A new federal bill announced in Syracuse Monday could help limit the amount of opiate painkillers that get prescribed…and then get abused. One local family knows all too well the pain of painkiller abuse.
The tragedy of the Socci family of Auburn started when their 29-year-old daughter broke up with a boyfriend over his addiction to painkillers.
“Katie was murdered in her own home by this man," said John Socci. "That’s the power or opiates. The man who killed my daughter had been on Suboxone for several years. You see this epidemic has no boundaries.”
The sorrow had only begun for John Socci and his family with that 2011 murder. Two years later the family was rocked again by the overdose death of son Chris at age 25.
“Chris’ ordeal had started years earlier, probably with marijuana but eventually with prescription drugs," said Socci. "Chris was not your typical junkie. Chris was a vibrant, healthy, busy, loving person". The medical examiner came to me that it was her belief that night was the first time he had ever injected heroin.”
The Socci’s know better than most the problem of painkiller addictions. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Bill would require the CDC to develop guidelines to limit prescriptions that don’t exist now.
“So as a result every year we have thousands of men and women going in for routine treatments that don’t require more than a small dose of medication, but they’re leaving with far more medication than they need," said Gillibrand. "And then they become addicted or they give the medication to family or friend who misuses the medication and another life is destroyed. When someone gets a wisdom tooth out or breaks their wrist and they only ned medication for three days, then why are they sent home from the doctor’s office with a 30-day supply.”
The democrat reached out to republican Congressmember John Katko …who’s seeing people trying to trick the system to get painkillers.
“…going to emergency rooms or trolling different doctor’s networks to try and get more prescriptions,"Katko said. "Doctors have to treat their patient and treat their pain, but they also have to be on guard because these drugs are highly abused. This bill that (Gillibrand) came up with is a great idea. Give them the guidelines and give them structure and give then something to work with and I think it’s going to help them a lot.”
Katko points out the painkiller and related heroin problem requires politicians to work across the aisle. Deaths due to opioids have jumped almost 3,000 percent in a decade. Gillibrand and Katko say the CDC could actually set the painkiller guidelines for shorter prescriptions on their own…even if a bill is not passed by Congress.
The Preventing Overprescribing for Pain Act would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue guidelines for the safe prescribing of opioids for the treatment of acute pain. The CDC recently finalized guidelines for opioids prescribed to treat chronic pain. However, many individuals become addicted to opioids after taking prescriptions for acute pain. Acute pain includes pain following a broken bone, wisdom tooth extraction, or other surgeries, whereas chronic pain is long-term pain that can last weeks, months, or years.
