Massachusetts Medical Society Forms Task Force On Opioid Abuse

Thursday, February 19, 2015

GoLocalWorcester Health Team

President of the Massachusetts Medical Society Richard S. Pieters, M.D. announced the formation of an opioid task force after the February 19 meeting on opioid abuse held by Governor Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey. He released the following statement:

“That the state’s top elected official and top law enforcement officer have put opioid abuse at the forefront of their agendas is good news, and physicians are ready to assist in these efforts. We are pleased to have been invited to this meeting and have a representative in attendance.

We have reached out to both the Governor and to the Attorney General to offer our assistance on this issue. Their responses have been encouraging and we look forward to working with them on this issue.

The Massachusetts Medical Society has been engaged for some time in public information efforts to both physicians and patients about prescription drug abuse and what both can do to reduce the abuse. We will continue those efforts.

Additionally, the Massachusetts Medical Society has formed a task force to examine ways to address prescription drug abuse and to improve communications among prescribers at all levels who treat the same patient.

We applaud the state’s data analysis work, as we have long advocated for improvements to the state’s prescription monitoring program – including the inclusion of real-time data – to inhibit “doctor shopping.” We still need more data, however, to differentiate between overdoses caused by street drugs like heroin and those caused by prescription drug abuse.

Further, we need to recognize that more than three out of four people who abuse prescription drugs use drugs prescribed to someone else, as the Centers for Disease Control points out. Proper storage and disposal of prescription medications by those who are prescribed the drugs is a critical step to curbing prescription drug abuse.”