KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — Not everyone who is prescribed an opioid based painkiller becomes addicted to the drug, but there are suggestions that some are genetically more vulnerable to getting hooked. Many may graduate fo street drugs like heroin
Governor Rick Snyder has signed legislation backed by Rep. Brandt Iden for a $700,000 research project to determine if it’s possible to identify genome markers in Medicaid patients that indicate they are at higher risk of opioid addiction.
The money will be administered by the Kalamazoo County Department of Community Health.
Iden says it could be groundbreaking if they can find a cost-effective way to screen patients for that vulnerability.
If a Doctor knows a patient is at risk, then that Doctor can prescribe some other pain relief medication.
