Treating, tracking addiction increase

By William K. Alcorn

alcorn@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Meridian Community Care’s program for treatment of opiate addiction had 85 people enrolled in it five years ago.

Now there are 400.

Lawrence J. Moliterno, president and chief executive officer, said that spike in treatment indicates Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties have not escaped the prescription drug-abuse onslaught that has enveloped Ohio and the nation.

Beyond the health impact, drug addiction affects the community in increased crime rates as addicts steal to feed their habit, local officials say.

Niles Police Detective Dan Adkins, who has worked narcotics for seven years, maintained the “majority of our crimes have some connection to the drug world.”

Boardman Police Chief Jack Nichols said an exact number of crimes linked directly to drugs is difficult to determine, but he said a large percentage of the township’s street crime — burglaries, robberies, retail thefts, even some white- collar crimes — are fueled by drug addictions.

Sgt. Michael Hughes, supervisor of the township police department’s narcotics team, said prescription-drug abuse is “absolutely rising,” but the top drug problem is with heroin and cocaine.

He agrees many robberies, thefts and burglaries are committed to fund addiction.

“We see a lot of people who start out with addiction to pain medicines who move on to heroin and cocaine because the street drugs are cheaper and easier to get, and you don’t have to worry about getting prescriptions from a doctor,” Hughes said.

Michael S. Senchak, executive director of the Mahoning County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, urged every household to check for medicines in their homes. People don’t realize they may be housing some of Ohio’s most commonly misused and abused drugs, he said.

“It may seem wasteful to dispose of costly medications, but proper disposal of unneeded or old medications is one way to prevent the misuse of drugs among family and friends,” Senchak said.

State and local officials are trying to address such abuse.

Meridian seeks to work corroboratively with primary-care physicians and pharmacists to make sure pain drugs are used properly.

From a treatment perspective, Doug Wentz of Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic said his agency revamped its treatment protocols because its clients changed from older people addicted to alcohol and street drugs to 18- to 25-year-olds, the age group most directly affected by prescription-drug abuse.

Senchak added that local agencies — including MCADAS, Neil Kennedy, Meridian, Youngstown State University and the Youngstown Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program — received a $455,489, three-year planning grant to develop a prevention and education plan aimed at reducing alcohol and drug abuse, which will focus on young adults age 18 to 25.

An effort among local agencies, the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services and the governor’s office seeks to develop a structure for a Community Opiate Task Force, he said.

At the national level, President Obama’s new drug-abuse prevention plan, “Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis,” has four focus areas:

Education of prescribers, patients and parents.

Prescription-drug monitoring programs in every state

Safe and environmentally responsible disposal of prescription drugs

Law enforcement.

Pharmacists also are involved in combating drug abuse.

Barry Shick, chief pharmacy officer for Humility of Mary Health Partners, said pharmacists use a computer system of checks and balances that alert them to possible drug-abuse problems.

Some individuals who try to abuse the health-care system and/or avoid the pharmacists’ computer checks and balances use multiple names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers or skip from physician to physician or pharmacy to pharmacy.

To counteract some of the abuse strategies, the Ohio Pharmacy Board developed the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System into which pharmacies download prescription drug data periodically, Shick said.

The system is another tool that can help physicians, pharmacists and law enforcement personnel review an individual’s prescription history when a drug-related problem is suspected, he said.

The problem with OARRS, however, is that it is not mandatory, Senchak said.

“People are dying out there on the streets because they really don’t know the strengths of these drugs,” Shick said. “People hear of parties or raid the medicine cabinet and have no idea of the potential harm or danger that can exist.”

There is on-the-job training, too. Each pharmacist develops ways of dealing with clients, Shick said.

“Pharmacists have a right to not fill a prescription if we suspect there is a drug problem or a diversion problem; and we have a legal duty to notify state Board of Pharmacy,” Shick added.

“We have to get to the root of the problem. The solution is strong prevention programs that can help kids make positive, right choices. We have to break the chain of drug use,” Moliterno said.

“I’d love to see this entire community stand up so we can get back some sense of normalcy,” he said.