PRESCRIPTION FOR DISASTER

Abuse Of Meds On The Rise

Prescription drug abusers often don't realize that their behavior
could lead to fatal consequences. Like the nation, Eastern North
Carolina is seeing an increase in prescription drug abuse cases.
According to the 2008 U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Threat
Assessment report, "parents are less likely to talk to their children
about the dangers of prescription drug abuse than they are about
heroin, cocaine, crack, marijuana, or alcohol abuse."

According to Partnership Attitude Tracking Study data for 2006, 81.5
percent of parents perceive abuse of prescription drugs to be a
growing problem among teenagers, yet only 36.2 percent of parents
discuss with their children the dangers of using prescription drugs
to get high. In Kinston, Greenville and New Bern, prescription drug
abuse is becoming more common, according to Port Human Services
officials. Both Matt Lambeth and Karen McNair serve as Port Human
Services counselors helping people with behavior issues which include
prescription drug abuse. The abuse is not age discriminatory both agreed.

For the past six years, McNair has seen a steady increase in
prescription drug abuse. "I see about 40 patients a week from age 4
to about 70," she said. "The abuse is huge. It's easy to get these
kinds of drugs which are becoming a hot commodity."

McNair is based in Kinston. She said people become easily addicted to
prescription medication and it's difficult for officials to track
abusers. "People doctor shop to get prescriptions filled," she said.
"Sometimes doctors are able to notify pharmacies about someone who is
trying to fill an illegal prescription. Their name is flagged in a
computer." Mixing prescription medicine with alcohol can cause
respiratory depression, McNair said. Prescription drug overdoses are
increasing in the area. "I knew one person in Greenville who died
from an overdose," McNair said. "The overdoses are usually accidental."

Both McNair and Lambeth agreed more education is needed to help
people avoid abusing prescription drugs. Some prescription drugs can
provide users with highs similar to cocaine.

Finding alternative coping skills can help reduce someone's risk from
becoming addicted to prescription drugs. "Exercise is a big mood
stabilizer," McNair said.

Like McNair, Lambeth sees a wide variety of prescription drug
abusers. At his Port Human Services clinic in Greenville, Lambeth
works with 60 people a week in the clinic's Opioid Agonist therapy
program. "Sedative and Buprenorphine abuse is on the rise," he said.
"We help identify peoples' triggers and counsel them."

The Internet has created a new tool for abusers to get their
prescription drug fix, he said. The number of Internet pharmacies
selling controlled and non-controlled pharmaceutical drugs has
increased, according to the National Drug Assessment Threat report.

"Kids can go online and get any type of drug with very little
oversight," he said. "People are ordering prescription drugs from
India or Mexico suppliers and sometimes really don't know what they
are getting." According to a Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America 2007 survey, about 5.4 million adults in the
United States have purchased prescription drugs from a foreign
country such as Canada or Mexico. About 50 percent said they
purchased the drugs from another country because they did not have a
prescription for the drug they wanted, according to the survey.
Increased law enforcement and prescription monitoring programs have
recently forced abusers who traditionally get their drugs through
doctor-shopping, forged prescriptions or indiscriminate prescribing
to use the Internet to order prescription drugs.

"It's illegal for anyone to photocopy a written prescription," Donna
Ramsey, Alternative Care Treatment Systems Clinical Director said.
Before moving to Kinston, Ramsey was a mental health official working
in Maine. She said "prescription drug abuse is rampant there."
Prescription drug abusers would "malinger" at area hospital emergency
rooms faking illness in order to get pain medication. Ramsey said
abuse is increasing because "there is an excess of medication
available all over the place" in many homes' medicine cabinets.

"It's easier to hide the abuse," too she said. "The abuse can destroy
families." Ramsey said she recently attended a 16-year-old girl's
funeral in South Carolina. The girl died from a prescription drug
overdose, she said. Many teens don't think there is great risk with
mixing or abusing prescription drugs. According to the Partnership
Attitude Tracking Study for 2005, 44 percent of adolescents in grades
7 through 12 did not perceive a great risk in trying pain relievers
such as Vicodin or OxyContin that a doctor did not prescribe for
them. Sixty-two percent of the teens surveyed said the drugs were
easy to get from their parents' medicine cabinets and 51 percent said
they didn't think the drugs were illegal.

U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Threat Assessment 2008
Pharmaceutical drug abusers in a growing number of states are having
greater difficulty in getting drugs through forgery.

Criminal groups are stealing pharmaceutical drugs from delivery
trucks. The number of Internet pharmacies selling controlled and non
controlled pharmaceutical drugs has increased.

Methadone related deaths and overdoses have increased sharply since the 1990s.