Stillwater Living Magazine Volume 10 Issue 12 June 2014 | Page 8

living well

Oklahoma’s Real
Drug Threat
A STATE OF THE STATE REGARDING OKLAHOMA’S DRUG THREATS
BY MARK WOODWARD,
P U B L I C I N F O R M A T I O N A N D E D U C AT I O N O F F I C E R
FOR THE OKL AHOMA BURE AU OF NARCOTC S

I have been with the Oklahoma
Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) for nearly
20 years. During that time, the most
common question I get asked is,
“What is the biggest drug problem
in Oklahoma?” Most people would
think methamphetamine, or maybe
prescription drugs. Those are good
answers. However, our biggest drug
threat is actually our attitude about
drugs. Not just in Oklahoma, but
across the United States attitudes
about drugs have changed drastically over the past two decades. Our
country has shifted from a “war on
drugs” attitude to a “this is my life,
my body, I should have the right to
do what I want with it” attitude.
This attitude shift gained momentum in 1996 when California
passed Proposition 215 to legalize “medical” marijuana. Dozens
of other states have followed suit
over the past several years, including some states which have out-right
legalized marijuana for recreational use. This well-funded movement
has helped sway opinions on marijuana at a time when we should be
doing more to stop drug abuse. It
sends a message to kids or uninformed adults that marijuana is a
harmless plant which has medical
value when smoked. Research shows
just the opposite. Marijuana contin8

ues to grow in strength, with THC
(the psycho-active ingredient which
causes intoxication) reaching historic potency levels. While there are
chemicals in marijuana that may
help some patients, these chemicals are already available in pills
and liquids. Most physicians never
prescribe these medications because
there are safer, stronger, more effective treatments available. But public
opinion about marijuana continues to
move in favor of legalization and decriminalization which will ultimately lead to greater abuse. The three
most commonly abused substances
are tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs. These products are legal,
taxed and regulated. Legalization
doesn’t help the problem. It opens a
flood gates for greater abuse.
In Oklahoma, prescription drug
abuse is currently our biggest specific drug problem. It is an epidemic, with nearly 400,000 Oklahomans
admitting they’ve used prescription
drugs for non-medicinal purposes.
Oklahoma is first in the nation in
prescription pain killer abuse, and
fifth in opiate medication deaths, according to the Centers for Disease
Control in 2013. Approximately
eighty-percent of Oklahoma drugrelated deaths involve at least one
prescription drug in the autopsy toxi-

JUNE 2014 | STILLWATER LIVING MAGAZINE

cology report. Many of these deaths
involved people going to multiple
physicians to seek drugs to feed an
addiction, also known as “Doctor
Shopping”. The Oklahoma Bureau
of Narcotics (OBN) urges physicians
to utilize our agency’s Prescription
Monitoring Program (PMP) to run a
patient’s prescription history prior
to prescribing to ensure the patient
isn’t already visiting other facilities
to get medication without the doctor’s knowledge. Oklahomans are
also stealing medication from home
medicine cabinets, so it is important
people safeguard or lock up their
medication, or safely dispose old, unwanted medication because addicts
or teenagers frequently take these
drugs and trade or sell them on the
streets or in schools. OBN has placed
more than 150 drug disposal boxes
in police and sheriff lobbies across
the state. Oklahomans can find a