Prescription drug misuse: is technology friend or foe?

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS Prescription drug misuse and related harms have been increasing considerably over the past decade. At the same time, there has also been rapid growth in the use of online and Internet technologies. Thus, it is important that we understand the role online and Internet technologies play in prescription drug misuse. DESIGN AND METHODS Published work addressing the role of technology in prescription drug misuse is explored. Topics include: Internet supply, online monitoring of prescription drug use trends and electronic prescription monitoring. RESULTS Little is known about the prevalence of acquiring prescription drugs from online pharmacies. Prescription drugs are easily accessible through vendor websites, and 'rogue' no-prescription websites have proven difficult to control. There has so far been limited application of real-time monitoring to prevent overuse of prescription medications. Online monitoring of drug use trends may also prove to be a useful and timely source of information about new methods of 'off-label' prescription drug use. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Technology has the potential to play a more prominent role in facilitating drug acquisition, while also enhancing the monitoring and prevention of prescription drug misuse. As technology becomes more ubiquitous in everyday life, the continued investigation of its relationship with prescription drug misuse becomes even more important.

[1]  Alan M. Weiss,et al.  Buying prescription drugs on the internet: promises and pitfalls. , 2006, Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine.

[2]  S. Block.  Vitamin D deficiency is not associated with nonspecific musculoskeletal pain syndromes including fibromyalgia. , 2004, Mayo Clinic proceedings.

[3]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[4]  J. Bostwick,et al.  Taking the physician out of "physician shopping": a case series of clinical problems associated with Internet purchases of medication. , 2004, Mayo Clinic proceedings.

[5]  E. Cone.  Ephemeral profiles of prescription drug and formulation tampering: evolving pseudoscience on the Internet. , 2006, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[6]  Candis Siatkowski,et al.  Knowledge and use of the internet as a source of controlled substances. , 2006, Journal of substance abuse treatment.

[7]  S. Schnoll,et al.  Prescription opioid abuse among enrollees into methadone maintenance treatment. , 2007, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[8]  P. Wax.  Just a click away: recreational drug Web sites on the Internet. , 2002, Pediatrics.

[9]  S. Fishman,et al.  Regulating opioid prescribing through prescription monitoring programs: balancing drug diversion and treatment of pain. , 2004, Pain medicine.

[10]  Fabrizio Schifano,et al.  Internet pharmacies and online prescription drug sales: a cross-sectional study , 2005 .

[11]  John Richard Castronova,et al.  Operation Cyber Chase and Other Agency Efforts to Control Internet Drug Trafficking The “Virtual” Enforcement Initiative Is Virtually Useless , 2006, The Journal of legal medicine.

[12]  Richard L. Beaulaurier,et al.  Internet Surveillance: Content Analysis and Monitoring of Product-specific Internet Prescription Opioid Abuse-related Postings , 2007, The Clinical journal of pain.

[13]  David Bomba,et al.  The feasibility of implementing an electronic prescribing decision support system: a case study of an Australian public hospital. , 2006, Australian health review : a publication of the Australian Hospital Association.

[14]  S. Fishman.  Surgery for leg numbness with back pain, patient controlled analgesia, phantom limb pain. , 2006, Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy.

[15]  K. Middleton,et al.  Overseas‐based online pharmacies: a source of supply for illicit drug users? , 2004, The Medical journal of Australia.

[16]  A. Gijsbers,et al.  E‐drug deals: part of the Wild West world of e‐commerce , 2004, Medical Journal of Australia.

[17]  B. Franklin,et al.  The impact of a closed-loop electronic prescribing and administration system on prescribing errors, administration errors and staff time: a before-and-after study , 2007, Quality and Safety in Health Care.

[18]  Jeff Ward,et al.  Trends in morphine prescriptions, illicit morphine use and associated harms among regular injecting drug users in Australia. , 2006, Drug and alcohol review.

[19]  Nora D Volkow,et al.  Major increases in opioid analgesic abuse in the United States: concerns and strategies. , 2006, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[20]  Kevin G Lynch,et al.  The availability of web sites offering to sell opioid medications without prescriptions. , 2006, The American journal of psychiatry.

[21]  Kate L Lapane,et al.  Roadblock on the health IT superhighway: e-prescribing and the Controlled Substances Act. , 2007, Journal of opioid management.

[22]  Yair Levy,et al.  A Systems Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review in Support of Information Systems Research , 2006, Informing Sci. Int. J. an Emerg. Transdiscipl..

[23]  K. Foley,et al.  College on Problems of Drug Dependence taskforce on prescription opioid non-medical use and abuse: position statement. , 2003, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[24]  Yongli Xi,et al.  Increasing deaths from opioid analgesics in the United States , 2006, Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety.

[25]  M. Bogenschutz.  Drug Information Libraries on the Internet , 2000, Journal of psychoactive drugs.

[26]  J. Klein,et al.  Health information-seeking behaviour in adolescence: the place of the internet. , 2005, Social science & medicine.

[27]  Fabrizio Schifano,et al.  Drugs on the web; the Psychonaut 2002 EU project , 2006, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

[28]  Edward W. Boyer,et al.  Dissemination of Psychoactive Substance Information by Innovative Drug Users , 2007, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[29]  J. Wrobel.  Are we ready for the Better Medication Management System? , 2003, The Medical journal of Australia.

[30]  Fabrizio Schifano,et al.  Importance of Cyberspace for the Assessment of the Drug Abuse Market: Preliminary Results from the Psychonaut 2002 Project , 2003, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

[31]  J Sixsmith,et al.  Ethical Issues in the Documentary Data Analysis of Internet Posts and Archives , 2001, Qualitative health research.

[32]  E. Boyer,et al.  Web sites with misinformation about illicit drugs. , 2001, The New England journal of medicine.

[33]  J H Halpern,et al.  Hallucinogens on the Internet: a vast new source of underground drug information. , 2001, The American journal of psychiatry.

[34]  Fabrizio Schifano,et al.  New trends in the cyber and street market of recreational drugs? The case of 2C-T-7 (‘Blue Mystic’) , 2005, Journal of psychopharmacology.

[35]  Jane Mounteney,et al.  Providing an earlier warning of emerging drug trends: the føre var system , 2004 .