Blame for the prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic in Suffolk County rests “squarely at the feet of the medical establishment,” according to a special grand jury report released Thursday by District Attorney Thomas Spota.
Physicians have shifted the use of addictive drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone, which were once only used for end-of-life care, to include the treatment of common pain, such as sprains and root canals. The report also criticizes physicians for prescribing an unnecessarily large supply of painkillers when a prescription for a few days’ worth would be appropriate.
Pharmaceutical companies have exploited the increased use of oxycodone and hyrocodone and convinced physicians that these powerful prescription pain killers are less addictive than other medications that treat pain, according to the report.
The report came from a grand jury that was empaneled over the last six months to examine the prescription drug abuse epidemic that claimed the lives of 231 people last year in Suffolk County alone. The report examines the history of the epidemic and represents the testimonial perspectives of law enforcement professionals, government regulators, health care experts, drug manufacturers, addiction specialists and even prescription pill addicts and dealers.
Spota, who characterized the report’s findings as “shocking,” urged state legislators to amend prescription painkiller laws.
“Now is the time for legislators to put their words into action, before one more life is lost, before one more family is shattered,” Spota said.
Spota also called for greater counsel for patients on a drug’s addictive qualities, which has become even more necessary with the increased use of the drug. Patients who leave extra, unused pills in a medicine cabinet provide an opportunity for family members to “dip into” and become addicted to prescription drugs, without the stigma of illegal street drugs,the report said.
An oxycodone and hydocodone drug habit is also very expensive to maintain. Once a patient’s legal supply of painkillers runs out, they may turn to theft, prescription forgery, violence and finally cheaper drugs, such as cocaine and heroin.
“Prescription pill abuse is clearly the source of the heroin plague in our schools, neighborhoods and roadways,” said Spota. “In almost every single instance of drug abuse, prescription pills are the beginning, before addicts graduate to drugs like cocaine or heroin.”
The report recommended several new laws and law amendments that would not only help alleviate the drug abuse epidemic, but would also make it easier for law enforcement officials to hold abusers accountable for their criminal behavior.
The recommendations include forcing doctors to make all prescriptions for controlled substances electronically without exception to eliminate occurrences of prescription forgery and subjecting all drivers in an accident involving death or serious physical injury be to mandatory blood tests without the necessity of a search warrant or consent of the vehicle operator.
The report also demanded that a health care provider’s sale of prescription drugs be made a class B felony.
“Physicians and pharmacists that provide pain-killers to addicts are no different than drug dealers,” said Spota. “They should be punished like drug dealers, because that’s exactly what they are.
RiverheadLOCAL photo by Emil Breitenbach Jr.
Suffolk grand Jury Report on Drug Abuse
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