Providing Real Time Information Key to Curbing Opioid Epidemic

Patients and parents have the right to know that the medicines they're prescribed can lead to dependency and addiction, yet this is still not the case. A national survey done by the Hazeldon Betty Ford Foundation confirms what I have learned from talking with other parents, who, like me, have lost a child to this epidemic: that 6 in 10 doctors prescribe opioid painkillers without telling patients that they can be addictive.

My son, Steven, became dependent on opioid-based pain relievers after they were prescribed to treat a sports injury. Had I just been told about the addictive qualities of the medicines Steven was prescribed, I would have known to look for alternatives, or been able to identify the signs and symptoms of abuse.

To ensure that more families don't have to go through what my family and so many other families across our nation have, Prevent Opioid Abuse, the organization I founded, is advancing common-sense legislation to ensure that patients and parents are armed with the real-time information they need to make informed decisions. The law requires a conversation about the risks of dependency and where appropriate, the use of a non-opioid pain relief alternative before an opioid-based pain reliever is prescribed. In less than 2 years, versions of this Patient Opioid Notification legislation have already passed in ten states: Connecticut, Maryland, California, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, Oklahoma, Ohio, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

Requiring a conversation between doctors and patients, and parents of patients under the age of 18, before an opioid is prescribed is a simple, but extremely effective step that will result in saving lives. This common-sense requirement enables patients and parents to recognize signs of dependence and alerts them to less risky alternative methods of pain relief. In the states where it is being implemented, the law is working to drive down the number of opioid-based pain reliever prescriptions written.

Given the recent approval by the FDA of Dsuvia, a new opioid painkiller that is ten times more potent than fentanyl, it is even more essential that we make sure that patients and parents in the rest of the nation are armed with this life-saving information.

This is the information that people want: More than 80% of Americans believe that more dialogue between patients and their health care providers around the safe use of opioids could help address the opioid crisis, according to a national poll conducted by Morning Consult for the organization, Allied Against Opioid Abuse.

The risks of dependency and addiction from opioid-based pain relievers, and the fact that safer pain relief alternatives often work as well or better, are well-documented and confirmed once again in recent studies. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that about 6 % of almost 15,000 people between 16 and 25 years old who received initial opioid prescriptions from dentists were diagnosed with opioid abuse within a year, while only 0.4% of a control group that didn't receive the opioid-based pain relievers became opioid dependent in the same time period. Additionally, dentists continue to prescribe these opioid pain relievers, despite the fact that over the counter pain relievers, such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen, usually do a better job of relieving pain, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.
As the National Opioid Commission states, "We have an enormous problem that is often not beginning on street corners; it is starting in doctor's offices and hospitals in every state in our nation." Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. More than 50,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2017.

Arming patients and parents with the information they need at the exact time they most need it - at the point of prescription - is a key to curbing the epidemic and preventing more senseless deaths and ruined lives. It is time for Florida to adopt the legislation that does exactly that.

Elaine Pozycki is the Founder of Prevent Opioid Abuse., a national organization working to educate patients and parents about the risks of opioid-based painkillers and the availability of non-opioid alternatives.