BRANSON MO NEWS: Opioid abuse-related talks appear to be everywhere. It pops up in advertisements before YouTube videos play, it is at the forefront of many political candidates’ platform and it seems to be an ever-growing issue, especially in the Tri-Lakes Area.We may know at least one person who has or is misusing prescription medications. Maybe it’s a family member who is struggling with their pain medication from an injury or a friend who never tossed their old prescriptions. The Stone and Taney County Substance Abuse Initiative continued its community awareness campaign on opioid abuse during a seminar June 26 at Arrowhead Building Supply, Inc. Sponsored by Hollister Area Chamber of Commerce, the program focused on substance abuse within the workplace.Heather Lyons-Burney, a pharmacist and clinical assistant professor at UMKC School of Pharmacy at Missouri State University, was the main speaker and focused on four topics:
–Education – What is prescription drug misuse?–Identification – How do I know if someone is misusing prescription drugs?–Prevention – What is the impact to businesses?–Action – What workplace tools are available to promote a drug-free work environment?Lyons-Burney said misusing medications can include taking more than prescribed, taking medication for a reason different than prescribed or sharing/taking someone else’s medication.There are several factors that can influence misusing prescription drugs, such as pressures facing youth, a drug-taking culture, easy access and more. According to drugfree.org, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid medications in 2012. That’s “enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills,” Lyons-Burney said. In 2014, almost 2 million Americans abused prescription medications.“Nearly 80 percent of people who inject heroin start by abusing (prescription) drugs,” she said.As far as overdoses, “prescription opioid misuse and abuse resulted in almost 660,000 emergency department visits in 2010, over twice as many as in 2004, …
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