RATES DECLINING Dispensing Montgomery and Harris counties have seen a steady decline in the opioid prescription dispensing rate since 2010, suggesting health care providers have become more cautious in their opioid prescribing practices, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Opioid Response, a program directing Texans to resources for treatment, opioid disposal, and edu- cation on opioid use disorders and prescriptions. Meanwhile, local municipalities, such as Tomball and Magnolia, are also set to receive funds from a $1.89 billion settlement with drug manufacturers won by the state, while emergency responders have implemented programs to help fight the epidemic. Prescription problems In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies began marketing opioid pain relievers as drugs that were not as addictive as previously thought, accord- ing to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “I think early on in this crisis, the issue was really misuse of prescriptions, and it still is to some extent,” said Ericka Brown, director of Harris County Public Health’s Community Health and Wellness Division, which oversees the countywide Opioid Overdose Prevention Program. “Awareness [of medical pro- viders] of alternatives to opioids for pain control … has really done a great job of mitigating that.” According to NCHS data, 81.2 opioid-based pre- scriptions were administered for every 100 people in Montgomery County in 2010. In Harris County, 69.1 prescriptions were administered for every 100 peo- ple in the same year. By 2020, those rates had fallen to 37.5 and 37.8 prescriptions per 100 residents in each county, respectively. Varisco, who trained as a pharmacist at The Uni- versity of Texas, said unnecessary prescriptions and overprescriptions have yet to be addressed for phar- macy students. “This crisis has exposed cracks in the system and made them a lot more evident,” Varisco said. “We’ve known we have had problems with training pre- scribers and preventing unnecessary prescriptions.” Varisco also highlighted a lack of providers for treatment drugs such as buprenorphine in lower-in- come areas in the state. The SAMHSA’s buprenor- phineprovidermapshowed intheTomball-Magnolia area, there is one approved provider in the Magnolia area and seven providers in Tomball. He also said some barriers for treatment go beyond drug-related issues, such as the lack of accessible public transportation in Texas. “Proximity to care is just not there. Patients are in rural areas, but providers are in the cities,” Varisco said. However, James Campbell, chief of emergency
KEY:
Harris County
Montgomery county
In 2020, there were enough opioid prescriptions dispensed for one-third of residents in both counties.
0 20 40 60 80 100
81.2
82.6
82.7
80.7
75.5
66.5
60.6
55.2
50.6
46.2
69.1
65.4
37.8
63.3
58.2
55.1
48.3
46.2
42.4
42.4
42.5
37.5
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
While Montgomery County saw an 18% decline in opioid-related emergency department visits from 2016 to 2022, Harris County saw an approximate 26.5% increase over that same time frame. OPIOID-RELATED EMERGENCY TRENDS
KEY:
Harris County
Montgomery county
1,290
1,300
250
226 227
1,173
212 211
1,200
1,146
185
200
1,062
1,100
1,020
1,000
150
0
0
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
SOURCES: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS, PROVISIONAL DATA FROM NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
challenged, … we see increased vulnerability in our communities to opioid use and other forms of sub- stance misuse.” Officials charged with addressing the rise of opi- oid-related overdoses have attributed the issue to several factors, including opioid addictions aris- ing from legally prescribed medications, illegal pill manufacturing operations and difficulties obtaining treatment due to COVID-19. To address the opioid crisis, the state has invested over $200 million since 2017 into the Texas Targeted
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In Harris County, the number of drug overdose deaths had similarly risen from 764 in July 2020 to 1,041 in July 2021, according to NCHS data. During that same time frame, drug overdose deaths in Montgomery County increased from 116 to 120. “These are diseases of despair that we’re dealing with,” said Tyler Varisco, a health services researcher with the University of Houston. “When people are economically challenged or psychologically
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