Delaware Prescription Drug Abuse Summit Marks a Turning Point in National Epidemic, CLAAD Says.
Today, a not-for-profit organization presenting at the Delaware Prescription Drug Abuse Summit appealed to the event's host, Attorney General Beau Biden, for assistance in preventing medication overdoses. The Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) asked Biden to work closely with his father, Vice President Joe Biden, to ensure that federal regulators properly implement Obama-Biden Administration drug policies.
During CLAAD's presentation at the summit, Director Michael Barnes warned that pain medications without added safety features could flood back into communities in the coming weeks if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fails to follow the Obama-Biden strategy.
In recent years, the makers of the opioid pain relievers OxyContin and Opana removed their traditional products from the market in favor of new versions designed to impede certain forms of intentional abuse. Preliminary, peer-reviewed evidence indicates that dealers and abusers have less interest in the new drugs with abuse-deterrent features. The new medications cost no more to consumers than their prior formulations.
Several drug companies have asked the FDA for approval to bring the old, more readily abused formulations of the drugs back to the market as early as January 2013.
"The Administration's prescription drug abuse prevention plan provides express support for abuse-deterrent medications," Barnes said.