Due to the surge in prescription pill abuse in recent years, government entities, professional interventionists and healthcare providers have pledged to crack down on this habit and provide aid to those who have become addicted to these medications. In the last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has initiated a program to encourage drug manufacturers to invest in abuse-deterrent variants of their products. Meanwhile members from the U.S. House of Representatives have banded together to propose new legislation to further these efforts.
State governments have also taken steps to address this national concern. According to The Los Angeles Times, the Medical Board of California has recently voiced its support for legal measures that "would upgrade the state's prescription drug monitoring system, require coroners to report prescription drug overdose deaths to the board, and give the panel new power to halt a doctor's prescribing in some cases."
The board has come under heavy scrutiny after the news outlet published a harrowing expose revealing the extent of prescription pill abuse in California, and the flagrant law-breaking of certain doctors pharmacists who have profited from the addictions of others. However, members of the board denied allegations that the situation would improve if the state attorney general's office took over the responsibility of investigating such misconduct.
"There's no way the attorney general could take our investigators or hire their own and do what we do," said Reginald Low, a member of the board.
Do you know someone who uses prescription pills recreationally? If so, it is in your power to address their substance abuse before the habit puts their life in jeopardy. At Intervention Services, we can help orchestrate a substance abuse intervention and provide the long-term support your family needs to overcome this addiction.