Substance Abuse in WV - West Virginia State Medical Association

Scientific Article | Special IssueFigure 2.2010 legislation successfully passed with the support and/or recommendation of theCSAB.along with community specialists,physicians, and pharmacy doctoralstudents will provide the educationalcomponent of this project. Successof the project will be evaluatedby a patient survey assessment.A third project is the developmentof best practices for disposal ofprescription drugs for the state. Thiswill include a plan for a prescription“take-back” process for drug disposalas well as guidelines for publiceducation on medicine cabinetcleanout and the appropriate disposalof “left-over” or unused medication.state, county, and local audiences. Wehave created a 30 hour dental reviewcourse for the WV Board of DentalExaminers on pain management andprescribing that is being consideredfor national distribution, as well as aneight hour law enforcement trainingcourse for law enforcement officersat all levels on how to identify anddeal with prescription drug abuse,diversion and addiction. We arealso planning to conduct continuingeducation programs for physiciansand other professionals, which willinclude guidelines on waste disposal,tools to minimize drug diversion,and education on how to maintainoptimal medical board compliancefor prescribing controlled substances.Current data initiatives of theCSAB include tracking DEA/ARCOS (Automation of Reportsand Consolidated Orders System)statistics and trends, various statecontrolled substance monitoringreports, drug task force statisticsand trends, recovery networkstatistics, hospital discharge data,WV Poison Center data and MedicalExaminer data. The goal of thiseffort is integration of multipledatabases into one system so thatdata is collated, integrated, anddisseminated in a way that allowsfor optimization of state and localfunds used for prevention, detection,education, and prosecution ofprescription drug diversion andalcohol / substance abuse.Current Projects of the CSABThe CSAB is currently comparingdata from the West VirginiaBoard of Pharmacy’s ControlledSubstance Monitoring Programdatabase with data from the WestVirginia Poison Control Center toevaluate methadone prescribingtrends and deaths over the pastfive years. Data from these twodatabases will be combinedwith other state data to developrecommendations concerningmethadone education, prescribing,utilization and potential legislation.Another project the CSAB iscurrently studying is a pilot projectfor prescription drug educationin areas of high opiate abuse. Wehave secured $22,800 of fundingfor a 5-county pilot project fromthe PPAF (Purdue Pharma AssetForfeiture fund), and will conductthe project in Mingo, Wayne, Lincoln,Cabell, and Logan counties. Thisproject will cover drug disposal andsharing of prescription medications.Dr. Michael O’Neil, Pharm.D.,ConclusionThe West Virginia ControlledSubstance Advisory Board wascreated to fill a void in the approachto substance abuse and diversion inWest Virginia. The CSAB strives tobring together professionals in alldisciplines involved with the issueof controlled substance abuse anddiversion, including law enforcement,education, health care, licensingboards, social services, epidemiology,and government, in order to discussthe issues involved and to promoteappreciation and awareness of eachdiscipline’s unique perspective onthis issue. The CSAB also provideseducation for law enforcement,medical professionals, and thepublic on issues related to controlledsubstance abuse and diversion.Finally, the CSAB is developingan integrated data collectionsystem which includes collection,integration and dissemination ofdata to allow optimization of stateand local funds used for prevention,detection, education, and prosecutionof prescription drug diversion andsubstance abuse. Each of thesefunctions is essential in order forWest Virginia to deal effectively withthe issues involved in controlledsubstance abuse and diversion.24 West Virginia Medical Journal