Massachusetts Medical Society launches website addressing opioid and prescription drug abuse

Waltham, Mass. – June 9 – The Waltham-based Massachusetts Medical Society today announced the launch of Smart Scripts MA as part of a comprehensive effort to reduce prescription drug abuse in the Commonwealth. The website is the cornerstone of the campaign announced last month by the statewide physicians’ group to educate doctors and patients about safe prescribing and the storage and disposal of prescription pain medications.

“There are two groups that perhaps more than any others can help to reduce prescription drug abuse,” said Dennis Dimitri, M.D., President of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “They are the physicians who write the prescriptions, and the patients who take the medicines. This new website reaches out to both groups.”

“By helping physicians ensure that opioids are available only to patients who truly need them,” Dr. Dimitri said, “and by educating patients about the proper storage and disposal of prescription drugs, we believe we can make a big impact on the Commonwealth’s opioid crisis.”

The Medical Society’s campaign consists of three components: (1) guidelines for prescribers, (2) free educational courses for prescribers, and (3) information on storage and disposal of prescription drugs. The new website, www.massmed.org/SmartScriptsMA, establishes all three components in one, easily-accessible location.

Offering a wealth of information for both patients and physicians, Smart Scripts MA focuses on four basic areas: medication storage, medication disposal, prescriber education, and patient information.

The prescriber education section includes the Society’s recently-released Opioid Therapy and Physician Communication Guidelines for physicians. The section also contains links to its continuing medical education courses, offered free to all prescribers until further notice, Dr. Dimitri said, “to remove as many barriers as possible to prescriber education.” Courses include those on managing pain, identifying drug dependence, opioid prescribing, and principles of palliative care. Five courses are currently available, with more to be added later this month.

Recognizing the critical importance of proper storage and disposal of prescription medicines by patients, Smart Scripts MA includes separate sections on medication storage and medication disposal. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 80 percent of people who misuse prescription pain medications are using drugs prescribed to someone else, and the Medical Society believes that patient education must be a key component of any effort to reduce prescription abuse.

Smart Scripts MA also includes content from The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, a nonprofit organization founded in 1987 and dedicated to reducing teen substance abuse and helping families impacted by addiction, and a link to The Medicine Abuse Project, a five-year campaign by The Partnership that aims to prevent half a million teens from abusing medicine by the year 2017.

“Opioid abuse has become a public health crisis affecting every community,” said Dr. Dimitri. “Physicians and patients can make a real difference in reducing the abuse of prescription drugs. We believe our effort can help both groups do just that – make a difference – because people’s lives depend on it.”

The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 25,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society, under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education providing accredited and certified activities across the globe for physicians and other health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.