A new report by the Maryland-based drug testing lab Ameritox concluded that a significant proportion of its patients have issues with their prescription drug regimens. Ameritox’s National Drug Report was based on the compliance testing of 400,000 patients undertaken by the testing lab in 2012. The study concluded that 39.3 percent of those patients had a positive test result for other drugs not prescribed by their physician, and 11.6 percent tested positive for an illicit drug other than the one they were prescribed. In the latter category, 78 percent of patients tested positive for marijuana, 16.7 percent for cocaine, and 4.6 percent for heroin. Another 32.2 percent of samples indicated that the drug being prescribed was not ingested by the intended patient. The use of opioid painkillers has increased in the U.S. in recent years, along with the consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accidental drug overdoses kill more than 41,000 Americans a year – more than the number who perish in automobile accidents. Such deaths have more than doubled between 1999 and 2012, according to CDC data. A significant black market exists for opioid painkillers, prompting some patients to sell their pills. And the […]
A new report by the Maryland-based drug testing lab Ameritox concluded that a significant proportion of its patients have issues with their prescription drug regimens.
Ameritox's National Drug Report was based on the compliance testing of 400,000 patients undertaken by the testing lab in 2012.
The study concluded that 39.3 percent of those patients had a positive test result for other drugs not prescribed by their physician, and 11.6 percent tested positive for an illicit drug other than the one they were prescribed. In the latter category, 78 percent of patients tested positive for marijuana, 16.7 percent for cocaine, and 4.6 percent for heroin.
Another 32.2 percent of samples indicated that the drug being prescribed was not ingested by the intended patient.
The use of opioid painkillers has increased in the U.S. in recent years, along with the consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accidental drug overdoses kill more than 41,000 Americans a year - more than the number who perish in automobile accidents. Such deaths have more than doubled between 1999 and 2012, according to CDC data.
A significant black market exists for opioid painkillers, prompting some patients to sell their pills. And the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in four states (Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Colorado) and the District of Columbia, along with the loosening of criminal penalties for its possession in many other states, may be encouraging more widespread use.
According to a drug testing survey of the U.S. workforce conducted by New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics, positive tests for marijuana increased 6.2 percent between 2013 and 2012, but by more than 20 percent in states where the drug is approved for recreational use.
"Treating pain is a major challenge in our society, and so is the potential for misuse of prescription medications and the abuse of illicit drugs," said Ameritox Chief Executive Officer Scott Walton. "We need a concerted, dynamic approach - one that uses monitoring and additional insights at the clinical level - to address this problem."
Takeaway: Opioid drug compliance testing continues to turn up the presence of other illicit substances in many patients.
