Porter Township Trustee Bob Walton Jr., is hoping the momentum from two recent prescription drug abuse town hall meetings will carry over into the new year, and it all begins with a petition.

“The petition is to the Governor requesting his assistance,” Walton said. “There’s three parts to that petition. The reason the first part asks for his (Gov. Ted Strickland) assistance with the (State) Medical Board and the (State) Pharmacy Board is that there are some things going on that really need to be fully investigated. We really need their help.”

Walton said he was happy to see representatives from the State Medical Board at the last town hall meeting.

“We’ve got nine pain clinics in Scioto County. Are we really in that much pain?” Walton said. “I don’t think we are. I think if we have the Governor’s assistance in putting pressure on the Medical Board, I think the (State) Attorney General’s office and the Bureau of Criminal (Identification and) Investigation should get involved. I think the Department of Taxation ought to get involved. I think there is a lot of cash that is involved here — changing hands.”

Walton said the second part of the petition asks for Strickland to ask for help from the federal government.

“(Assistant Scioto County Prosecutor) Joe Hale said it really well — ‘there’s a lot of pain medicine’s available, but there is one big bad guy in the room,’” Walton said. “In those statistics from the charts that Lisa Roberts (RN Portsmouth City Health Department) had, you can see that the number of prescription drug overdose deaths follows the line of the number of opiates being prescribed.”

Walton said the statistics show a trajectory that goes up the charts since the late ‘90s when Oxycontin was put on the market.

“Collectively, in the last 10 years, there has probably been 8 or 10 drugs that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has pulled off the market,” Walton said. “The reason they have done that is that they have had some unexpected results. Collectively, those drugs probably have been responsible for the death of maybe a thousand or maybe two thousand people. This drug, Oxycontin, is responsible for killing a couple of thousand Americans last month.”

Walton said he questions the FDA and its response to Oxycontin.

“The question is, why in the world is the FDA not investigating this thing and pulling it off the market?” Walton said. “I think they are very careful about pulling some drug off the market if there is no other alternative to it.”

Walton said the last question the FDA asks about a drug before placing it on the market is — “do the benefits of this medication outweigh its risks to the patient.”

“While it (Oxycontin) is one of the most potent medications available, I agree with Dr. (Bob) Mullins, when he said there are very few reasons to prescribe Oxycontin,” Walton said.

Walton said he would like to see guidelines as to the prescribing of Oxycontin (oxycodone), such as limiting the use to certain illnesses, and maybe going to an I-V form.

“I also think there should be pressure put on the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) to do their job,” Walton said. “Lastly, in that petition, it talks about the need for legislative changes which calls on the Governor to initiate those legislative changes. There is no doubt in my mind that the laws have to be changed to do something similar to what a couple of the other states have done in restricting the definition and operation of pain clinics.”

Walton said the petition will soon be available on line for those who wish to sign it.