PO - Reduce Access to Opioids for Misuse
Return to Reduce Access to Opioids
Go to Possible Measures
Examples of a Description for this Objective
The focus of this Objective is to reduce the ease of people getting opioids for non-medical use. If a community wants to reduce the devastation and death due to opioid addiction, access to opioids needs to be reduced at several levels:
- Reduce easy access to free opioid pills that can be used for pain (in a non-prescribed manner), or for self-medication or for recreation. This reduces the number of people starting down the path to developing an Opioid Use Disorder.
- Make it more difficult for people to buy opioid pills that they were not prescribed (but were diverted from legitimate prescriptions). It has been seen many times that this can lead to more people switching to heroin and fentanyl to avoid withdrawal or in search of the high, but reducing the illegal sale of diverted prescription drugs is an important part of a comprehensive strategy that also takes strong steps to help people choose treatment or other help rather than making the switch to heroin and/or fentanyl.
- Minimize availability of fake prescription drugs. One of the most dangerous forms of opioids are fake prescription drugs that are often laced with fentanyl. It takes a focused strategy to address this particular source of illegal opioids.
- Reduce access to heroin and/or illegal synthetic opioids. This is an important part of addressing the overall problem, because if it is more difficult to get heroin or synthetic opioids, some people may choose to stop misusing opioids and get other help. Or, for the approximately 20% of heroin users who don't start with prescription drugs but rather shift to heroin through a path of other forms of substance abuse, this extraordinarily addictive option will be less available.
Examples of a From-To Gap
| Current State | Desired State |
| Many people are still able to get opioid pills from friends and relatives either for free or by buying them. | When a person seeks to get pain medications from a friend or relative, that person no longer has unused medications available, so giving them (or even selling them) is not an option. Also, the person who is approached by a friend or relative seeking to get pain pills takes steps that help the seeker better deal with their pain, access help for trauma or mental health issues, and better understand the risks of using opioids in ways that are not under careful medical guidance. |
| Many people, especially seniors, keep extra medications after they are no longer needed, and they are not safely stored. As a result, they can be easily stolen, or the person is susceptible to being persuaded to give them to a friend or relative who seems to be in desparate pain. | People, especially seniors, understand the risks of harming others by either giving (or selling) them prescription medications, so they quickly and safely dispose of medications they are not appropriately using. They also make sure that the medications that they do use are safely stored. If someone seeking to get pills tries to make the case about how much they need the pain medication, the person being asked is able to help the seeker get more appropriate help for pain or other underlying issues. |
