Timpanogos High School: Aware to Care

Timpanogos High School is taking action to fight drug abuse in Utah County. On April 1st they will be holding a parent night to provide information on drug abuse, how to get involved, and what to be aware of.

On May 1st there will be a Battle of the Bands held at the High School and acting as an awareness night. Student art projects and videos will be on display centered on this theme.

The idea behind “Aware to Care” is that we need to reach out and be aware of those that might be turning to drugs so that we can better care for those individuals. “Don’t do drugs” is a nice message, but it doesn’t typically work. Prevention needs to go upstream and focus on deeper issues that occur before the drug abuse. WHY an individual is abusing drugs needs to be addressed, and the point of this campaign is to stress the CARE that is needed.

Sign up for the parent night by clicking on the following link: http://www.thsawaretocare.com/

To learn more about the rule for entry on the art and video contests click here.

What is DOPL and what does it have to do with prescription drug abuse?

Utah’s Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing

Through this department a controlled substance database is available to track and collect data on the dispensing of Schedule II-V drugs (pain management drugs that are often abused). This program was legislatively created in 1995 and is only accessible to authorized individuals.

How can it prevent pain pill abuse?

If physicians and dentists register and use this program “doctor shoppers” can be tracked.  The term doctor shopper refers to an addict who travels from physician to physician claiming medical need of pain relievers, obtaining the prescriptions, and then either abusing the drugs or selling them for money. You can image the expense doctor shoppers have on health insurance companies, who unknowingly, are paying the cost to satisfy drug addictions and illegal sales and distributions of pain pills.
You can learn more by visiting DOPLs site about the database or
visit the controlled substance database website.

HealthInsight’s Prescription Pain Medication Project

FACTS:

In Utah, there has been a sharp rise in narcotic deaths to nearly one every day, and most of these individuals are neither addicts nor suicidal. At least half of the same individuals were on a valid prescription for a controlled substance written less than 30 days earlier, and 75% had filled a valid prescription in the past year. Methadone is causing a much higher rate of deaths than the other long acting drugs. HealthInsight conducts physician trainings to teach Utah pain pill prescribers better patient-doctor counseling, best practice approaches to prescribing narcotics, and how to use Utah’s prescription monitoring program. For a summary of the guidelines covered in these physician trainings, click here. To download the Pain Medication Project implementation plan, click here.

Drug Free Communities Grant

The paid staff that work with the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and SMART coalition have been working hard on putting together the Drug Free Communities Grant. It is due this upcoming week. What a task this has been to get it all together! The entire grant proposal exceeds 200 pages and will be going through some last minute finishing touches before submittal. If awarded, Utah County will benefit from an extra $120,000 a year for the next five years towards prevention efforts.

Though it is debatable whether Utah County deserves this grant over other areas in the nation, one thing for sure is that Utah County has done an excellent job compiling research and presenting evidence based strategies. Years of work have gone into locating target populations and areas in the county. The following is a list of proposed strategies if allotted the funding:

1. Prescription drop box events
2. Contract with HealthInsight for physician trainings surrounding pain pill abuse 3. Statewide prescription drug media campaign
4. Upgrade police software to speed up the DUI process
5. Raise alcohol tax in Utah County

To get a better idea on what is required to submit this grant, check out the RFA (request for applications) . To check out an organizational chart that better explains the funding behind Drug Free Communities click here.

April is prescription take-back month

The Substance Abuse Misuse and Reduction Team is assisting in a series of prescription take back events throughout the month of April. These events will take place at local Walgreens as well as one at Utah Valley University. Come drop off your unused or expired medication.

Merely having leftover pain pills in the home places families at a greater risk for potential abuse, theft, accidental misuse.

For more details on proper disposal visitCleanoutthecabinet.org

Utah no longer leads the nation in prescription drug abuse

According to the most recent SAMHSA data, Utah is no longer ranked #1 for pain pill abuse.  This “recent data” is dated back measuring years 2006-2007  however, so perhaps these numbers have dropped even more since this time.

Nonmedical Use of Pain Relievers in Past Year among Persons Aged 12 or Older, 

by State: Percentages, Annual Averages Based on 2005 and 2006 NSDUHs

Nonmedical Use of Pain Relievers in Past Year among Persons Aged 12 or Older,

by State: Percentages, Annual Averages Based on 2006 and 2007 NSDUHs

Utah Legislature: House approves prescription drug abuse bills

Representative Brad Daw, a member of the SMART coalition, has been working on three bills regarding prescription drug abuse.  The bills are as follows:

• HB0028 would require practitioners who prescribe controlled substances to register to use the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing’s (DOPL) Controlled Substance Database and gain information on abuse prevention (see http://le.utah.gov/~2010/bills/hbillint/hb0028.pdf).
• HB0035 would require notification to the practitioner when a patient is admitted to the hospital for an overdose involving a prescription the practitioner may have given the patient (seehttp://le.utah.gov/~2010/bills/hbillint/hb0035.pdf).
• HB0036 similarly requires notification of a practitioner if a patient is convicted of driving under the influence of a controlled substance that the doctor may have prescribed to the patient (seehttp://le.utah.gov/~2010/bills/hbillint/hb0036.pdf).

To contact your legislature and support these bills, visit the following website. Enter your address. Click on the Representative and Senator you wish to contact and ask them to support the bills.

To read more on Representative Daw’s work on legislation regarding prescription drug abuse, an article was posted in the Deseret News.