[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 155 (Monday, October 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6591-S6592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               COMBATING PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE EPIDEMIC

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the 
prescription drug abuse epidemic sweeping my State and the Nation. The 
rampant abuse and trafficking of prescription drugs represents a major 
threat to public health and to law enforcement. In recent years, more 
Ohioans have died from prescription drug overdoses than car accidents--
legal prescription drug overdoses, obtained illegally in many cases.
  In 2008, statistics show oxycodone and other prescription drugs--
namely morphine-based drugs, such as Oxycontin and Percocet--caused 
more overdoses in Ohio that year than heroin and cocaine combined. 
Simply put, prescription drug abuse is one of the

[[Page S6592]]

fastest growing drug problems in the Nation, resulting in ever 
increasing rates of robberies and other attendant crimes.
  Yesterday, I was in the Cleveland suburb of Fairview Park at Ohliger 
Drugs. That store has been a target in the last couple of years. I 
spoke with Tom Ohliger, the fourth generation owner of this drugstore, 
and he described being held up at gunpoint on more than one occasion.
  There is a new report showing drug users and addicts are now 
targeting seniors for help getting pain killers to feed their 
addiction. There is also a rise in the outright theft and stealing of 
these drugs. We are seeing over and over on newscasts and in newspapers 
across the State stories of addicts and criminals targeting pharmacies 
to obtain pain killers and prescription drugs.
  Last month, in Parma--another Cleveland suburb--a man claiming to 
have a weapon made off with more than $14,000 worth of prescription 
pain killers before he was apprehended by the police.
  That is why I worked with Senator Schumer and others on the 
Strengthening and Focusing Enforcement to Deter Organized Stealing and 
Enhance Safety--SAFE DOSES--Act. The bill would use Federal 
antiracketeering laws to arm law enforcement with the tools to stop and 
prosecute pharmaceutical theft and robberies.
  Last year, as we toughened penalties for theft, we also cracked down 
on the fraud and trafficking of prescription drugs. It also, of course, 
dealt with the human side of counseling, in education, to help people 
break that addiction.
  Also last year, I convened a first-of-its-kind roundtable in southern 
Ohio, where the problem has been most acute in my State, with Federal 
and local law enforcement, community activists, elected officials, and 
members of the medical community. They raised a concern with criminal 
manipulation of Ohio's Medicaid Program, which spends upward of $800 
million on prescription medicines.
  While most prescription pain medicines are used as prescribed--after 
surgery, after some kind of accident, often in the case of people with 
intense pain from some kind of acute illness--criminals too often have 
defrauded the Medicaid system and fleeced Ohioans and America's 
taxpayers by acquiring multiple prescriptions and filling them at 
multiple pharmacies. That is why I introduced legislation to require 
all States to establish Medicaid ``lock-in'' programs to crack down on 
the use of Medicaid cards to obtain and illegally sell these 
prescription drugs.
  This bill would prevent drug abusers from acquiring excess legal 
prescription drugs, though they are not doing it legally--which they 
may abuse or illegally resell--by barring them from visiting multiple 
doctors and pharmacies.
  It means high-risk prescription drug users would be placed in the 
program and they would only get Medicaid assistance when they are 
limited to one physician and one pharmacy. States would also identify 
prescription drugs that are dispensed under Medicaid and represent a 
high risk of overutilization. Nearly 20 States have adopted similar 
programs.
  South Carolina's Medicaid lock-in program targeted high-use 
beneficiaries and resulted in a 43-percent decrease in the total number 
of proscribed prescription pain medications.
  Consider Scioto County, on the Ohio River. In this Ohio river town, 
prescription drugs cause 9 of every 10 fatal drug overdoses. In nearly 
two-thirds of those cases, the individuals involved did not have 
prescriptions, indicating they obtained the drugs illegally.
  Recently, the Government Accountability Office audited the Medicaid 
Program in the 5 largest States and found 65,000 cases in which 
Medicaid beneficiaries visited 6 or more doctors and up to 46 different 
pharmacies to acquire prescriptions. This same report found some 1,800 
prescriptions written for dead patients and 1,200 prescriptions 
``written'' by dead physicians. The numbers are staggering.
  In southeast Ohio it has been particularly tragic. Old factory towns 
and rural communities have become havens for prescription drug abuse. 
Across the country, communities are struggling to find ways to respond 
and develop strategies to reduce the diversion and abuse of 
prescription drugs.
  Out of the often sad stories, there are successes. Last month, I was 
in Portsmouth, in Scioto County, which I mentioned earlier, at the 
Second Chance Counseling Center. It has received critical Federal 
resources--not a lot of dollars but critical dollars--for a job 
retraining program for those recovering from abuse. The center is about 
second chances, combating the epidemic with the focus on recovery and 
rehabilitation--helping Ohioans with the resources they need to be the 
productive citizens they want to be.
  This past July I was at the Amethyst Family Treatment Residence in 
Columbus, with the Director of the Office of National Drug Control 
Policy, Gil Kerlikowske. We talked about the administration's 
comprehensive prescription drug strategy and ways FDA can crack down on 
the abuse. The staff at the residence--such as health professionals, 
law enforcement officials, and community activists--described the 
stories of victims and families they represent. I met with many of 
those people who were going through these programs and are getting 
their lives back in order.
  Prescription drug abuse and crime is nonpartisan. It is an issue of 
life and death in too many parts of our Nation, and especially in my 
State. I wish to share three brief letters describing how this is a 
human tragedy above all else. It is a law enforcement issue, it is a 
counseling of substance abuse issue, and it is an education issue, but 
fundamentally it is a human tragedy, with the addiction people have 
experienced coupled with the crime that is often committed and 
compounded with the defrauding of taxpayers.
  Let me read three stories from letters that were sent to me from my 
State. The first is from a rural county, one from sort of a medium-
sized county, and one from a large urban county.
  David from Union County writes:

       Our son David was a college graduate, 42 years old, a 
     father, and a husband for 18 years. He abused prescription 
     drugs because of a motorcycle accident 10 years earlier. He 
     was a 3 year clean drug addict because of all the support he 
     was given by so many caring individuals. He was pursuing his 
     master's degree with a 4.0 average, but in spite of all of 
     this, he passed away last May due to an accidental overdose 
     of oxycotin. We need to protect family members from the 
     heartbreak [and] pain that we are suffering because our son 
     made a bad mistake.

  Amy, from Stark County, the Canton area, writes:

       In our extended family, we have a close family member who 
     has become addicted to prescription drugs. The problem has 
     become so bad for our individual family member that she has 
     sought illegally obtained prescription drugs from dealers 
     from two counties away. I always believed that drug abuse was 
     something committed by rebellious, high-risk teenagers and 
     young adults. But prescription drug abuse is something that 
     can happen with much older adults who would ``know better.''

  And then Tara from Lucas County--the Toledo area.

       Through my previous job as the director of an anti-drug 
     coalition, I personally witnessed many families fall apart 
     because of prescription drug abuse. I will never forget the 
     day I visited my dear friend at the hospital because her 16 
     year old son had overdosed on oxycontin. The average citizen 
     needs to be educated about proper disposal of their drugs, 
     and parents need to be made aware of this issue. Better 
     policing and controls around the transportation and 
     distribution of prescription drugs is definitely a key step; 
     however, we can all raise the importance over educating 
     ourselves, our schools, and our children about how to keep 
     this issue from persisting.

  As I said, it is about law enforcement, it is about drug treatment, 
and it is about education. It is about all these things to end these 
human tragedies that cost taxpayer dollars, that inflict criminal 
activity on innocent pharmacists and others, and that create so much 
tragedy for so many of my State's families and so many American 
families.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.

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