In the fight against opiate/opioid addiction, a somewhat unlikely tool has emerged—computer databases.
But maybe computer databases aren’t such unlikely tools after all. After all, we use technology to learn, to work, to find dates, to stay connected, and to spend our leisure time. Why shouldn’t we use it for medical reasons?
Statewide drug databases exist in all U.S. states except Missouri, and it looks as opposition to a Missouri state database may be dwindling. Individual Missouri counties had their own databases even when the state lacked one, just as other counties in the United States had similar records.
These databases include lists of prescriptions, information about the doctors who prescribe them, and the patients who are using them. The databases allow state or county authorities to keep track of opiate/opioid drugs in their jurisdiction.
In theory, then, this is a method that tries to keep doctors honest, since it tracks just how many prescriptions they issue. It also tries to keep patients honest, since it monitors the types of drugs they’re using, how much of them they take, and how frequently they receive such prescriptions.
Such monitoring is important. Opiates/opioids are not lightweight drugs. Like other prescription drugs, they could be very addictive. If people take a lot of them on a frequent basis, they could become easily dependent on them and even addicted to them.
This is especially true for opiates/opioids. People who abuse such drugs want to keep feeling high. They want to keep killing their pain, or at least not feel bad, which is how they might feel when they’re NOT using.
These databases aren’t perfect, of course. People are always looking for ways to avoid such monitoring and other ways to cheat. But they’re an important step in determining who’s issuing and using (and abusing) drugs and trying to prevent opiate/opioid abuse in the first place.
