Massachusetts Senate leaders Tuesday called for passage of legislation designed to toughen existing state regulations for the monitoring of dangerous prescription drugs.
The bill would make it mandatory for all doctors who prescribe controlled substances, including legal painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, to register with the state's prescription monitoring program. Participation in the program is voluntary under a 2010 state law, and officials said only about 1,700 out of 40,000 prescribers in Massachusetts have registered to date.
Data collected under the program can be used by doctors to screen patients to determine if they have a history of prescription drug abuse and can also be used by public health agencies and law enforcement to investigate potential fraud.
Massachusetts has one of the highest rates of narcotic abuse in the country, particularly among users of opiates such as OxyContin and heroin.
A report released by a special commission in 2009 found there were 3,265 opiate-related deaths in the state from 2002-2007, and more than 23,000 hospitalizations in 2006 alone. The taxpayer cost for health care, courts, prisons and social services was in the billions, the report said.
Half of all heroin and opiate-related admissions to detox centers were people under 30, and one-third were under the age of 24, according to the report.
"It has a devastating effects on individuals and families of every socio-economic background, and has a significant impact on public safety," said Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, who scheduled debate on the bill for Thursday.
She said the 2010 law was a good first step, but did not go far enough.
The measure would intially target the 30 percent of prescribers in the state who combined are responsible for 90 percent of prescriptions for controlled substances. They would be required to register for the monitoring program immediately, with the remainder of doctors phased in over the next three years.
Failure to register could result in the non-renewal of a prescribing license.
The bill also seeks to increase access to treatment and requires hospitals and pharmacies to report any loss or theft of the drugs to local police, along with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
In addition, the measure would require that all doctors use "tamper-proof" prescription pads — now required under federal law for Medicare and Medicaid patients — when writing prescriptions for controlled substances. Pharmacies would also have to include an informational pamphlet on the dangers of painkiller abuse with each prescription filled, and make available lockboxes in which patients can store drugs out of the reach of children.
"The studies show that the first exposure to children, in particular, to these pills are from their own home or the home of a friend," said Sen. John Keenan, D-Quincy, the principal author of the legislation.
Keenan said backers of the bill are not naive enough to believe that it will solve the problem of prescription drug abuse, but consider it an important first step that may also help prevent so-called "doctor-shopping" by addicts.
Joanne Peterson, head of Learn to Cope, a nonprofit support group for families of people addicted to heroin, OxyContin and other drugs, said the scourge has affected young people from every kind of socio-economic background.
"I've never really counted or surveyed, but almost every parent who comes to our meetings say their children were honor students or athletes. Many of them are now dead unfortunately," she said.
Peterson, who founded the organization after a family member became addicted but later recovered, noted that the term "RX generation" has been used to describe a youth culture where many children abuse prescription drugs even before they try marijuana or alcohol.
Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said the growing use of these drugs has led to a corresponding increase in crime.
"We see more breaking and enterings, more assaults, more violent crimes, drug-related arrests, people ripping each other off," said Morrissey. "It's just a very difficult time and much of it is traced back to opiate abuse.
