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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 9, 2001

American Geriatrics Society
Contact: Pamela W. Ingham
(312) 565-1234, ext. 4115
pingham@americangeriatrics.org

Chicago, IL…The war on drugs has an unintended consequence-millions of dying patients cannot get access to pain relieving drugs because doctors and pharmacists are seriously constrained by regulatory barriers designed to prevent drug abuse. The problem is even worse in non-white communities where one study showed only 25 percent of pharmacies maintain stocks of commonly prescribed pain relievers.

An AGS panel chaired by Bruce A. Ferrell, MD, argued today at the AGS 2001 Annual Scientific Meeting that these problems, and publicity about street abuse of pain relievers such as oxycontin, discourage patients and their families from accepting these prescriptions even when they're desperately needed.

Diane Meier, MD, noted that aged or dying patients fear addiction instead of concentrating on the more serious problem of alleviation of pain and discomfort. "They're scared away by the media reports on abuse, but the media should be focusing on the problem of denial of pain relief, which impacts many thousands more people."

The panel also noted that physicians must use special costly triplicate prescription pads to meet Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regulations in almost all states including California and New York, and pharmacists would rather not stock the drugs for fear of running afoul of DEA regulations.

Sean Morrison, MD, Director of Palliative Care Research at Mount Sinai's Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute, also cited a study that showed the impact is more pronounced for non-white patients. The study found that only 25 percent of pharmacies in predominantly non-white neighborhoods in New York City (those in which less than 40 percent of residents were white) had adequate supplies of medications commonly prescribed for severe pain, compared with 72 percent of pharmacies in predominantly white neighborhoods (those in which 80 to 100 percent of residents were white). The study was conducted after Dr. Morrison and his colleagues found that Black and Hispanic patients with serious life threatening diseases could not fill their prescriptions.

Other barriers to filling prescriptions included lack of health care coverage for these prescriptions for Medicare patients and a $15 a month limitation on filling Medicaid patient prescriptions.

Bruce Ferrell is associate professor of medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine. Diane Meier is Director of the Palliative Care Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Professor of Geriatrics and Internal Medicine, and Sean Morrison is Director of Palliative Care Research at Mount Sinai's Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute.