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Preventing Misuse of Prescription Drugs

 Physicians and pharmacists should join hands with the authorities and do their best to identify, prevent and control misuse of controlled substances. They should also abide by the governing regulations.


The controlled substances are controlled for good reason – they have a potentially high risk of leading to addiction, overdose complications and even death. This is why the federal and state authorities have instituted a string of laws for the scheduled drugs.


To start with, DEA controlled substance licenses are mandatory for issuing these drugs. This subjects the licensed medical professionals to varied rules and regulations to ensure the utmost safe and secure use at all times. Additionally, the DEA, CDC and other agencies publish guidelines on a regular basis, institute prescription drug monitoring programs and launch other initiatives to prevent and identify prescription drug misuse as far as possible.

The onus is also on the clinicians and pharmacists to prevent and control non-medical use of prescription drugs. Following are some of the measures that they can take:

  • Physicians should be more cautious and responsible when prescribing the controlled substances.
  • Patients should be advised to follow the directions of use and not change the dosing regimen without consulting the doctor.
  • They should make it a point to ask about all the medications that a patient is taking and watch out for warning signs of abuse or overdose.
  • Clinicians can even incorporate evidence-based screening tools for non-medical use of prescription drugs into the routine medical visits.
  • They should pay careful attention to rapid increases in the amount of medication needed or frequent, unscheduled refill requests.
  • Medical professionals should be particularly wary of ‘doctor shopping’, wherein abusers and diverters visit different providers so as to obtain multiple prescriptions for the scheduled drugs.
  • Pharmacists, on their part, should keep an eye out for prescription falsifications and alterations which are more common than they can expect. In fact, they can go a step ahead and alert other pharmacies in the region when they suspect a fraudulent prescription.
  • They are also in the prime position to recognize problematic patterns in prescription drug abuse.
  • The pharmacists should also make it a point to explain the instructions for taking the medications to the patients along with warning them about the dangerous effects of abusing the same. They should also be made privy to the possibility of theft and other abuse of the controlled substances.
  • They should further educate the patients about not giving their prescriptions or the medications to others apart from the safe conditions for storing these drugs.


Finally, safety has to be both within and without. The DEA registrants are required to abide by all the rules and regulations governing the controlled substances. This begins with the controlled substance license registration and culminates in proper disposal of the expired/unused drugs as required by the law. There is a whole gamut of records, documentation, storage, security and more in between.

Having a professional compliance service provider on hand will ensure peace of mind and safety at all times!

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