Wisconsin Presription Drug Monitoring Program comes to La Crosse
Local police and health providers learn to avoid prescription drug abuse
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — La Crosse County’s Heroin Task Force is teaming up with the county’s prevention network to cut down on prescription drug abuse.
They put on the Wisconsin Prescription Drug Monitoring Program in La Crosse Wednesday.
The program is a chance for health providers and police to learn how to prevent prescription drug abuse in the area. It’s an evidence-based program that hopes to decrease the number of prescription drug related deaths in Wisconsin. It also hopes to prevent what is commonly known as “doctor shopping”.
“Someone might go from one physician to another and jump to another, and it could be from one city to another. The prescription drug monitoring program will inform the prescriber whether they’ve received medication and how much from another physician,” said La Crosse County Health Department Health Educator Al Bliss.
In 2010 there were enough prescription painkillers prescribed to medicate every adult around the clock for one month.
