michael, addicted to legally prescribed hydrocodone, took his own life.
Now, they’re taking their story to the nation, hoping their son’s story will move the epidemic of prescription drug addicted out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
“I miss my son, everyday, everyday,” Avi Israel told WGRZ News. “I go to sleep at night thinking about him and I wake up thinking about him.”
A new Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report out this month highlights that epidemic sweeping the U.S., with 100 people like Michael dying every day from prescription drug overdoses, a figure that’s more than tripled since 1990.
The most recent figures, compiled from 2010, indicate prescription drug deaths are at an all-time high of 16,651, with the majority caused by painkillers.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seeking ways to curb the abuse, targeting health care professionals who have made it a habit to dole out ongoing prescriptions.
“In a period of nine months, a tiny Kentucky county of fewer than 12,000 people sees a 53-year-old mother, her 35-year-old son and seven others die by overdosing on pain medication obtained from pain clinics in Florida,” reads the report. “In Utah, a 13-year-old fatally overdoses on oxycodone pills taken from a friend’s grandmother.”
The description paints the picture of a widespread problem — one that’s not easily “cured” through a new set of regulations or laws. Yet that doesn’t mean the CDC isn’t pushing for for oversight, especially among physicians who chronically prescribe painkiller medications for those who may not require them.
The danger of prescribing medication long-term is the inclination for withdrawal once the patient’s body has become accustomed to receiving the medication — those symptoms, in turn, often lead to even more complaints, creating a cycle of prescription by physicians.
“The data supporting long-term use of opiates for pain, other than cancer pain, is scant to nonexistent,” The Centers for Disease Control Director, Tom Frieden, told the LA Times. “These are dangerous drugs. They’re not proven to have long-term benefit for non-cancer pain, and they’re being used to the detriment to hundreds of thousands of people in this country.”
The CDC is looking at one computerized drug monitoring program that would rack prescriptions for painkillers and other narcotics, identifying those doctors who have a propensity for prescriptions. It’s a proactive approach, but it’s one that costs money.
Programs like this already exist in California, yet there’s a lack of funding to effectively carry it out. It’s estimated to cost $1 million to operate each year, according to state officials.
The California Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, known as CURES, electronically monitors prescriptions for drugs like hydrocodone and oxycodone, yet it’s not used widespread. Instead, the state investigates doctors only after complaints have been made.
The CDC’s report also recommends that states enact laws that keep track of patients who “doctor shop,” by monitoring at-risk patients and the prescriptions they receive, along with improved access to substance abuse treatment.
Yet that’s easier said than done for states struggling with budget cuts. The March sequester alone cut $12.4 million in grants to California to treat substance abuse.
Future doesn’t look bright
Painkiller addictions aren’t isolated to cases of middle-aged men and women — a 2012 release released by the University of Colorado Denver indicates young people are abusing prescription drugs at a rate 40 percent higher than their parents’ generation.
The report, published, in the Journal of Adolescent Health, indicates a direct correlation to the rate of addiction and the rate of overdose. It also coincides with the growing availability rates — as more prescription drugs circulate throughout the U.S., the rate of addiction and overdose grow.
The report states that from 1991 to 2007, hydrocodone and oxycodone products prescribed legally in the U.S. increased from 40 million to 180 million — a fourfold increase.
The generation just now entering the world has already been impacted, as the number of newborns born addicted to painkillers has tripled in the last decade, according to a report published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Pregnant women haven’t escaped the epidemic, according to the study, which which a fivefold increase among addiction rates from 2000 to 20009. The problem is most prevalent in Florida, where the number of babies with withdrawal has increased from 354 in 2006 to 1,374 in 2010, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
The study’s lead author, Stephen Patrick, told USA Today that doctors and nurses are able to identify babies going through withdrawal based on the sound of their cries. Their symptoms include tremors, seizures, breathing problems and water diarrhea. They often resist being fed and are difficult to console.
“It’s like a colicky baby times 10,” Patrick told the news organization.
The number of addicted mothers isn’t changing — yet it’s the type of drugs they’re addicted to that are. With prescription drug abuse on the rise, the CDC is urging that there is at least methods that can be taken within the realm of government regulation and intervention to curb the problem.