In the last ten years the rate of substance abuse of prescribed pain medication has gone up 400%! This information from a government study was released by the White House who states that prescription drug abuse is now the second-most prevalent form of illicit drug use in the country. We, as physicians, have to admit our role in this. There has been a ton of pressure for us to treat "chronic pain" and that has added to the abuse. We need to discriminate and investigate. I know that Maine has a program that can check every person's narcotic prescription history. I am sure other states have it, too. We need to use our chronic pain specialists as resources as well. This trend of narcotic prescription drug abuse will only get worse if we don't.
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