Our Opinion: Study quantifies link between painkillers and abuse

News Tribune editorial

A new study helps trace the origins of prescription drug abuse, which has been linked to the added problem of increased heroin use and overdoses.

In this forum on July 21, we referenced an Associated Press story about a Centers for Disease Control study that found: "About 75 percent of new heroin users first became hooked on prescription opiates, a class of morphine-like drugs that includes Oxycontin and Vicodin before turning to heroin."

A story in the News Tribune's Health section Tuesday elaborates on the origins of prescription drug abuse. The story is based on a Mayo Clinic study that found 21 percent of patients prescribed an opiate painkiller for the first time progressed to long-term prescriptions.

Researchers also found: "People with histories of tobacco use and substance abuse were likeliest to use opioid painkillers long-term."

Dr. W. Michael Hooten, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic, said: "From a patient perspective, it is important to recognize the potential risks associated with these medications. I encourage the use of alternative methods to manage pain, including non-opioid analgesics or other non-medication approaches. That reduces or even eliminates the risk of the medications transitioning to another problem that was never intended."

Hooten explained the neurobiology related to chronic pain, chronic opioid use and addiction is similar, and he advised physicians to be particularly careful about prescribing opioid painkillers to patients who use nicotine or abuse other addictive substances.

"Many people will suggest it (the misuse of prescription drugs) is a national epidemic," Hooten said. "Many people now are experiencing fatal overdoses related to opioid use than compared to heroin and cocaine combined."

Prescription painkillers are necessary to ease patients' comfort and mobility in relation to certain maladies and surgeries.

But the misuse of legal drugs and use of illegal drugs has become a national epidemic.

If 21 percent of patients who are prescribed opioid painkillers abuse them or transition to illegal drugs, that's an alarming toll.

Drug addiction is ruining lives and killing people.

Lawmakers must approve an overdue prescription drug monitoring program, and physicians and patients must work together to construct a healthy lifestyle, not a path to addiction.