Williamsburg Demand Treatment! Leadership Addresses Impact of Prescription Drug Abuse November 15, 2002
Communities in Action Martha Wilson, a nurse practitioner at Olde Towne Medical Center and member of the Williamsburg Demand Treatment! leadership team, was one of seven experts who spoke to dozens of health care professionals at a forum sponsored by the Historic Triangle Substance Abuse Coalition, the Williamsburg, Va., partnership's lead agency. The group addressed the misuse of prescription drugs across the nation, the Virginia Gazette reported on November 9. According to the most recent statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there were approximately 4 million Americans in 1999 who used painkillers for non-medical reasons. In the 1980s, fewer than 400,000 people were reported as misusing prescriptions.
"I would say that 95% of us in this room have misused drugs," Wilson said. "If you have ever had some leftover Vicodin that you were prescribed for surgery and the next time you had a headache, you took it, that is the first innocent step toward the continuum."
Often people get hooked following surgery or a bout with insomnia, mild depression or treatment for obesity, said Wilson. She tries to educate her patients about the dangers of long-term prescription drug use, and urged her fellow professionals to be on the lookout for signs.
"Screen the people for drug use, ask them questions, look for past use in their history," Wilson said. "Notice how many times they are calling for a refill for pain medication, set a boundary on how much you will prescribe."
Wilson, who has treated hundreds of people having abuse issues, has drawn a conclusion that has helped her become more effective in helping patients. "Drug abuse is a chronic illness," she said. "I am treating it as a chronic illness."
