Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued an announcement commemorating Scientific Committee on Opioid Prevention and Education (SCOPE) for reaching its first five years of educating the public of opioids.

SCOPE was formed in 2019 to help prevent opioid addiction, conducting cutting-edge research and education according to the announcement.

"The breakthroughs emerging from SCOPE's work are paving the way for a future in which fewer families suffer the heart-wrenching loss of a loved one to an opioid overdose," said Yost.

In addition to the announcement, Yost also shared a five-year report of SCOPE's impact.

The SCOPE team includes Beth Delaney, Caroline Freiermuth, Tessa Miracle, Rene Saran, Jon E. Sprague, Donnie Sullivan, Julie Teater and Arthur B. Yeh.

The report includes four major sections titled "raising public awareness", "educating future health-care professionals", "emphasizing proper drug storage, disposal" and "prioritizing pharmacogenomics".

Raising Public Awareness

The first section of the report outlines background information on the opioid issue the SCOPE was founded on. It also states that an underlying issue were illicitly manufactured fentanyls (IMFs) that are often added to other drugs.

The report goes on to state that work conducted by the Chemistry Unit in the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Laboratory found noteworthy comparisons of polydrug samples that included IMFs.

The most present IMFs in the polydrug samples during this study were fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl.

In 2013, 2.2% of polydrug samples containing heroin and cocaine also contained IMFs. However, in 2022, more than 89% of polydrug samples contained IMFs. This is described as a 335-fold increase according to the report.

Also included in this section of the report was findings the committee reported when they conducted a longitudinal study of opioid overdose data from the Ohio Department of Health death records going back to 2007. 

The findings included the fact that the death rate from opioid use per 100,000 reached 14.29 in the second quarter of 2020, the highest statistic to date in Ohio.

 

To help raise public awareness of these statistics and dangers, SCOPE:

  • Created public service announcements 
  • Submitted letters to the editors of scientific journals
  • Increased cautioning efforts to health-care professionals and scientists state-wide about the dangers of purchasing illegal drugs on the streets

Educating Future Health-Care Professionals

In December 2019, SCOPE surveyed students enrolled in health-care professional programs at 49 of Ohio's universities to see how many of these students were learning about "Opioid Use Disorder" (OUD).

The survey reportedly covered four main categories:

  • Initial screening of patients
  • Training in OUD
  • Training in care for patients at high risk for OUD
  • Education in evaluating patients for "Adverse Childhood Experiences" (ACEs)

Results of the survey showed a need for a standardized curriculum discussing OUD. 

SCOPE partnered with Assistant Professor Dr. Kelsey Schmuhl of Ohio State University's College of Pharmacy to develop the "Interprofessional Program on Opioid Use Disorder".

The more than 2,000 students that completed the course were suggested to understand more about OUD and the factors that contribute to it.

Emphasizing Proper Drug Storage, Disposal

A large danger that SCOPE wanted to address was the potential danger of having unsecured opioids available at home from left over prescriptions.

A study conducted by the Wisconsin Poison Control in which calls were fielded between 2002 and 2016 relating to unintended opioid exposure revealed that 61% of cases involved children aged zero to 5-years-old, and 29% involved teens between 13 and 19 years.

SCOPE partnered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to create the "Attorney General Drug Dropoff Days" which combine with the DEA's Drug Take-back Days. 

The report reflects on a map depicting a snapshot from the second quarter of 2020, showing that Ohio counties such as Scioto, Fayette and Franklin had the largest amounts of opioid overdose deaths.

Mahoning County and Trumbull County are also listed on this graphic.

With this data in hand, organizers began the Drug Dropoff Day events. In 2020, a snapshot of the collection numbers for all of the counties in the map above. Trumbull and Mahoning Counties had a collection total of 300 pounds.

To date, these events have been held in 11 counties throughout Ohio and have yielded over 2,600 pounds of unwanted and unsecured prescription medications.