Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 Source: Hartford Courant (CT) Copyright: 2009 The Hartford Courant Contact: http://www.courant.com/about/custom/thc/thc-letters,0,86431.customform Website: http://www.courant.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183 Author: Thomas A. Kirk Jr. Note: Thomas A. Kirk Jr., Ph.D., is the commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) ADDICTION'S LONG ARM Fight Joined to Stem Youthful Opiod Abuse The terrible and tragic wave of Connecticut teens and young adults dying from heroin and abuse of prescription drugs reveals a fundamental truth about drug abuse. Addiction has no boundaries or borders ... Bridgeport, East Haddam, Glastonbury, Hartford, New Haven, Newtown, Ridgefield and Southington. And it can be deadly. Overdoses have claimed at least eight lives of high school and college-age students in communities large and small during the past year. Cheerleader, honor roll student, camp counselor, athlete -- youngsters just like those in your family or neighborhood. They are young people who don't fit societal stereotypes about "addicts." We mistakenly believe some families and communities are immune to the problem, or somehow protected from the extraordinary power of drug abuse. The deaths are occurring and more frequently. Even as illegal drug use among teens has dropped, there is a spreading, downward spiral from prescription drug abuse to heroin among students as young as 13. In the past 15 years, abuse of prescription drugs, including powerful opioid painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, has risen alarmingly among all ages, growing fastest among college-age adults, who lead all age groups in the misuse of medications. From 1992 to 2003, teen abuse of prescription drugs jumped 212 percentnationally, nearly three times the increase of misuse among other adults. Abused by an estimated one in five teens, prescription drugs are second only to alcohol and marijuana as the substances they use to get high. Fueling the increase is their availability, often as easy to access as a medicine cabinet that is far less likely to be locked than a liquor cabinet. Family, friends and classmates are the chief source of supply for teens who perceive these medications to be safer than illegal drugs because they are prescribed by a doctor. Meanwhile, heroin, cheap and plentiful throughout the Northeast, has been migrating into suburbs and rural areas where drug-trafficking organizations are setting up shop. Higher purity levels allow it to be smoked or snorted, removing the initial stigma of injection. For teens and young adults who become addicted to opioid medications, expense drives the shift to heroin. One oxycodone pill can cost $80 on the street, compared to $3 to $5 for a bag of heroin. As addiction intensifies, many users end up injecting. The state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has joined with public health officials, prevention experts, treatment specialists, doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement to stem this crisis. Last summer, the state Department of Consumer Protection's Division of Drug Control launched a prescription monitoring system that enables doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement officials to track doctor-shopping, misuse of legal prescriptions, patterns of overprescribing by physicians and potentially dangerous drug interactions. In September, a prescription drug task force, convened by Gov. M. Jodi Rell and The Governor's Prevention Partnership, mobilized to prepare a short- and long-term response to proliferating youth drug abuse. The task force is reaching out to schools, communities, pharmacies, doctors and parents. A public effort is required to cut off the ready supply of prescription drugs feeding this epidemic. This includes the unwitting suppliers -- parents, grandparents and neighbors. Although the federal government has approved legislation to crack down on fraudulent Internet pharmacies, less than 1 percent of teens obtain prescription medications online. Clean out your medicine cabinets. Properly dispose of unneeded medications and safeguard those truly needed. Discuss the dangers of prescription drugs with your children and grandchildren so they understand that legal medications, when used for unintended purposes, can be just as lethal and addictive as illicit drugs. New scientific research has taught us that the brain doesn't finish developing until the mid-20s, especially the region that controls impulse and judgment. Before our youth learn too late on their own, it's up to the adults in their lives to educate them and eliminate the source. To learn more, visit www.ctclearinghouse.org and click on Quick Links, Quick Facts, or call 860-418-6962. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake