http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/prescribing/guideline.html

If you’re like me, you might have watched the Super Bowl more for the ads and the halftime show than the actual game. Ad spots sell for millions of dollars, and it’s normal to see big name-brand companies like Coca-Cola and Budweiser spend the money. Besides “Puppymonkeybaby”, this year one commercial in particular really stuck out to me. Remember the one for the opioid induced constipation drug? If the drug company is willing to pay millions to showcase that ad on one of the most watched events on television, it must be a big market for them.

That doesn’t seem like it’s getting to the root of the problem at all, developing drugs that now treat side effects of other drugs. In the news lately I’ve also seen overdose antidote drugs like Narcan and Naloxone, which can save lives, but may be more of a bandage put on top of a much bigger problem. They may reverse the effects but I don’t know if they do much to necessarily slow or stop the growth of opioid dependence. Big drugstores have recently announced they are going to carry these drugs without a prescription in many states, and will likely start to add more states as the problem persists. Not that having an antidote available is a bad thing, but it may not do much for victims who could continue to use opioids thinking that now they have a second-chance if anything goes wrong, and if they keep using and overdose again they can just use an antidote.

From 2000 to 2014, opioid overdose deaths increased by 200 percent and opioid prescription rates have increased by 300 percent since 1999. Although prescription rates have increased dramatically, there has not been a corresponding increase in the amount of pain people report. As we’ve seen from the Super Bowl ad, it is a big pharmaceutical market and unfortunately shows no signs of slowing down.

Solving big and complicated problems is rarely easy, but continuing to mask the issue with other drugs does not seem like a sustainable solution. Prevention could do more to slow this trend and one way it could start is in the physician’s office. Doctors, as well as patients, need to be educated on the risks of opioid use and maybe find other ways to treat the pain that don’t involve opioids. Patients who are in pain are probably going to follow the doctor’s advice and not ask too many questions, I know I would. If they are given a bottle of pills they are probably going to take it, but if the doctor discusses risks and alternatives with them, they may be more likely to look at other therapies. Patients who do end up taking these drugs need to take them just how they are told to by their doctor to reduce their risk of dependency. Prescribing physicians could also follow-up more frequently with their patients, to see how they are doing on these drugs and to see if the dosage could be reduced for their patients as time goes on. They can also utilize a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to identify at risk patients.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides even more information on prescription drug overdoses and possible prevention tactics.