once every six months before prescribing opioid painkillers or benzodiazepine tranquilizers. That helps them spot abusers who are obtaining overlapping prescriptions from other doctors. Meanwhile, extensive coverage of prescription drug abuse and more aggressive education programs aimed at health professionals and patients have heightened awareness of the overdose crisis. In addition, tougher enforcement actions, including highly publicized criminal prosecutions of overprescribing physicians and shutdowns of high-volume “pill-mill” clinics, might be causing doctors to exercise more caution. “Probably the biggest impact is just more physicians becoming aware that this is a big issue,” said Lyle Kelsey, executive director of the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision. “I think it’s really starting to settle out into two categories – those (doctors) that play the game and want to rack up a bunch of money and get out ... and those that are trying to take all of the knowledge and say, ‘How can we do this right?’” Kelsey said. “Ten, 15 years ago, everybody was pushing the idea that you couldn’t get hooked on opiates, and you could just prescribe them,” Kelsey said. “Now, it’s kind of like standing in front of a locomotive and trying to slow it down.” Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that produces in-depth and investigative content on a range of public-policy issues facing the state. For more Oklahoma Watch content, go to oklahomawatch.org.
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