Pubdate: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 Source: Montgomery Advertiser (AL) Copyright: 2005 The Advertiser Co. Contact: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/customerservice/letter.htm Website: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1088 Note: Letters from the newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority Author: Marty Roney PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE BITTER PILL FOR TRI-COUNTY The rise of prescription drug abuse is being felt by area law enforcement agencies, physicians, pharmacists and prosecutors, and it soon may affect the way people get their medications. The most recent figures show that in 2002, almost 30 million people age 12 and older used pain killers non-medically in their lifetimes, according to the Web site for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. About 1.5 million people 12 and older were dependent on or abused prescription pain relievers in 2002. "It's getting to be an epidemic," said Dr. Charles Cloutier, who has a Prattville family practice. "You are almost suspicious of everyone who comes into the office, but you have the responsibility to treat the patient," said Cloutier. "It's up to the doctors and pharmacists to use our experience to weed people out who we think are abusing prescription drugs. If someone comes in my office and asks for pain pills, I won't prescribe that many, and very rarely will I put a refill on the prescription." Pain pills are the most abused drugs, officials said. Cloutier doesn't leave prescription pads and samples of medications in his examining rooms. People who abuse prescription drugs will often steal the pads to write forged prescriptions, Prattville Police Chief Alfred Wadsworth said. Prattville and Montgomery police departments each have a full-time investigator working prescription drug abuse cases. "People will write fake prescriptions," Wadsworth said. "If they can't get a pad from a doctor's office, they will use a computer to create a prescription. They will also alter actual prescriptions, changing the numbers of pills or numbers of refills. Then they will pharmacy shop, going from pharmacy to pharmacy often getting the same prescription filled several times." And the problem will only get worse in the future, Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin said. "We are seeing a migration from crack and meth to pill taking, especially among the younger generation," he said. "Meth burns the body out so quickly, so drug users are shifting to things like hydrocodone and other narcotics." Franklin said his department is seeing an increase of suspects found with prescription pills in their possession. "There are a lot of people abusing these drugs, but increasingly we are seeing them sold on the streets," he said. Jessie Phillips of Montgomery has experience in dealing with the abuse. Her best friend became addicted to painkillers following a horse riding accident. "She had her right leg badly broken and had two surgeries to fix it," she said. "I noticed she hadn't been acting herself, and that she was still taking the pain killers months after the last surgery. It was very hard, but I had to tell her she was a drug addict, the same kind of addict who uses cocaine or methamphetamine. That was about a year ago. Thankfully she got help and hasn't used anything, prescription or otherwise, since." Other states have taken steps to prevent prescription abuse, Cloutier said. Some require prescriptions in triplicate with one copy going to the doctor, one to the pharmacy and one to the Drug Enforcement Administration. "I would support a law that ends phone-in refills for narcotics," Cloutier said. "If you have a bad back and need pain pills, you probably should come in to see the doctor anyway. That would do away with one way people use the system to abuse prescription drugs." The idea has merit, said Rep. Mac Gipson, R-Prattville. "I certainly think it's something that needs more study, especially since prescription drug abuse seems to be on the rise," he said. "This last session we passed a law that changed they way you buy over-the-counter sinus and allergy medicines, since they were the main ingredient in making meth." More laws won't solve anything, said Chase Gardner of Wetumpka. "Why should I be punished because someone else abuses prescription drugs?" he said. "If you have to go to the doctor every time to get more medicine, that's going to cost you more money. I've got a bad back, and from time to time I take prescribed muscle relaxants. A prescription of 30 pills may last me two years because I only take them when I need them. When I need another dose, I just call my doctor and he calls the pharmacy. I like it working that way." [Sidebar] U.S. Prescription Drug Figures Use: The numbers of people using prescription pain relievers illegally for the first time increased from 600,000 in 1990 to more than 2 million in 2001 Percentage: In 2002, about 30 million people age 12 and under, or 13 percent of the population, used prescription pain relievers illegally at least once in their life time Numbers: In 2002, 7.1 million people age 12 and older were dependent on or abused illicit drugs. The number of persons who were dependent on or abused prescription pain relievers, 1.5 million, was second only to the people who were dependent on or abused marijuana. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth