The Journal of clinical psychiatry
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An epidemic of prescription drug abuse is disproportionately impacting the mentally ill. We examined the utility of a state prescription drug monitoring database for assessing recent controlled substance prescribing to patients presenting for dual diagnosis treatment. ⋯ Prescription drug monitoring is a powerful tool for assessing addictions and high frequencies of patient exposures to prescribed opioids in a dual diagnosis clinic. Improved prevention and treatment strategies for addictions as facilitated by more research and clinical use of prescription drug monitoring in psychiatric care are warranted.