Prescription drugs’ abuse gains new attention in Oklahoma

Widespread prescription drug abuse in Oklahoma has rattled health authorities and blunted many traditional police tools, some officials say.

Medications meant for pain management or behavioral issues are the recreational drugs of choice for a growing number of people, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

But unlike marijuana or methamphetamine, opiate-based painkillers are resold mostly by individual users rather than large-scale drug operations. The hand-to-hand sales are almost impossible to prevent, Woodward said.

"It’s kind of like miniature little operations that are being waged in ERs and in the doctors’ lobbies and in the schools,” Woodward said. "By ourselves, law enforcement cannot do it alone.”

A primary effort in reducing the number of people who abuse prescriptions — estimated at 87,000 in Oklahoma — centers on a statewide database that tracks federally controlled drugs.

The Prescription Monitoring Program lets medical professionals see which restricted drugs clients receive and tailor their regimen accordingly, health officials say. It also keeps tabs on which drugs, and how much of them, doctors prescribe.

Many doctors welcome the program as a positive reaction to the statistics, said Lyle Kelsey, executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision.

The database was formed in response to a 2006 state law and requires pharmacies to upload information on sales of controlled substances.