We have recognized that our opioid overdose problem has become a prominent problem in our country and in the State of Pennsylvania.
Often prescription drugs are abused in these overdoses. In December 2018 Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Governor Tom Wolfe announced the new Pennsylvania Drug Monitoring Program. It is an on-line tool that will allow residents to report suspicious activity about prescription drugs.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro states that, “This new reporting tool, which is available online to everyone, allows people to anonymously give our office detailed information about suspected diversion so we are better able to arrest and prosecute the criminals who are poisoning our communities for their own profit.”
The suspicious activity report form is fully integrated into the Commonwealth’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Tool (PDMP) and can also be accessed by anyone at www.attorneygeneral.gov/Rx.
Not only can medical professionals use this tool to identify suspicious prescription drug activity, but any Pennsylvanian can access and use the reporting tool.
Governor Wolf stated, “I’m proud that more than 90,000 PDMP users are conducting more than 1.6 million searches each month to ensure controlled substances such as opioids are being responsibility prescribed and dispensed.”
With such epidemic incidences of prescription overdoses and deaths in Pennsylvania this is one way for us all to raise awareness to possible abuses of controlled substances and abate the abuse of prescription drugs. It is unfortunate that we need such a tool, but it is an attempt of our state government to mitigate the abuse of prescription drugs.
We are working diligently in Pennsylvania to deal with this significant problem. We are also purposefully raising awareness and providing programs that will help identify the underlying reasons for opioid abuse and prevent some of the extreme exploitation of these drugs. This is an overwhelming task, but this tool is one more opportunity to diminish life-dominating and devastating drug addiction and abuse.
Gerry Vassar, President/CEO
Source: President/CEO https://patch.com/pennsylvania/lansdale/s/gkwwn/state-unveils-new-prescription-drug-reporting-tool?utm_term=article-slot-4&utm_source=newsletter-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
