The amount of opioid pain killers prescribed has declined in Ohio for the year 2016. For the fourth consecutive year, the number of dispensed highly-addictive pain killers has dropped. A report compiled from the Ohio Automated RX Reporting System data revealed that between 2012 and 2016, the total number of opioid prescription to patients in Ohio declined by 20.4 percent. At the peak of the crisis, the number of pills prescribed was 793 million. It is now down to 631 million pills according to the State Board of Pharmacy.
Across Ohio, the number of written prescriptions during that time also declined by about 20 percent. According to Tracy Plouck, director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Ohio has one of the most comprehensive approaches to address the responsible prescribing of opioid pain killers. The progress that is shown in this data demonstrates that the partnership with prescribers is helping to reduce misuse of prescription opioid and addiction.
Opioids are synthetic pain killers that are blamed as the key reason for the rise of overdose deaths and the use of heroin. A report by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which was released last November showed that Ohio has the nation’s highest opioid overdose deaths in 2014 with a number of 2,106 deaths. In 2016, there were 500 drug overdose deaths in Cuyuhoga County alone. Opioids are responsible for most these deaths in the county. The number of deaths are double than that of the year 2015.
In 2006, Ohio started the prescription tracking system to collect information on all the prescriptions for controlled substance. The state had pumped $15 million into upgrading the system in 2015 in response to the opioid epidemic. With the help of the system, the state is able to monitor opioid prescription, who is prescribing the drugs and also to spot patients who are going to multiple doctors to collect prescription according to a report by Cleveland.com.
In 2013, Ohio Governor John Kasich had introduced new guidelines for treating patients with chronic non-terminal pain. The guidelines were designed to curb prescription drug abuse. The Governor’s Cabinet Opiate Action Team had developed the guidelines along with more than 40 professional groups, state agencies and state licensing boards. Prescribers are encouraged to fully evaluate a patient’s situation before prescribing long term use of high levels of opioids as reported by an article by Drugfree.org.
