Pubdate: Tue, 02 Aug 2005
Source: Advertiser, The (Lafayette, LA)
Copyright: 2005 The Lafayette Daily Advertiser
Contact:  http://www.theadvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1670
Author: John Rowland
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE ESCALATES

A 16-year-old boy overdosed this weekend on a prescription drug given to 
him by an alleged drug dealer in Church Point, Acadia Parish Sheriff Wayne 
Melancon said. The teen's story of prescription drug abuse is part of a 
growing trend, according to a new national report.

Joseph Larry Hoffpauir, 61, was arrested for allegedly giving the boy the 
prescription depressant Xanax. The boy overdosed on the drug and ended up 
in the hospital; he was set to be released Monday.

"These illegal drugs are now trickling down to our children and 
grandchildren," Melancon said in a news release. "We have to put a stop to it."

Abuse of prescription drugs like Xanax is on the rise, according to a study 
released in July by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at 
Columbia University.

Prescription drug abuse doubled between 1992 and 2003, from 7.8 million to 
15.1 million, and abuse among teens has more than tripled during that time, 
according to the study.

More people are getting prescriptions for the drugs, which include opioids 
like OxyContin and Vicodin, depressants like Valium and Xanax and 
stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall, the report said.

Young people are particularly affected. The number of 12- to 17-year-olds 
who abused controlled prescription drugs jumped 212 percent during those 11 
years studied.

"It's a different industry," said Dr. Joe Abraham, a former Lafayette 
emergency room doctor. "If I'm working an emergency room in the middle of 
nowhere, and someone comes in and they're in a lot of pain, and I can't get 
a hold of their doctor, what do you do?"

Scams to get the drugs from doctors and hospitals are prevalent, and the 
drugs are easily available on the Internet, the study said.

Logan Lemaire, the owner and pharmacist at The Medicine Shoppe on Johnston 
Street, said the drugs are helpful when used properly.

"OxyContin and other medicines, they have helped people who can't otherwise 
lead a productive life," Lemaire said. "There are always the ones that get 
by some kind of way, but ... we (pharmacists) get to be a pretty good judge 
of people."

Lemaire said he's refused to fill prescriptions for people he suspected 
were abusing the drugs, and if he's in doubt, he'll call the doctor who 
wrote the prescription.

Now, some doctors are requiring a printout from the patient's pharmacist 
with their drug history before writing another prescription, Lemaire said.

As for the 16-year-old in Church Point, it's unclear just how he got a hold 
of the drug.

"Right now, I don't know if (the Xanax) was bought or given. I'm still 
conducting that investigation right now," said Acadia Parish Sheriff's Lt. 
Dale Thibodeaux.

In an unrelated incident, Joseph Tyrone Harrison, 17, was arrested at North 
Park in Church Point for allegedly giving marijuana to a 14-year-old boy. 
Harrison allegedly wanted the boy to sell the drugs for him; the boy also 
was arrested and released in the custody of a guardian.

Nineteen-year-old Andre Aymond also was arrested for having marijuana in 
his car while his 16-year-old girlfriend was a passenger. Sheriff's 
deputies arrested him during a traffic stop.

Melancon called the three arrests "an alarming trend" of selling or giving 
drugs to persons under 18.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom