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DrugScreening.org


 
Senate Holds Hearing on Prescription-Drug Misuse
August 8, 2003

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News Summary

The U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held a field meeting in Bangor, Maine, to discuss the problem of prescription-drug misuse and drug overdoses, the Portland Press Herald reported Aug. 7.

"I am startled at how pervasive the problem is in Maine and the phenomenal increases in overdoses, to the point where deaths from legal drugs have exceeded deaths from illegal drugs," said U.S Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), co-chair of the committee. "People mistakenly view prescription drugs as less dangerous and less deadly and causing fewer problems than illegal drugs."

State officials and local police told the committee that addressing the problem would require increased drug enforcement and a computer tracking system that would prevent drug users from scamming doctors and pharmacists.

According to a report from the state medical examiner's office, accidental overdose deaths in Maine increased from 19 in 1997 to 126 in 2002. Prescription drugs were linked to 62 percent of the accidental deaths.

The committee held the hearing in Maine to determine what steps the federal government needs to take to combat the state's problem.

Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood said federal laws should be tightened because they currently allow people in recovery to take home a month's worth of methadone. As a result, the drug can be passed on to users without prescriptions.

"The result of this current 'drive-through-window' approach to methadone is that the drug is being diverted, misused, and causing people to die at alarming rates," he said.

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