This month, the Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners has sent letters to its 2,725 members, recommending that they record the following information on each prescription provided to owners to treat their animals: By creating stricter standards for the way pet prescriptions are written, filled, and entered into the NJPMP, the database will become a more valuable tool for veterinarians and other prescribers to identify signs of possible medical diversion by pet owners. The new standards are the result of a collaborative effort among the NJPMP, the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy, and the Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners to create uniformity in the reporting of prescription information for animals. “The new standards make it easier to track CDS prescribed for animals to better identify behaviors that indicate someone is seeking the drugs for any purpose other than the treatment of a pet’s existing medical condition.” “There appears to be a rising trend in people using their pets, sometimes even deliberately injuring their pets, to obtain these restricted pain medications for themselves,” said Sharon Joyce, Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs.
Among these drugs are Xanax and Valium, tranquilizers commonly prescribed to humans and also used to treat separation anxiety and thunderstorm phobias in dogs hydrocodone, a potent opioid used to relieve pain and suppress coughs in pets and people and tramadol, a powerful painkiller often prescribed for humans and animals with arthritis or other debilitating ailments. Veterinarians are exempt from this requirement.Īnd while veterinarians typically don’t dispense the types of pain medications most often blamed for starting a generation of heroin users down the path to addiction -such as fentanyl and Ox圜ontin – they do prescribe other drugs commonly abused by people suffering from opioid addictions. New Jersey law requires prescribers to review a patient’s prescription history prior to dispensing certain highly-addictive controlled dangerous substances (“CDS”), including opioid pain relievers. The NJPMP is a centralized data sharing system for prescribers and pharmacists in New Jersey and partner states to track prescription sales of narcotic painkillers and other drugs that often lead to deadly heroin addictions.
“We’re asking veterinarians and pharmacists to help us close that gap and stop addictive pain medications from flowing through veterinarians onto the streets.” “More and more people are taking advantage of a gap in our law that makes it easier to obtain opioids and other controlled dangerous substances from a veterinarian than from their own physicians,” said Attorney General Porrino.
#NJ PMP NJ AWARE PROFESSIONAL#
The new guidelines, created by the professional boards that oversee veterinarians and pharmacists, recommend including owner information as well as pet names on prescriptions to better track the sales on the New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program (“NJPMP.”) The initiative comes in response to reports that a growing number of addicts nationwide are abusing medications meant for their pets, including highly-addictive opioid painkillers like tramadol and oxycodone, which are commonly prescribed to humans and animals alike. Porrino and the Division of Consumer Affairs today announced stricter guidelines for veterinary prescriptions to help prevent individuals from using pets to obtain pain medications to feed their own drug habits. NEWARK – Opening a new front in New Jersey’s fight against opioid addiction, Attorney General Christopher S. New Jersey Attorney General and Division of Consumer Affairs Announce Stricter Guidelines for Veterinary Prescriptions to Prevent Pet Pain Medications from Being Used to Feed Opioid Addictions
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