Prescription Drug Abuse in Arizona

One of the most prominent issues in Arizona is the overuse and abuse of pain medications. According to statistics, Arizona had the sixth-most abnormal amount of prescribed pain reliever misuse in the country. It’s estimated that almost 6% of persons over the age of 12 abuse medications, which is higher than the country’s average of 4.5%. Numbers like this have been the reason that the FDA has sought to restrict and even ban certain painkillers from the market.

Obviously, prescription drug abuse is a problem all across the United States, and it is not the only issue that happens in Arizona. There have been indications that there are issues with other sorts of drugs as well, including heroin, marijuana, and other illegal substances, but the most overarching drug abuse concern in Arizona is definitely the issue with prescription pain killers. This may be due to a number of reasons, including the increase of older adults that reside in the state and a general lack of knowledge on the part of lawmakers, individuals, and physicians. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at the abuse of prescription drugs in Arizona.

The good news is that authorities say that our exertions have truly beefed up in the past two years, and in the not so distant future they plan on making those efforts much stronger. There are a few variables for the generally high rate of abuse in the state, including overprescribing by specialists, the offer of unused solutions and an absence of training about the pitfalls of prescription medication abuse.

Sadly, there are a number of times that individuals assume that, in the event that it’s been endorsed by a specialist and it’s been tested by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), that it’s all safe and ready to go. Anyhow it’s not, unless you’re utilizing it as endorsed by a specialist and you’re under their care during the entire time that you are on the drug. There have been some cases in recent months, for example, where drugs are being used for unintended purposes, like the use of Adderall (an ADHD medication) for weight loss.

In 2007, state legislators made the Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program, a database of patients who get medicines for pain relief. Specialists are strongly encouraged, however not needed, to check the database before composing a solution to verify patients are not specialist shopping. The point of this is to prevent unfortunate circumstances from occurring, such as overdose and abuse of prescription painkillers.

Different deliberations incorporate new polices to help aide specialists remedy drills, techniques for individuals to securely discard medicates that are never again being utilized and projects to teach groups about the dangers of prescription pill abuse. The state is likewise trying a project to control prescription medication ill-use in several areas of the state. In the event that the new procedures are successful, they will likely be embraced and utilized across the state.

The project is substantial on instruction, offering a drug free presentation that can indicated to group aggregations and an alternate for secondary schools and center schools. It likewise shows police, drug specialists and doctors how to utilize the state’s remedy following system to quit overprescribing and specialist shopping. There are a lot of components that play into it, and everyone has to work together in order to make the whole thing work. By bringing education into the entire thing, it’s made it easier for people to become aware of what’s going on and how these medications, which are meant to help us, can actually be harmful if we decide to use them in a way that is not intended.

There has been proof that it is starting to work, even early on in the program. Those in charge of the program say that Graham County, one of the counties involved in the trials, has gone from the fourth-most elevated rate of prescription pill misuse in the state in 2010 to the fifteenth in 2012, and it is now least in the state.

So, as you can see, there are a number of things that Arizona has been working to do in order to try and help their communities to get past all of the prescription drug abuse and other issues that are occurring in their communities. As time goes on, Arizona hopes to move forward and get past this designation as one of the states that has the highest rate of prescription drug abuse.