Prescription Pain Relievers Not Part of Doctors’ Rx for Women, People of Color
A national alliance of families, the pharmaceutical industry, patients, consumer groups, and drug abuse prevention advocates released a national strategy proposal to counter the medical mistreatment of women and people of color who suffer from chronic or acute pain.
“Women and people of color are too often denied the benefits of prescription pain relievers, despite evidence that effective pain management leads to swifter recovery times,” said Andrea Barthwell, M.D., chief executive officer of HRDI, the Human Resources Development Institute, one of the nation’s leading African American behavior health and human services organizations. “Making these medications more uniformly available must be combined with actions to limit their misuse and abuse.”
HRDI’s 2009 National Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy, co-written with CLAAD, the Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence, puts forward a number of broad-based policy recommendations to address the challenge of keeping prescription medications available while preventing their abuse, including:
- Improved medical education and implementation of evidence-based practices for prescribing pain relievers.
- Advanced research into abuse-deterrent opioid formulations, non-opioid pain relievers, and improved dispensing methods.
- Enhanced training for medical professionals to raise awareness of gender and racial inequities in treatment.
“Prescription drug abuse is a rising threat to public health,” said Michael Barnes, executive director of CLAAD. “Efforts to increase patient access to prescription pain relievers, when combined with actions to ensure appropriate use, safe storage, and responsible disposal, will benefit individuals as well as the public at large.”
Recent reports note that prescription drug abuse surpasses the public abuse of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. The number of teens abusing prescription drugs for the first time surpasses the number of new teenage marijuana users.
HRDI and CLAAD are joining with other organizations in calling on multiple sectors of society, including the federal government and states, to do their part to reduce the disparities in medical care that persist in the U.S.
Source: Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence