An estimated 35,000 Utah adults are illegally using prescription pain pills -- fueled by doctors who overprescribe the drugs and friends and family who freely dole them out.
That's according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday.
A 2008 survey of Utah adults found 21 percent had been prescribed an opioid pain medication in the past year, most commonly hydrocodone and oxycodone, the report said.
Three-quarters of them reported having leftover pills, and most of those adults said they kept them.
Meanwhile, 2 percent of adults said they used pain pills without a prescription. That's the equivalent of 35,000 Utahns "engaged in illegal and risky behavior," the report states.
Nearly all of those adults said they got the drugs for free from friends or family, despite it being a felony to share controlled substances.
"Just having it in [the medicine cabinet] is a threat and potential for somebody else to misuse it," said Erin Johnson, an author of the study and manager of the Utah Department of Health's prescription pain medication program.
Despite recent public service announcements telling Utahns to properly dispose of their drugs -- dropping it off at police stations or mixing it with trash like coffee grounds -- the message isn't getting through, she said.
Utah once led the nation with the highest rate of nonmedical use of pain relievers, although it has dropped in recent years. And it is one of the top states for pain-pill associated deaths, with 261 deaths involving prescription pain drugs in 2007.
Half of the people who died had prescriptions within a month of the death. "The other half -- it could be your kitchen cupboard they're getting it from," Johnson said.
The 2008 survey didn't ask adults how many pills they had were left over. Christy Porucznik, a University of Utah public health professor and lead author of the CDC report, said doctors give more than necessary because they want to make sure their patients aren't in pain. And the cost structure encourages it: The co-payment is the same for a three-day supply or a 30-day supply, she said.
The state health department issued guidelines to doctors last year advising they dispense no more than needed. Researchers plan to follow up to see if doctors are following the advice.
Utah appears to be the only state that has extensively surveyed adults about pain pill use.
Of the 1.8 percent of adults who reported using pills not prescribed to them:
Access
97% obtained them from a friend or relative.
85% were given the drugs without charge.
10% took them without the knowledge or permission of owner.
4% bought them.
Reason
72% used it to relieve pain.
15% used "for fun."
4% to relieve anxiety.
Source: "Adult Use of Prescription Opioid Pain Medication -- Utah, 2008," CDC.
For more information on how to dispose of pain pills, go to http://useonlyasdirected.utah.gov
