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About Us
This program was
begun in the early 80's as a committee of interested individuals
connected to the NC Association of Pharmacists who made themselves
available to pharmacists in trouble with diversion and/or dependence
on drugs.
By 1990 the
caseload had increased to 16 pharmacists who had been assisted with
substance abuse treatment and were being monitored for abstinence. In
1991 NC Pharmacist Recovery Network was incorporated as a non-profit
501c3 corporation and was officially created by an act of the NC
General Assembly. A part-time Executive Director was hired and
monitoring, advocacy, intervention, evaluation, and referral services
were formalized.
The Board of
Pharmacy began financial support of the program and referred an
increasing number of troubled clients. At first these cases were
limited to impairment by drug dependence, but over time have come to
include psychiatric cases, behavioral issues, problems with aging,
etc.
REALITY CHECK:
Many healthcare professionals believe they are immune to such
problems. We now know that about 10% of the general population will
have a problem with drugs (including alcohol) at some time in their
life. Specialists in the field of treating healthcare professionals
estimate that the population of substance abusers in those careers
range from 15% to even as much as 20%.
To date we have
served 200 pharmacists–most of them drug addicted. Many have
diverted drugs, some have lost jobs, families,
homes, licenses, health, self-respect and more.
The Board of
Pharmacy does not discipline those who comply with PRN program.
Growth industry?
New cases have increased 300% since 2003. About 80% of these have a problem with hydrocodone. Next
most common is alcohol, then benzodiazapines, stimulants, barbiturates.
Lesser numbers with illegal and other drugs.
We
provide
evaluation and referral to residential chemical dependency treatment. Clients sign a monitoring contract
providing for random drug testing, a PRN grad mentor,
12-step meeting attendance, weekly counseling sessions for relapse
prevention and more. This is referred to as a family disease and
outcomes are best when families are involved in the entire treatment
process.
The great reward in this work is seeing
families healed and coming back together, and people
regaining health, career, and self respect.
To Pharmacists,
Students and Techs:
You will
see classmates and colleagues developing this problem. Help them by
getting them help or insisting that they do so. Nobody believes they
have this problem, even when things are falling apart. All pharmacists
tell me they can “handle it”. Many are on a certain path leading to
disaster or even death. (90% of untreated addicts/alcoholics die of
their addiction).
