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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories 1-800-Flowers.com strikes deal for Harry & David Former state senator's lodge threatened by fire Farmers market boosts incentives for Oregon Trail shoppers Medford hunter's exotic collection goes on sale Medford seeks volunteers for city boards Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency Services Blaze south of Prospect tops 2,200 acres Fire torches vacant home under renovation Community blog: Volunteerism=Stuart Skeele Emergency Services Politics and Elections Just one seat will be contested for Central Point council Gold Hill mayor faces challenger; other races have one candidate each Medford proposes new rules for pawn shops to help nab thieves Lack of incumbents, pot issue draws 10 for Medford council races Council members in Gold Hill dodge voter recall Education Back-to-school shopping can add up RCC program helps prepare Latinos for college SOU launches leadership degree program Medford charter school opens with many changes, including its name Superintendent welcomes staff to a new school year Environment Medford hunter's exotic collection goes on sale Elusive owls get new home in Cascades Judge won't block release of water Ashland marchers won't give up on climate change message OR-7 could be recollared next month State news Nation - World Obituaries Pearl May Walker James (Jim) Michael Giancarlo Janie Sparks Georgia A. 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DRUG ADDICTION Hydrocodone will be harder to get under new rules By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 25, 2014 @ 2:00 am Updated Aug 25, 2014 at 12:09 PM By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 25, 2014 @ 2:00 am Updated Aug 25, 2014 at 12:09 PM » Social News Hydrocodone combination products such as Vicodin will be slapped with harsher federal restrictions and will be harder to come by for doctors and patients starting Oct. 6, something Jackson County Medical Director Dr. Jim Shames says is long overdue. The Drug Enforcement Administration Friday released its final decision to reassign hydrocodone from a Schedule III drug classification to Schedule II, tightening government regulations regarding the country's most popular prescription opioid and stiffening criminal charges for those caught illegally possessing and selling it. According to the DEA's final rule, the Schedule II stamp means prescriptions will not be refilled for Vicodin and a laundry list of other painkillers and cough suppressants that contain hydrocodone. Instead, patients will be required to visit a physician and receive a new prescription before receiving more medication. Also, doctors will no longer be able to call in their prescriptions by telephone to a pharmacy, where the hydrocodone combo drugs will be kept in a special vault. "There will be some people who will be truly inconvenienced and there will be some people who need to be inconvenienced. In the long term, it's an overdue safety regulation," said Shames. "It will be an additional hardship for anybody who is taking Vicodin on a daily basis, but the chronic use of opiates, taking them everyday because you have pain, it's not a terribly effective — and a fairly dangerous — treatment." The majority of Jackson County's 30-or-so annual overdose deaths are caused by prescriptions, according to the Medford-based Opioid Prescribers Group, headed by Shames and made up of more than 70 health care professionals who are developing better ways to assess addiction risk for patients, treat chronic pain and get treatment for addicted patients. The Center for Disease Control considers prescription drug abuse in the United State an epidemic. More than than 80 percent of the world supply of painkillers is consumed in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control, and prescription drug-related overdoses accounted for about 22,000 deaths nationally in 2010 — that's 60 percent of the total number drug overdose-related deaths reported that year. A recent study from the National Center for Health Statistics shows prescription-drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have surpassed car accidents every year since 2008. Medical officials say current data about opioid painkillers runs counter to the philosophy of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the importance of treating chronic pain with opiates was front and center, and the risk of becoming hooked was viewed as slim. In its final rule, the DEA said "the current analysis of (hydrocodone combination products) by (The United States Department of Health and Human Services) shows they have a high potential for abuse, and abuse may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. ... The DEA has long held that increased heroin use is driven primarily by an increase in the misuse and abuse of prescription opioid drugs, particularly (hydrocodone combination products). "Prescription drug abuse has increased exponentially in the last 15 years and is the nation's fastest growing drug problem. Factors including excessive prescriptions, drug availability through friends and family, Internet trafficking, rogue pain clinics, pharmacies that dispense illegitimate prescriptions, and failed safeguards by wholesalers and manufacturers to guard against diversion have all contributed to the prescription drug abuse problem." Medford pain specialist Dr. Shawn Michael Sills, who struggled with an addiction to painkillers nearly a decade ago, said the reclassification of hydrocodone combos is a good thing. "I am not 100 percent sure it's going to help (stop abuse)," Sills said. "I think it will help to some degree, but I think that too often regulators focus on this sort of thing, trying to control the supply, than to research how to combat addiction or treat it better. ... I think the people who want to abuse it will just find something else." AARP of Oregon spokeswoman Shelley Buckingham said the reclassification creates an unnecessary hardship on some seniors. "I think that the biggest thing is that it's going to create hardship for some people, especially if they live in rural areas or for people who don't drive," she said. "Older people are very concerned about being addicted to these kinds of drugs. There are always some people who are going to have a problem with them, but most people limit themselves as they get older." Shames said the United States needs to reconsider its approach to using opioids for treating chronic pain. "I think the big picture here is that it makes the most commonly prescribed opiate harder to freely prescribe. ... I think it stops and makes everyone think," he said. Reach reporter at Sam Wheeler at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/swhlr. By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 25, 2014 @ 2:00 am Updated Aug 25, 2014 at 12:09 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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