WHAT IS OUR BIGGEST DRUG PROBLEM TODAY?

If you said:

methamphetamines marijuana

cocaine

heroin

You are wrong.

The drug of choice these days may be sitting in your medicine
cabinet.

Prescription drug abuse is the biggest drug problem. Here are some
facts from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration based on 2006 figures:

Nearly 7 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs - more than
the number who are abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy,
and inhalants, combined. That 7 million was just 3.8 million in 2000,
an 80 percent increase in just 6 years.

Prescription pain relievers are new drug users' drug of choice, vs.
marijuana or cocaine.

Opioid painkillers now cause more drug overdose deaths than cocaine
and heroin combined.

Nearly 1 in 10 high school seniors admits to abusing powerful
prescription painkillers. A shocking 40 percent of teens and an almost
equal number of their parents think abusing prescription painkillers
is safer than abusing "street" drugs.

Misuse of painkillers represents three-fourths of the overall problem
of prescription drug abuse; hydrocodone is the most commonly diverted
and abused controlled pharmaceutical in the U.S.

Twenty-five percent of drug-related emergency department visits are
associated with abuse of prescription drugs.

Methods of acquiring prescription drugs for abuse include
"doctor-shopping," traditional drug-dealing, theft from pharmacies or
homes, illicitly acquiring prescription drugs via the Internet, and
from friends or relatives.

And if you are saying, "Not in Mitchell County." Think
again.

A study was released that shows that teens in Western North Carolina
are more likely to have used prescription drugs. Read about it on the
front page.

It is a problem in Mitchell County. Stop a county deputy or an officer
or someone who works in the court system and ask them if prescription
drugs are a problem here.

It is our problem. We need to address it.