Pubdate: Wed, 06 Apr 2005
Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA)
Copyright: 2005 The Times-Picayune
Contact:  http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author: Karen Turni Bazile
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

4 PAIN CLINICS ENOUGH, PARISH SAYS

Moratorium Spurred By Drug Overdoses

Pointing to an alarming number of drug overdoses in recent years, the
St. Bernard Parish Council on Tuesday enacted a six-month moratorium
on new pain management clinics in the parish.

During the moratorium the council will determine how the parish can
revise its zoning laws to make it more difficult for the facilities,
which usually prescribe or dispense painkillers and methadone, to
locate here.

The council's crackdown on pain management clinics -- which began with
an informal ban March 15 -- has been applauded by Sheriff Jack
Stephens and parish Coroner Bryan Bertucci. And at the last council
meeting, the Parish Council heard from people who lost loved ones to
drug-related deaths and sheriff's officials who said the clinics can
prescribe or dispense the types of prescription pain pills that are
often abused.

Other municipalities have followed St. Bernard's lead.

The Slidell City Council imposed an emergency ban last month, and
similar moratoriums are being considered in New Orleans and Kenner,
officials said.

"This is a comprehensive approach that has taken a life of its own,"
said St. Bernard Parish Councilman Craig Taffaro, who is a licensed
substance abuse counselor and who authored the parish ordinance
invoking the moratorium. "We are trying to arrest this problem as
quickly as we can."

Meanwhile, a statewide task force has been formed that includes state
legislators, other elected officials, pharmacy and medical personnel,
as well as representatives from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency,
which is charged with devising a monitoring system or database for
dispensed prescriptions to prevent doctor shopping.

Taffaro said similar monitoring programs have been enacted in Texas
and will soon go online in Mississippi. Until Louisiana has its own
monitoring system in place, it's even more vulnerable, Taffaro said.

"People who are doctor shopping will find their way here," Taffaro
said, referring to the practice of going from doctor to doctor to get
multiple prescriptions for the same alleged ailment.

Stephens said he commended the council's effort to rein in
prescription pain clinics that often may dispense large amounts of
narcotics to patients who in turn abuse them or sell them.

"It's taking an enormous toll on human life," Stephens said
Tuesday.

Bertucci said at least two people died in St. Bernard from
prescription overdoses last month.

In the past week or so, the Sheriff's Office has been involved in
investigating an additional six to eight overdose cases, Stephens
said. There has been at least one death attributed to an overdose.

Statistics show St. Bernard Parish, which has a population of about
66,000, had 36 overdose deaths from prescription drugs in 2004 and 37
in 2003. In St. Tammany, which has a population of about 208,000,
officials have said the number of overdose deaths from prescription
drugs there nearly doubled since 2001, when there were 29, to last
year, when there were 56.

That means, based on 2003 population estimates, the latest available,
St. Bernard had a rate of 54 deaths per 100,000 people, which is twice
as bad as St. Tammany, which had a rate of about 27 deaths per 100,000
people.

In addition to changing zoning laws to make it more difficult for pain
management clinics to locate in St. Bernard, the Sheriff's Office,
which is the parish's sales tax collector, has been asked to audit the
finances of the existing four clinics to investigate whether they can
be shut down because of financial improprieties, Taffaro said.

Officials have said pain management clinics typically provide
prescriptions for painkillers, such as Vicodin and Soma, to patients
who say they suffer from chronic pain. Some clinics also offer their
patients methadone to wean them from painkillers. When patients abuse
the medicines and mix them, they can die.

Although there are legitimate clinics, Taffaro said there should be a
way to force operators to be more responsible about the medicines they
prescribe.

Council Chairman Joey DiFatta said he is proud that St. Bernard is
leading other parishes in tackling the problem, and he said Tuesday's
unanimous vote finalizing the legal moratorium should be a message for
such proprietors: "We don't want you. We want to protect our
community, and we are going to protect our youth."
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