Pubdate: Fri, 29 Jul 2005
Source: Town Talk, The  (Alexandria, LA)
Copyright: 2005sThe Town Talk
Contact:  http://www.thetowntalk.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1027
Author: Mandy M. Goodnight
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE ON THE RISE IN CENLA, COUNTRY

Dr. Gordon White has received the frenzied phone calls and seen the
shaking patients, all begging for prescription pain medication.

But these aren't patients trembling with pain. These are
addicts.

"It is a frustrating situation," Gordon said. "You don't want someone
to go in pain, but you don't want to give drugs to someone who doesn't
really need it."

The Alexandria doctor wasn't surprised to learn an estimated 15
million Americans abuse prescription drugs.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University released its three-year study on prescription drug abuse
earlier this month. The study found that more Americans misuse
painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Xanax than cocaine or heroin.

The population of abusers that has grown the most is children between
the ages of 12 and 17, according to the study. From 1992 to 2002,
there was a 542 percent increase in the number of youth abusers.

Parents would be surprised, said David Durbin, regional administrator
for the Region 6 Office of Addictive Disorders in Pineville.

"I think they think of Rush Limbaugh instead of thinking that it could
be their kids," he said.

The majority of prescription drug addicts who come into the Region 6
office are 20 to 25 years old, Durbin said.

He said many young people are looking for some sort of escape and have
little concern about the dangers of using prescription drugs and even
mixing them with other drugs, such as alcohol.

"Sooner or later your body gets immune," Alexandria Police Sgt. Newmon
Bobb said. "You are going to want harder drugs."

Bobb, supervisor of the city's narcotics division, and Capt. James
Rauls, supervisor of Metro Narcotics, said prescription drug abuse is
a problem in Rapides Parish.

Durbin said the Office of Addictive Disorders once saw just a couple
of people a month for prescription drug abuse, but now the office is
receiving several cases a week.

Metro Narcotics recently found more than 700 tablets of Watson 503
hydrocodone, a pain medication, hidden inside a computer at a house on
Prospect Street. It is the drug Metro Narcotics agents are seeing more
often.

In Alexandria, OxyContin, Xanax and Vicodin are the most commonly
abused prescription drugs, Bobb said.

On the street, authorities said OxyContin sells for $1 a milligram,
Xanax $4 to $10 a bar, and Vicodin $3 to $7 a pill.

In addition to buying the drugs off the street, law enforcement
officers also see users steal prescription pads, forge or alter
prescriptions, doctor shop or break into a pharmacy.

Dr. White said he has had to lock up his extra prescription pads and
keep the one he is using in his pocket.

"There are people with legitimate pain," White said. "I try to give
people a benefit of a doubt until they burn it."

He almost has stopped calling in prescriptions and even makes chronic
pain patients sign a contract, which includes them submitting to
random drug screening.

Darla Corley, staff pharmacist at Professional Pharmacy on Jackson
Street, said the business also takes several measures to stop
prescription drug abuse.

The pharmacy requires a photo identification card when patients pick
up a controlled prescription drug and even posts signs to remind
customers. Customers also have to sign for the drugs and notify the
pharmacy if someone else is picking up the drugs.

There is a pill-by-pill count kept, and there is even double counting
done. Prescriptions for controlled drugs also are verified. The
technicians check when the last prescription was filled and if it is
time for a refill. Corley has refused to fill prescriptions before.

"We do all that we can," she said.

The pharmacy has an alarm system and bars over the windows and doors,
but it hasn't stopped people from trying to break in.

In the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse study, 28.9
percent of pharmacists surveyed had experienced a theft or break-in
within the past five years, and 83.1 percent of them had refused to
fill a prescription of a controlled drug because of suspicion of abuse
or misuse.

Ninety-six percent of the doctors surveyed said they suspected doctor
shopping was the most common way the drugs were diverted for misuse.
Doctor shopping is where a patient sees a variety of doctors asking
each one for a prescription.

Once a person is addicted, there are only a few signs for parents or
friends. Unfortunately, Capt. Rauls said prescription drug addicts
simply look like they are taking their prescribed medication.

Durbin said loved ones should watch for medication refills being
needed before the allotted time or their own prescription medication
going missing. Addicts also may spend their money faster, and criminal
behavior sometimes follows with addiction.

The Region 6 Office for Addictive Disorders is requesting more beds to
handle medically supported detox, particularly because of the rising
number of prescription drug abuse cases.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin