New legislation targets recreational use of prescription pills

When a parent first discovers that their child is abusing prescription pills, they may find themselves asking whether they played a role in their son or daughter’s habit. Had they overlooked the telltale signs? Were they too careless with their medications? But, as the disconcerting rise in the recreational use of these substances demonstrates, this issue extends beyond any particular household.

The severity of this issue has not gone unnoticed by government officials on the state or federal level. As we have covered in the past, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has backed research into abuse-repellant alternatives to opioids. In addition, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have recently introduced a bill that would impose bans on specific medications that are widely misused across the country.

According to ABC News,  the measure – known as the Stop the Tampering of Prescription Pills Act (STOPP) – is intended to target drugs that can be “easily abused”  in that they can be crushed, melted down and otherwise manipulated to facilitate snorting, injecting and other methods of abuse.

Representative Bill Keating, a Democrat from Massachusetts, noted that the issue of drug abuse has gone overlooked for too long, in part because of widespread prejudice and misconception.

“If this were the swine flu or any other kind of disease, this would be making headlines all over the country […] but because of the stigma that is often attached to [substance abuse], it is not,” he told the national news outlet.

Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken some steps to address this issue, legislators say that it has not been enough. For example, the source points out that the agency recently approved the production of a generic version of the painkiller Oxycontin that does not include any “anti-tampering” elements. The politicians behind the bill expressed the hope that it could be passed before this medication hits the market.

If your loved one has developed an addiction to prescription pills, contact Intervention Services for help. Our professional interventionists can address this issue head on and provide the guidance and support your family needs at this time.

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