Company To Serve as Nonprofit’s Liaison to Medication Monitoring and Drug Testing Industry
May 15, 2012 – Washington, DC
The not-for-profit Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) has named San Diego-based Millennium Laboratories Inc. the organization’s exclusive representative of the medication monitoring and drug testing industry. Millennium joins a diverse coalition of health care providers, law enforcement, parents, teachers, community organizations, and businesses working together to prevent prescription drug abuse while optimizing patient care. News release.
April 13, 2012
At the National Rx Drug Abuse Summit this week, executives from multinational and domestic health care companies met to discuss their efforts to develop market-based solutions to the U.S. prescription drug epidemic. The private-sector meeting took place as federal officials called for industry to develop safer medications and government to be more attentive to the nation’s fastest growing drug problem. News release.
March 22, 2012
A Florida judge recently declared that he will suspend defendants’ drivers’ licenses if he finds that the individuals are using oxycodone -- unless they produce a letter from their prescriber stating that they are capable of driving safely.[1] This approach could put health care practitioners at greater risk for liability. To address the complex policy issues related to drug-impaired driving, CLAAD will co-host a national dialogue on April 12, 2012, as part of the National Rx Drug Abuse Summit. Full story.
March 22, 2012
Market-based solutions are essential elements of any viable prescription drug abuse prevention plan. On Wednesday, April 11, 2012, CLAAD will host a policy meeting with commercial entities to discuss their role in preventing prescription drug abuse. The meeting will be a first step toward greater resource-sharing and collaboration among multiple stakeholders. Full story.
January 17, 2012
Today, a national coalition dedicated to reducing prescription drug abuse recognized Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorneys David Walgren and Deborah Brazil for their excellence in the prosecution of Dr. Conrad Murray. A jury unanimously found Murray guilty last November of involuntary manslaughter for causing the 2009 death of pop star Michael Jackson. News Release.
November 10, 2011
A national alliance of families, medical professionals, law enforcement, and drug abuse prevention advocates has urged the public to turn off their TVs this Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern Time. The call for action comes in response to MSNBC’s plan to air a documentary featuring the doctor found guilty for the homicide death of Michael Jackson. News Release.
September 10, 2011
The trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor will expose systematic failures of the US health care system. A bill currently before Congress could help improve patient care and prevent overdoses of controlled substances. Full editorial.
September 9, 2011
When it comes to research on promising new classes of pain therapies, the agency must weigh its understandable caution regarding safety concerns against the unmet needs of millions of patients suffering with pain. Full editorial.
May 27, 2011
CLAAD highlights a recent study that indicates only a small percentage (8%) of patients are screened by their doctor before and while taking a prescription for opioid pain relievers. News release.
May 7, 2011
In a television interview broadcast to more than 220 million households in more than 100 countries, a CLAAD spokesperson called for insurance companies to “take steps that will prevent people from being able to obtain insurance benefits to go ‘doctor shopping’”. News release. Video.
April 20, 2011
San Diego’s LaDona Harvey asks whether ONDCP’s National Prescription Drug Abuse Action Plan adequately preserves patient access to medications.
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February 27, 2011
CLAAD board member Andrea G. Barthwell, M.D., discusses the need to preserve public funding for addiction treatment programs on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends. Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois, recently proposed cutting $208 million in state funding for addiction treatment. Responding to public outrage, Quinn’s budget office now says addiction programs will be cut only $100 million. Deeper cuts are still likely to take effect this summer. CLAAD on Fox News. Full story on Illinois budget cuts.
December 31, 2010
WTVN's Bob Conners discusses why so many Americans have a problem with prescription drug abuse (Columbus, OH).
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December 31, 2010
Labor Radio’s Ed "Flash" Ferenc discusses CLAAD’s priorities for preventing prescription drug abuse while ensuring adequate patient care.
November 7, 2010
Bob Salter On WFAN 660 AM in New York discusses prescription medication addiction and abuse.
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September 25, 2010
Members of the Ohio Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force are clear about the report they will submit to the state next week -- it's not legislation. Read more (PDF).
September 23, 2010
WVLK News Talk 590’s Jack Pattie discusses the results of the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
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September 17, 2010
Dave Lucas discusses the need for pharmaceutical companies to take greater responsibility for the abuse of their products on News Talk with Bruce DePuyt (DC-MD-VA).
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September 16, 2010
WBOY TV’s Susan Sullivan reports on CLAAD’s national strategy to prevent prescription drug abuse (WV). Full Story.
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September 09, 2010 - Parents and teachers need to know the warning signs of prescription drug abuse as students from elementary schools to universities go back to school this month. But they are not the only ones who must take action to address prescription drug abuse, according to a national alliance of families, medical professionals, law enforcement, and drug abuse prevention advocates. Read more (PDF).
August 24, 2010 - As celebrity tragedies involving prescription medications continue to make headlines, a national alliance of families, medical professionals, law enforcement, and drug abuse prevention advocates today released a national strategy to counter the disturbing rise in prescription drug abuse. Read more (PDF).
March 24, 2010 - The Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) on March 24 called for improvements in drug labeling to enable prescribers to learn about new medications introducing impediments to abuse. CLAAD asked Congress and the FDA to implement a more descriptive labeling convention that would summarize abuse liability data from laboratory and human studies. CLAAD Letter to Congress on Labeling of Medications Introducing Impediments to Abuse.
October 27, 2009 - The Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) and the National Family Partnership (NFP) sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing from 4 to 5 p.m. on October 27 to inform Congress and the public of innovative technologies to prevent prescription drug abuse. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (RI-01); Rep. Mary Bono-Mack (CA-45); Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01); Rep. John Sullivan (OK-01); and the Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus served as the briefing’s Congressional sponsors.
The briefing coincided with National Lock Your Meds Day, an annual NFP event designed to raise awareness of the increasing number of young people experimenting with prescription drugs and to encourage parents to secure their medications.
The expert briefing panel recommended greater public education, more comprehensive approaches to pain management, and better education of health care providers as some of the most important components to impeding prescription drug abuse.
Peggy Sapp, president of the National Family Partnership, urged, “we need to keep putting information out there until people say, ‘oh, I can do that.’” Todd Brown, vice chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Northeastern University, highlighted the necessity of removing unused and expired medicines from homes. “There needs to be a wide-ranging medication disposal system,” said Brown. “People hoard medicine and have no way of disposing it.”
Pointing out a deficiency in prescription drug abuse prevention efforts, Dr. Alex Cahana, chief of the University of Washington Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, asserted that “the problem is that pain management is not a bona fide specialty.” Cahana supports establishing pain management as a specialty with a board recognized by the American Medical Association and the American Board of Medical Specialties.
As an example of pain care improvements, Cahana pointed to his own pain clinic that uses phenotyping to predict pain occurrences in individuals. “Our reports crystallize the problem,” said Cahana, “so you don’t have to ask, ‘how are you doing?’ You can jump right in.”
Dr. Andrea Barthwell, CLAAD advisor and former deputy drug czar under George W. Bush, advocated the development and use of novel formulations of pain medicine, such as non-opioids and abuse-deterrent opioids, but cautioned that “the pharmaceutical field needs guidance from the FDA.” Barthwell highlighted the importance of ensuring that medications designed to resist intentional abuse can be comprehensively labeled and marketed.
Brown noted the need for improvements to state prescription drug monitoring programs. “From the pharmacy perspective, they [pharmacists] put information in and never get anything out of it,” Brown said, underscoring the exasperation that results from the inefficient information sharing of prescription monitoring systems.
In the question and answer segment of the briefing, Barthwell distilled the point that all four panel members made. “You have to make drug abuse a priority without hindering patient care,” said Barthwell. “But, you will never have a perfect system. It is a problem that is always going to require a multifaceted solution.”
