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WEBVTT CONSEQUENCES. REPORTER: DO YOU THINK THE EPIDEMIC IS GETTING BETTER OR WORSE? >> WORSE. REPORTER: YOU DIDN’T HESITATE WITH THAT. >> IT’S GETTING WORSE. REPORTER: FOR FAMILIES ACROSS WISCONSIN, IT IS A CHILLING DOSE OF REALITY. CDC RESEARCH FOUND LESS ADDICTIVE DRUGS, LIKE ADVIL AND TYLENOL, IN COMBINATION, ARE 3 TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN THEIR OPIOID COUNTERPARTS. >> THE BENEFIT YOU GET FROM ONE ADVIL AND A TYLENOL IS GREATER THAN THE AMOUNT OF BENEFIT FROM OXYCODONE. REPORTER: WHY WEREN’T THESE OVER-THE-COUNTER MEDICATIONS PRESCRIBED TO PATIENTS LONG AGO AS OPPOSED TO THE OPIATES? >> AFTER OXYCONTIN WAS APPROVED, THE COMPANY THAT MADE IT, REALLY AGGRESSIVELY MARKETED OPIOIDS AS THE ANSWER TO PAIN FOR PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS AND SPECIALISTS ALIKE AND, IN FACT, 21:59:00 -- THEY CLAIMED IT WAS NOT ADDICTING AND SO. REPORTER: THEY CLAIMED IT WAS NOT ADDICTING? >> THEY CLAIMED IT WAS NOT ADDICTING AND SO DOCTORS CAME TO BELIEVE THAT THESE DRUGS WERE SAFE AND HIGHLY EFFECTIVE WHEN IN FACT THE RESEARCH THAT HAS COME OUT HAS SHOWN THAT THAT’S NOT ACTUALLY TRUE. REPORTER: DR. MICHAEL MCNETT HELPED ADOPT THE NEW PRESCRIPTION GUIDELINES IN WISCONSIN. HE TELLS ME DOCTORS WERE ALWAYS TRAINED WITH AN OPIOID-FIRST APPROACH. DO YOU BLAME THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES FOR THAT? YOU SAID YOU DON’T BLAME ADDICTS FOR THEIR ADDICTION, WHO DO YOU BLAME? >> I THINK A LOT OF IT WAS MISINFORMATION. I THINK IGNORANCE IS TO BLAME, TOO, WE JUST DIDN’T KNOW BETTER. REPORTER: WHAT HAVE THE LAST 2 YEARS BEEN LIKE? >> HARD. TIME STANDS STILL WITHOUT MY SON RYAN. THIS IS HIM. REPORTER: MARI JO MILLER WONDERS IF THE INFORMATION DOCTORS KNOW NOW, COULD HAVE SAVED HER SON RYAN WHO DIED FROM A HEROIN OVERDOSE. HE WAS ONLY 24. >> I DID NOT KNOW HE WAS DOI HEROIN. I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST SNORTING THE PILL IT WAS WORSE THAN I HAD KNOWN BECAUSE HE DIDN’T WANT TO SHARE IT WITH ME. REPORTER: IN ONE OF MANY PICTURES OF RYAN IS THE HAUNTING REMINDER OF WHERE HIS ADDICTION STARTED. A SPORTS INJURY. THEN PRESCRIPTION PAIN KILLERS. BUT THIS MOTHER STOPS SHORT OF BLAMING DOCTORS DIRECTLY. >> THEY HAVE REALLY DONE A BIG TURN, DOCTORS HAVE, AS FAR AS HANDING OUT PAIN MEDICATION. THAT MUCH I WILL GIVE THEM, ABSOLUTELY BUT MY THING IS GET THESE DEALERS OFF THE STREET. REPORTER: THAT IS THE PART OF THE DEADLY OPIOID CYCLE DOCTORS CAN NOT CONTROL, THE ACCESS TO MUCH CHEAPER STREET LEVEL DRUGS WHEN PRESCRIPTIONS RUN OUT. >> A LOT OF PEOPLE TEND TO BLAME ADDICTS FOR GETTING ADDICTED. THAT’S NOT THE CASE AT ALL THE PATIENT WITH THE ADDICTION IS THE WORST VICTIM OF THAT ADDICTION. IT DESTROYS THEIR LIVES. REPORTER: SO HERE ARE 3 TAKEAWAYS. ASK YOUR DOCTOR IF WHAT’S PRESCRIBED IS AN OPIOID. IF YES, ASK IF NON-NARCOTIC MEDS CAN BE TRIED. ASK IF THERE IS A LESS ADDICTING OPIOID. AND ASK HOW LONG YOU WILL BE ON THE MEDS AND DEVELOP PLAN TO COME OFF. PATRICK? PATRICK: DERRICK, SHOULD PATIENTS BE SKEPTICAL OF AN OPIATE PRESCRIPTION KNOWING THIS NEW INFORMATION? REPORTER: NOT IF YOU ASK THOSE SAME QUESTIONS, BUT DOCTORS SAY THERE ARE SOME CASES WHEN AN OPIOID MIGHT BE THE ONLY OPTION, IF ALL OTHER MEDS FAIL

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For families across Wisconsin, there is a new and chilling dose of reality: CDC researchers found less addictive over-the-counter drugs, like Advil and Tylenol, are three times more effective than some of their opioid counterparts."After Oxycontin was approved, the company that made it really aggressively marketed opioids as the answer to pain for primary care doctors and specialists alike," Dr. Michel McNett said. "They claimed it was not addicting and so doctors came to believe that these drugs were safe and highly effective when in fact the research that has come out has shown that that's not actually true."Dr. McNett assisted in the Wisconsin Medical Examiner's Board adoption of new prescription guidelines for the state based on the CDC research. He sat down with WISN 12 News to speak on behalf of the Medical Society of Milwaukee.When asked why doctors had not always approached pain management with a less addictive medicinal approach all along, he said doctors had always been taught to pursue an opiate-first solution."I think a lot of it was misinformation," he said. "I think ignorance is to blame too. We just didn't know better.">> State of Addiction: Our Year-Long Look at the Opioid CrisisMari Jo Miller wonders if the information doctors know now could have saved her son, Ryan, who died in January 2017 after a heroin overdose. According to his mother, the 24-year-old had come home from rehab less than 48 hours earlier. He left behind a 5-year-old son."Time stands still without my son," she said."I did not know he was doing heroin," she said. "I thought he was just snorting the pills. It was worse than I had known because he didn't want to share it with me."In one of dozens of pictures of Ryan throughout the Miller household is a haunting reminder of where his addiction started. The second oldest of five children was smiling with a cast on his left hand and forearm. It was a rugby injury that was followed by prescription pain killers.But Mari Jo Miller stopped short of blaming doctors directly."They've really done a big turn, doctors have, as far as handing out pain medication. That much I will give them, absolutely. But my thing is get these dealers off the street."It's that part of the deadly opioid cycle doctors can't control: the access to much cheaper street-level drugs when prescriptions run out."A lot of people tend to blame addicts for getting addicted; that's not the case at all," Dr. McNett said, "The patient with the addiction is the worst victim of that addiction it destroys their lives." Getting a Prescription? Three Things to Ask Your Doctor1.Ask if what's prescribed is an opioid. If it is, ask if non-narcotic medication can be tried.2. If an opioid is necessary, ask if there is a less addictive version. 3. Ask how long you will be on the medication and develop plan to come off.Dr. McNett said there are also stricter guidelines on monitoring patients who are on prescriptions opioids.