Deaths from prescription painkiller abuse in Iowa continue to rise, but a new report outlines policy recommendations for reversing the trend. The report’s co-author, Carri Casteel, says 38 people from a variety of backgrounds launched the effort earlier this year during a “stakeholder meeting” in Des Moines.
Casteel is an associate professor of occupational and environmental health in the University of Iowa College of Public Health. She says Iowa’s prescription opioid overdose death rate is lower than many other states, but has still quadrupled in the past 20 years.
Recommendations include more education for physicians and pharmacists, making prescription monitoring more effective, and strengthening insurance coverage for substance abuse treatment. The report shows Montgomery, Webster, and Harrison counties have the highest prescription opioid overdose death rates in the state. Casteel will present the report to a legislative committee later this month. That committee will make recommendations to the governor and legislature in November.
