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St. Louis County Executive Welcomes Ste. Genevieve County to PDMP
St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger has announced Ste. Genevieve County, has signed a user agreement to join the County’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) database.
“Heroin is a deadly epidemic in our region and throughout the state,” St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger said. “Many users begin with prescription drugs. I commend Ste. Genevieve for partnering with us to combat to the rapidly growing opioid and heroin abuse in our state.”
A prescription drug monitoring program creates an electronic database on opioid and other controlled substance prescriptions dispensed within a given jurisdiction. PDMPs help prevent an individual from receiving multiple prescriptions for the same opioids or controlled substances, making it more difficult for these drugs to be abused.
“We are very pleased to join St Louis County in this collaboration,” Ste Genevieve County Presiding Commissioner Garry Nelson said. “We feel this program will benefit our county, and we strongly encourage other counties to join this effort to address the issue of prescription drug abuse in the community. This program will be most effective if everyone participates.”
Just two weeks ago, Jackson County also signed its user agreement at a ceremony at the St. Louis County Department of Public Health. St. Charles County and the City of St. Louis will also be participating.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, four out of five heroin users moved to heroin after using prescription drugs. Over the past seven years, more than 2,700 St. Louis area residents have died from a heroin or opioid-related overdose.
The Missouri legislature has considered PDMP legislation for the last 12 years, but has failed to pass it. Missouri is the only state in the country without a PDMP. Because of this failure, St. Louis County enacted legislation creating a county-wide PDMP in March of 2016.
