As part of an effort to reduce opioid abuse in Montana, Jefferson County’s Abuse Prevention Specialist Barb Reiter has distributed 1000 “deterra bags” across the county. The bags degrade and deactivate medications, making them safe for household trash. They contain activated carbon that, when mixed with warm water, renders the pharmaceutical compounds inert, says the Chemical Dependency Bureau of the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Pharmacies, prescribers, health departments, law enforcement and schools all across Montana are receiving the bags provided through an Opioid State Targeted Response grant. According to the DPHHS, prescription drug overdoses took the lives of more than 360 Montanans from 2011 to 2013. Between 2000 and 2015, nearly 700 deaths in Montana were attributed to prescription opioid poisoning. At a rate of 4.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 2014-15, the level of opioid-related deaths in Montana was lower than the national rate of 5.1, according to a report by the Office of Epidemiology and Scientific Support.
National reports have credited over-prescription of pain killers for easing access to opioids. Those addicted to opioids have a wide range of methods to obtain the drugs, including “doctor shopping” or “pharmacy shopping” or lifting the drugs from medicine cabinets of the homes of relatives or friends. According to an NBC News report, the rise in opioid abuse is also creating a resurgence in meth usage in Montana.
