UAMS researchers get grant to study opioid dispensing

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded two University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences research scientists a three-year, $538,781 grant to study the prescription and dispensation of opioid drugs, the university said Monday.

Opioids include pain-relieving medications such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine and codeine.

Researchers Geoff Curran and Bradley Martin are studying decision-making processes in prescribing and dispensing the drugs by conducting 120 face-to-face interviews of pharmacists and physicians in four states. Their $538,781 grant is part of a $1.32 million grant for the multistate study that aims to help address the problems sometimes associated with opioid prescriptions and dependency, the university said.

“The crux of what we are studying is the evaluation of legitimate pain management versus the misuse and abuse potential,” Martin said. “It’s how primary care providers from physicians to nurse practitioners walk the line between pain management so as to not be part of a cycle of abuse and diversion.”

Prescription opioid use disorders “are the fastest growing form of drug abuse and the most common cause of accidental drug overdose in the United States,” the university said, a problem the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has labeled an “epidemic.”

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