By STAFF REPORTS

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Overdoses of prescription drugs are a major problem across the Unites States. Now, thanks in part to the work of the Cherokee Nation’s Rogers County and Muskogee County community action coalitions, community groups will be better able to track which drugs are mostly being abused in specific communities.

The two CN coalition groups worked closely with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics to pass a new law requiring emergency care centers and hospitals to report numbers of patients requiring care because of a drug overdose.

House Bill 2529 was signed into law by Gov. Brad Henry and is the first of its kind in the United States. 

The tribe’s Rogers County Community Action Network and the Muskogee County Community Action Network worked with the OBN and local law enforcement agencies to get the law passed. It requires the OBN to compile a yearly report of all fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses across the state, as well as report all deaths and nonfatal overdoses that were the result or probable result of abuse of a controlled dangerous substance. 

The report is to be statistical in nature and patient information will remain confidential and not open to the public.
 


“This is a good example of gadugi, the Cherokee word for working together,” said Dr. B.J. Boyd, CN Behavioral Health Program director. “Our community citizens who are part of this program took an active role in this initiative. When groups work together to formulate plans it makes for a strong foundation for the community.”
 


Because of the law, many community organizations such as school, health care groups, law enforcement and others will better be able to track which drugs, either those by prescription or those purchased illegally, are becoming a dangerous issue for a community and identify the age groups most affected by the drug.
 


“I’m very excited about this law. It is a huge win for us,” said Trisha DeLozier, Rogers County Community Action Network prevention specialist. “This is the type of information prevention groups across the entire country need, but it was not available before.”
 


According to the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, nearly 120,000 Americans a year go to area emergency rooms after overdosing on painkillers. In 2009, a report in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety magazine stated that while in the past most overdoses were due to illegal narcotics, with most deaths in big cities, prescription painkillers have now surpassed heroin and cocaine as the leading cause of fatal overdoses.

The report also states the rate of fatal overdoses is now about as high in rural areas – 7.8 deaths per 100,000 people – as in cities, where the rate is 7.9 deaths per 100,000 people. However, until now, there were no reports on overdoses that were not fatal to an individual.
 


“With this new information, we will be better able to track the drugs that are hurting people the most in a specific community,” DeLozier said.