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Community Leaders Target Prescription Abuse in Montana

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: Nov 17, 2009 at 5:39 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 17, 2009 at 6:37 PM MST

Over the past five years, Montana's focus when it comes to drug abuse has been on the Meth problem. But now that focus is shifting toward a problem that leaders are calling an invisible epidemic.

Prescription drug abuse has become a problem statewide. But local leaders say people may be surprised about where the drugs are coming from and who is supplying them. That was the topic up for discussion Tuesday at a Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention and Awareness Summit in Helena.

There is a new drug dealer in town, and it may not be who you expect.
Starla Blank, Chair of the Montana Pharmacy Association says, ""It's friends, family, physicians, legitimate sources."

Prescription drug abuse has become a major problem in Montana and now local leaders are trying to come up with a solution. For years, we have heard about the meth problem, but local doctors and law enforcement say the real problem can be found right in your bathroom cabinet.

Mark Long, the Narcotics Bureau Chief for the Division of Criminal Investigation says, "This is a homegrown problem. These pills are coming from sources in the state."

Drug abusers are resorting to desperate measures to get their fix. Long notes, "We do see a lot of thefts and burglaries. A lot of daytime theft. In some of the rural parts of the state, we're seeing a lot of drug seekers that knock on doors. If nobody is home they try the door and walk in and head straight for the medicine cabinet."

Those at today's Summit say say most underestimate the risk that is involved with abusing prescription drugs. Blank says, "They're perceived to be safer. They're perceived to be more legitimate and they're easier to obtain and they're less expensive."

But in reality, the drugs are killing off Montanans one by one. In fact, nearly half of state criminal cases involve prescription drugs. Blank notes, "Even at the height of the meth epidemic in 2003 and 2004, more people in Montana were dying from prescription drugs."

Local leaders say it is time to find a balanced solution. They say we need to fight the problem, while also allowing people to get the care they need. One possible solution is the Electronic Prescription Monitoring Program. It would create a database for every patient's prescriptions and it would stop people from visiting multiple physicians to treat the same condition. Right now, Montana is only one of 8 states that has not implemented this program.

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