SHREVEPORT, La. — According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Louisiana is one of six states in the southwest part of the country that has a higher than average rate of opioid prescriptions. Caddo Parish has the highest opioid prescription rate in Louisiana, more than three times the national average.
Opioids are prescribed primarily for pain. While they work well to control pain, they are also dangerous. Opioids are addictive.
Louise Bryde
Louise Bryde, of Stroudwater Associates, says one in four people on longterm prescribed opioids are addicted to the drug. Three out of four people who have used heroin first misused a prescription opioid.
“Because of the potential for the individual to develop dependency by nature of the way that medicine chemically interacts in the brain, anyone who is prescribed an opioid for pain is at risk of developing opioid dependency, opioid addiction, and potentially then is at risk of overdose and death,” Bryde said.
While it would seem that medical specialists like orthopedic doctors or pain management clinics would be the ones mostly writing the prescriptions, Bryde said it is actually the primary care doctors.
“Primary care providers, family doctors, and family medicine clinics account for nearly half of all opioid prescriptions in the United States, again, according to CDC data,” said Bryde. “So that’s your direct link. So, anyone who receives an opioid prescription is at risk of very negative consequences. And family doctors prescribe nearly half of the opioid prescriptions that are that are dispensed.”
The CDC is gathering feedback from doctors and patients with chronic pain, in order to update its opioid prescription guidance. A bulk of the new guidance deals with alternatives to prescribing opioid medications.
