Arizona is anticipating a $21 million allotment from the federal government to help battle an epidemic of opioid abuse. This week Congress is expected to send President Obama the final legislation in order to begin funding treatment and education in heroin and painkiller abuse.
Arizona is one of the states with a dire need of having the issue addressed. The state ranks 15th in the nation for opioid abuse and it’s a battle being waged right here in Navajo County. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are eight counties in the state that show that from 2010 to 2014 an average of 15 to 20 people per 100,000 died from opioid poisoning each year, and Navajo County, with a population of 107,322, was one of them. In nearby counties, Coconino showed between 10 to 15 deaths each of those years and Apache had five to 10 deaths. The national average is 14.7 deaths per 100,000.
The number of deaths is not surprising when reports show that there are an average of 85 opioid pain reliever prescriptions prescribed per 100 people each year in Arizona. The reports show that it is primarily prescription pain relievers and heroin that cause overdose deaths. Across the country, opioids were involved with 28,647 deaths in 2014, a number that has quadrupled since 2000. In Arizona, there were 1,211 opioid deaths and the average age of overdose was 18.
Michele Sgambelluri, who coordinates the Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention Program for the Navajo County Public Health District, works with physicians to take part in a program that lets them know if their patients are being prescribed opioids from another doctor before they prescribe them any more. “It’s a step toward prevention that helps doctors to determine if their patients are shopping for medication,” she explained.
Pharmacists use the program to flag people with multiple long-term opioid prescriptions from more than one doctor. Before doctors prescribe medication to a patient, they can log into the system to make certain that they are not facilitating a potential addiction. When asked if physicians were taking part in the program Sgambelluri replied, “Well, let’s just say that right now it’s voluntary, but in October of 2017 it will be mandatory. When it becomes mandatory, doctors will be able to assign the task to other non-medical office staff so that it can get done.”
Sgambelluri stated that people prescribed a 30-day supply of narcotic pain reliever increase the likelihood of dependency if used for the entire month. If not, leaving them accessible to other family members or friends could be dangerous as well. “People need to check their prescriptions and be aware of who has access to them. It’s a very serious problem in our county,” stated Sgambelluri. She also noted that those who become addicted to pain medications often find themselves in a desperate situation when their doctors no longer prescribe them. “Prescription drug users are 40 percent more likely to abuse heroin. When they are paying $50 for an OxyContin pill and heroin is $5 a bag for the same high, it’s not difficult to see how that happens,” she concluded.
