NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has a plan to quell prescription drug abuse, which has become a scourge across the state.
The Tennessean (https://tnne.ws/Sk6I4b) reports Haslam intends to announce details of the seven-point plan on Tuesday. The state estimates that nearly 70,000 residents have serious addictions to controlled substances.
Addiction experts say they fear drug users will just turn to heroin, which has been making a comeback across the nation.
Dr. Terry Alley with Cumberland Heights said addicts will need access to effective treatment for the state strategy to work.
“Generally, someone will go in with chronic pain and start with a prescription drug,” Alley said. “As tolerance develops, they need more and more. They can’t get enough and they will switch over to heroin because it is cheaper and more available. That is a typical pattern that we see.”
State officials declined to give specifics of the plan before Tuesday, but a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services said a key component is treatment.
“While we are very cognizant of the heroin problem, the increasing heroin use and abuse issue that we are seeing, this report is really focusing on prescription drugs,” said department spokesman Michael Rabkin.
The plan follows other efforts to address the problem, including new laws and more disciplinary actions against doctors who overprescribe.
“We are taking this opportunity to look at everything that we have been doing and put it all under one umbrella, really,” Rabkin said.
Several administration officials will join the governor for the announcement, including Commissioner of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services E. Douglas Varney, Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner, Commissioner of Safety and Homeland Security Bill Gibbons, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn and Davidson Criminal Court Judge Seth W. Norman.
“We’ve come up with seven comprehensive and coordinated goals involving the entire state and a variety of different state departments to really tackle this issue moving forward,” Rabkin said.
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Information from: The Tennessean, https://www.tennessean.com
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