Local Group Seeks Ways to Battle Prescription Drug Abuse
November 13, 2009
Event: Mapping the Addiction Maze – "Exploring the Challenges Around Prescription Drug Misuse: Outlining the Scope of the Problem and Looking for Solutions" Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Time: 8:00 a.m. - 2:15 p.m. Location: Fireside Inn, 25 Airport Road, West Lebanon, N.H. SYNOPSIS Mapping the Addiction Maze began in 2004 as a community collaboration to tackle issues related to addiction. It was designed to bring people from different disciplines together to network, to learn about what's happening in the Upper Valley around specific addiction topics, and to look for synergies and opportunities to work together to improve addiction services. The meeting will start off by providing a snapshot of what’s happening in our region around prescription drug abuse, focusing particularly on opioids. Attendees will next examine data that establish the severity of the prescription misuse problem as well as the motivations for misuse, symptomatology, sources of diverted prescriptions, and treatment options. Experts from a variety of backgrounds will discuss what they are seeing and how their work influences this challenging public health issue. The afternoon panel discussion will focus on steps toward solutions. Panelists will share information on addiction treatment and availability, prescription monitoring programs, and initiatives to reduce prescription drug misuse. They will look at programs that are working elsewhere and discuss what can be done locally to advance solutions in our region. The meeting is sponsored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center’s Community Health Improvement Office, the Dartmouth Center for Addiction Recovery and Education (DCARE), and the DHMC Psychiatry Department. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT: An estimated 48 million people (ages 12 and older) have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons in their lifetimes according the National Institute of Drug Abuse Research Report. This figure represents about 20 percent of the U.S. population. The epidemic of prescription drug misuse crosses all ages and socioeconomic boundaries. Elders are at risk because they are often prescribed long-term and multiple prescriptions for a variety of illnesses which leads to confusion and unintentional overdosing. An estimated one in five older adults is negatively affected by combining alcohol and prescription medications. At the other end of the spectrum, prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medication abuse has penetrated teen culture with youth believing that prescription drugs are safer and less addictive, fun to use and easy to access, according to a 2005 study by Partnership for a Drug Free America. MEETING AGENDA: (subject to change) 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. - Registration 8:30 to 8:35 a.m. - Welcome 8:35 to 9:15 a.m. - Introductions 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. – Prescription Drug Misuse: The Landscape 10:15 TO 10:30 a.m. – SHORT BREAK 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. - The Regional Rx Story – Views And Lessons From The Trenches - brief presentations and discussion Tom Andrew, M.D., NH Chief Medical Examiner: Drug Associated Mortality in NH Robert Bryant, Director of Second Growth: Rx Use by Students and Young Adults Captain Roland Daniels, Lebanon Police Department: On the Trail of Fraud and Illegal Rx Usage A First Person Perspective: Erin Kelbe, Pembroke, NH Michael Schorsch, M.D., Director, Mental Health Alliance, Community-based Addictionologist: Treating Rx Addiction: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly 12 NOON to 12:30 p.m. – Lunch Break 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. – Forging Solutions Together: From Clinics to the Community and Beyond: Moderator: Donald West, M.D. Gilbert Fanciullo, M.D., Section Chief, DHMC Pain Management, American Pain Society’s Opioid Guidelines Co-Chair, Professor of Anesthesiology, Dartmouth Medical School Patricia Lanter, M.D., DHMC Emergency Medicine: Closing a Gateway: ED Screening and Brief Intervention Todd Mandell, M.D.,, Medical Director, VT Office of Drug & Alcohol Programs: Addiction Treatment Systems that are Working in Vermont Philip Bradley, J.D., NH Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Bureau, Concord, NH: Justice Initiatives: Drug Courts, Diversion Programs, Prison Treatment, Summit Cyndi Desrosiers, Director, Allies in Substance Abuse Prevention, Portsmouth, NH: Community Responses to Rx Challenges NH Legislator TBC: Legislative Roles in Rx Drug Misuse 1:45 to 2:15 PM – Panel/Audience Discussion: Solutions Wrap-Up, Seddon Savage, M.D.
Lebanon, NH --
Seddon Savage, MD, Director Dartmouth Center on Addiction, Recovery & Education
Clinical Pain Practices to Reduce Opioid Misuse
Director, Dartmouth Center on Addiction, Recovery and Education (DCARE)
For more information contact
Jason Aldous at (603) 653-1913.
