BREAKING: FDA Issues New Demand To Doctors As Epidemic Reaches New Levels
At any given moment, approximately 2 million Americans are addicted to prescription painkillers. This can occur from them being over-prescribed painkillers or using them well beyond the scope of regular use.
Opioid addiction has become enough of an issue in the United States that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken a harder stance on education tied to the use of this class of drugs. Recently the FDA notified drug makers about the need to increase educational programs for doctors and at this point not including education for physicians is no longer optional.
The focus of this new educational component is the immediate release opioids that are currently made by large drug companies in the United States. Although there are many legitimate uses for this class of pain medication, there are also many forms of the drugs that feed the addiction. Deaths from opioid addict take the lives of about 33,000 people each year in this country. The opiate addition is now described as being an epidemic in this country.
To encourage responsible use of painkillers, the FDA is creating a new requirement for education via the drug makers. Although there is not a piece of the new requirement that forces doctors to take part in the educational programming, companies that make drugs like Vicodin will be required to make educational activities available. This combines with the requirements for education that have been in place since 2012 for the makers of long-acting opioids like OxyContin.
“The Food and Drug Administration is requiring manufacturers of the most widely prescribed painkillers to provide extensive training to doctors in an attempt to reduce the number of patients who become addicted, and stem the ongoing opioid crisis.
The agency notified 74 manufacturers of so-called immediate-release opioids this week that their drugs will now be subject to the tougher requirements, although doctors would not be compelled to take part in the training.
The medications, which include Vicodin and Percocet, often combine oxycodone or hydrocodone with less powerful painkillers like acetaminophen. They account for 90 percent of all opioid painkillers prescribed.
Manufacturers of long-acting opioids such as OxyContin, which release their doses over 12 hours or more, have been subject to the requirements since 2012.”
Current numbers show alarming misuse of opioids.
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It seems that this push for education on the part of doctors who write scripts for the often abused set of drugs is a big step towards slowing down the epidemic. During a press conference about the new requirements, there seemed to be little question about how dangerous this class of drug is. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb spoke at great lengths about the “…immediate-release versions a potential gateway to addiction.”
The current stance of the FDA also seems to signal a new focus as far as curbing current addiction rates. The focus is no longer on illegal drugs or street drugs but instead working with both drug makers and doctors to use the drugs for their intended purpose. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, founder of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, has been a long time advocate for opioid reform and controls. As Dr. Kolodny explained to “…have the head of the FDA talk about addiction caused by medical treatment suggests a change in what we hear about opioids.”
At least some of the drugs that are produced legally end up on the street.
While the new educational requirement may help in creating materials that show the dangers of opioids, currently there is no obligation for doctors to participate. Gottlieb hinted that this requirement is something that the steering community may push for in the near future. As Gottlieb shared, the FDA is also discussing “…whether there are circumstances when FDA should require some form of mandatory education for healthcare professionals, and how the agency would pursue such a goal.”
Educational requirements can help correct accidental misuse and doctors who may not fully understand the best practices for short-term use of painkillers. This type of programming does not, however, addresses doctors that in some cases profits from this kind of addiction. There have been a handful of doctors arrested for writing massive amounts of scripts for this class of drug simply to make a profit from their customers’ addiction. In those cases, it seems those doctors are well aware of the dangers associated with addiction.
Filed under: General Problems
Again the government is NOT distinguishing between heroin and our medicine..Again they are using 12 years olds as ,”adults,” to boost their numbers,,,THUS EVERY PIECE OF DATA THEY QUOTE IS A LIE,,,BY LIARS,,,,maryw
To who ever it concerns thank you so much. please feel free to publicly post and use this my story and grief of this horrible malady and the the Hell the now uninformed Public and some of the Media are putting us legitimate Chronic Pain Sufferers through! It is no more than local emotional Abuse ( and border line Domestic Emotional Terrorism )!on a scale with only Biblical proportions!To the Editor and Associates I have taken this opportunity to share my heartbreaking story in hopes these witch hunting Opiate ill informed skeptics will read and understand that we as Millions Of Legitimate Chronic Pain Sufferers would have no life without Medically prescribed Opiates by a physicians care and strictly monitored monthly urine and blood test. Please remember that An Opinion Before A Thorough Investigation Is The Epitome Of Ignorance! And that a little more compassion from the Medical Field and its representatives could have saved my beautiful Stepdaughters life. Let me say this! A person who has a addictive personality will abuse anything that helps them feel better. I have taken Oxycontin for 12 years , I have had 20 major surgery’s in 9 years. I have so much physical pain I can not even get out of bed with out pain meds and when I run out I run out and just lay in bed praying the Lord relieve me of this horrible condition and I pray God you pain med skeptics never go through what I go through everyday of my life when the only thing you have to do is threaten what help I get, Shame on them! There will always be drug abuse and as the so called war on drugs has failed all this will! All you do is stoke and aid the drug pushers business to knew heights in the Black Market of Heroin while trying to deprive folks as me to this horrible movement! My Stepdaughter committed suicide 4 years ago because of being treated like a drug addict by her family and doctors when all along she suffered from Lupus and Fibromyalgia which I believe was brought on by a deadly car crash at 18 , she told me between that which I was being put through and what they were putting her through she was not going to be able to live her life in such a hell brought on by people like the Biased Uniformed Skeptics that are on a witch hunt to out law Opiates and pain meds that give us some sort of a life . As a retired Police officer and worked indirectly close to the DEA, you people do not have a clue how thrilled you are making the illegal opiate trade and think of my Late Stepdaughter as you continue on with this 2017 Version of the ( 1940s Propaganda Film named REEFER MADNESS )movement to outlaw opiates! Just like the slaughter of children at Sandy Hook if there would have just been gun laws , my God they were Gun Laws , the guns that murdered all those 20 children were all registered and owned by a school teacher! You fight Drug Addiction in Elementary education by teaching all children the dangers of Booze and Tobacco which if these witch hunters want for us to know the real truth but they do not. I miss my Stepdaughter so much and some of us will continue on the fight to protect our right to feel better and function without fear of these witch hunters trying to convince us to commit suicide . And they are trying to do exactly THAT and are now being successful in this under the table practice of Human Genocide!
The under line real truth it seems THESE witch hunters would rather us Chronic Pain sufferers commit suicide are and DRINK all the BOOZE we can drink! The Federals legalized it ( ALCOHOL) knowing its a more deadly drug than Strychnine. And just because the DEA has miserably failed with their witch hunt type movement on drugs why do they continuous fully deprive us sick people of our Constitutional Rights to be Happy in that pursuit of with Professional Physicians to take meds that give us relief of this horrible malady of Chronic Pain ! May God have mercy on their miserable souls they that seek to destroy us Chronic Pain Sufferers only and little hope of temporary relief of this horrible sickness.
Sincerely.
Mr.Swanson,,,I have seen ur post and your very sad story before,,,and R.I.P.,,, for your daughter..JMO,,, its far worse for those who are left behind,,,look what has happen’d to all CPP’S since her death,,it has gotten worse,,,I would like too use your comment for a ,”packet,” I am getting ready for a important organization would that be acceptable to u??It is ,”for”,,the use of MEDICINES ,IE OPIATES,, which are a medicine,,when treating medically ill human being with painful medical conditions,,,maryw