PRESCRIPTION DRUGS BECOMING POPULAR RECREATIONAL NARCOTICS

Some Texarkana teens can tell their Baby Boomer parents the Rolling
Stones got it wrong when they sang, "You can't always get what you
want. But if you try sometimes, well you just might find you get what
you need."

This may be especially true when what the kids want are prescription
drugs for recreational purposes. Law enforcement and health care
officials all point to prescription drug abuse as a growing trend
among teens and young 20-somethings. They are quick to point out it's
a high that all too often comes with a deadly price tag.

"It's really come forward over the last few years and it's a huge
problem, huge. It is a very, very big problem in all the schools,"
said Shawn Fitzgerald, public relations officer with the Texarkana,
Texas, Police Department and Drug Abuse Resistance Education
instructor for the past eight years.

It would seem the controlled substances would be hard to come by. But
with the Internet at most kids' fingertips and the Mexican border a
day's drive away, prescription drugs like Xanax, hydrocodone and
methadone are all too easy to find. The price--$3 to $10 a pill on the
street--makes them financially affordable for even financially
strapped teens.

"Like with Xanax, a lot of kids are prescribed that pill. It can end
up in the hands of folks that way. Or they're stealing it from their
parents or buying it outright from a dealer," Fitzgerald said. "You
have dealers who get it in bulk and sell it out of pharmacist bottles.
They're dealing in large quantities so they are able to fill the demand.

"A lot of it is coming from across the border and Internet drug sales
.That's most certainly a very prominent source."

Just last weekend, a Pleasant Grove high school student, Edrose Cox,
died after attending a pasture party where illegal drugs including
methadone, Xanax and alcohol were present, authorities say. He was
found dead last Sunday morning at a residence on Polly Drive.
Preliminary autopsy results show no evidence of foul play. It will
take weeks for toxicology results to come back.

The perception that prescription drugs are safe may be the downfall of
the pill-poppin' generation.

"The reason we believe it's so widespread is because young people see
meth(amphetamine) as being somewhat dangerous and they're not seeing
Xanax as being that way ... people think it must be safe because it's
a prescription drug," Fitzgerald said.

But prescription drugs are dangerous when used without a physician's
supervision. They become even more lethal when mixed with other drugs
or alcohol.

But prescription drugs are dangerous when used without a physician's
supervision. They become even more lethal when mixed with other drugs
or alcohol.

"With Xanax, as long as it's taken the way it's suppose to be, it's as
safe as anything else. Obviously there are kids who are not taking it
the way it's designed," said John Reed, pharmacist in charge at CVS
Pharmacy on New Boston Road. "When you take Xanax with alcohol, it's
what's called a symbiotic relationship. If you take one and one and
add them together, you don't get two, you get three.

"You get more effect than if you'd just taken one or the other. It's
very dangerous if you mix it with large quantities of alcohol," Reed
said.

Methadone use and abuse also seems to be on the rise.

"We're prescribing it more and more," Reed said of the drug that was
once solely used to help people kick their heroin addictions.
Methadone is now prescribed as a pain killer for those people who've
built up a tolerance to other prescription pain killers.

"Methadone is a Class 2 controlled substance with a very high
potential for abuse. They have used it quite successfully in programs
to get people off heroin but one of the biggest problems is it has a
tendency to build up in the body," Reed said. "It's not excreted as
quickly as some drugs. It's slower to come out of the body than most
drugs, which is one reason doctors don't like to use it, but it is a
very good analgesic. If someone has chronic pain, it's very effective.
It's as dangerous as all get-out. It's a really potent drug."

Dr. Matt Young, emergency department director at CHRISTUS St. Michael
Hospital in Texarkana, agrees with Reed about the dangers of methadone.

"Unfortunately for people who are not under the care of a physician
and take that medication, one dose of it mixed with alcohol or any
other drug can be fatal. It's in an accelerated class of its own,"
Young explained. "It's the drug used to treat people who have already
used up all the other medications we normally prescribe. It has a
higher potential for respiratory depression and heart
arrhythmia."

Another danger of prescription drugs not readily recognizable is how
deadly codeine pain killers containing acetaminophen can be when mixed
with alcohol.

"A problem we're having now with so many of the pain medications like
Lortab is when you get too much (acetaminophen) it's just bye-bye. It
destroys the liver. We've had at least one customer I know of
personally pass away from that," Reed said.

Hospital emergency department physicians are seeing more and more drug
overdoses come through their doors.

"It's not uncommon. Usually it's pain medications ... and also
sedatives like Xanax, Ativan and Valium," Young said. "When taken
appropriately ... those medications are very effective in helping
someone over a short period of time. The problem is they can be very
dangerous, especially when mixed together. Some of them can cause
heart arrhythmia, which can be deadly, and also lead to respiratory
depression, which can also be fatal," Young said.

Authorities say, to the young mind, danger is easily put in
perspective, warped though it may be.

Joe, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, took his first
prescription pain pills in the ninth grade. He got the pills from his
peers at a local high school.

Joe is now a 19-year old college student who still likes his pills,
even though he's seen a friend die from the combination of
prescription pills and alcohol within the last year.

"I actually had a friend that died. It was a wake-up call," he
admitted. "I don't do as much but I still take prescription drugs. It
made me realize (expletive) like this does happen and teenagers aren't
invincible, but it's not going to stop anybody.

"It made me realize when you're mixing, you have to be aware of what
you're doing. Stop and think before you act," Joe said.

But stopping and thinking doesn't mean Joe's given up on his love
affair with scripts, as they are sometimes called.

Joe's drug of choice nowadays is Xanax, which he says is easy to find
and affordable.

"I can get 20 Xanax bars for $50. The most I've taken is four at one
time but I don't do that anymore," said Joe, who also admits to taking
Xanax with alcohol on occasion. "I take them with alcohol and without.
It's always way more fun with alcohol. It hasn't ever made me feel
sick, but I've gotten drunk, acted stupid and just went nuts.

"It's never injured me physically but it may make you crazy every now
and then," Joe said.

He gave this analogy of how widespred Xanax use is: "If you go to a
party with 100 people there, 25 or 30 will probably be on Xanax."

Joe said he'd heard of people doing methadone but it isn't something
he's tried himself. If the loss of friends doesn't deter kids from
getting involved with prescription drugs, law enforcement agencies are
hoping the possible punishment will.

"Xanax is a controlled substance. That's a felony," Fitzgerald
explained. "Even just one pill is a felony. It's prison time."

Reed said the increase in prescription drug abuse by kids can be
attributed to several things. For some, it's a high they chase all the
way to the grave.

"They're not stupid. They know they're not supposed to do it," he
said. "It's a matter of peer pressure and discipline and I think so
many of them just want to get away from daily life.

"I think all of us want that to a certain extent, we're just not
willing to go that far to get it," Reed said.