Tagged: prescription pill abuse

Pressure is building on Kentucky lawmakers to refine "pill mill" legislation.

Since it was enacted last year some physicians, pharmacists and other health care providers have complained its provisions are overly cumbersome. But Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy Director Van Ingram says almost two-thirds of abusers don't get medications from doctors. He says they often steal medications from homes.

Still, Ingram believes the state's crackdown on prescription drug abuse through the pill mill law is working. He says it's prompted almost all pain clinics in the Commonwealth to shut down, leaving only eight now applying to meet the new regulatory process.

Kentucky has made inroads in its fight against illegal drug abuse, and the momentum against drug pushers has gained steam thanks to a new law aimed at reversing a trend in which the state became a "prescription drug playground," Gov. Steve Beshear said Monday night.

A leading advocate of Kentucky's new prescription pill law says he's ready to listen to doctors who want to change it. Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway has made fighting prescription pill abuse one of his top priorities. Earlier this year, he was a leading supporter of House Bill 1, which requires most doctors to use the KASPER pill tracking system.

Two women who each lost a daughter to prescription drug abuse are becoming the faces of a billboard campaign alerting Kentuckians to the dangers of improperly popping pills. Karen Shay said Thursday she joined in the campaign in hopes of sparing others from her heartbreak.