STUDY: OTC DRUGS, PRESCRIPTIONS SEND MORE TO ER THAN COCAINE

Abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs is sending more
people to emergency rooms than cocaine, according to new federal data
that reflect the growing popularity of powerful painkillers such as
OxyContin, Vicodin and hydrocodone.

The data, to be released today by the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), show that almost 2 million
people visited a hospital emergency room for illnesses involving
drugs. Of those visits, nearly 1.3 million involved drug abuse or
misuse. The administration collects data from 417 hospitals and 106
million total emergency room visits.

About 496,000 drug-related emergency room visits involved
pharmaceuticals: over-the-counter or prescription drugs. About
383,000 visits involved cocaine. Marijuana was involved in about
216,000 visits.

"We need to see a real focus getting the message out that just
because something is prescribed or over-the-counter doesn't mean it's
not harmful," says SAMHSA administrator Charles Curie. "We want to
recognize that medications prescribed by a doctor and taken exactly
how the doctor prescribes can work wonders. But if it's not
prescribed for you, if it's not taken the way it's intended, it's a
recipe for disaster."

Surveys nationwide have shown a surge in prescription-drug abuse. The
number of addicts seeking treatment for abusing prescription opiates,
while relatively small at 63,243 in 2004, was up 62% from three years
earlier, according to data released last month by SAMHSA. About 2.4
million people abused painkillers for the first time in 2004, making
it the drug category with the highest number of new users, according
to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health.

"These drugs have become very, very popular with people who abuse
substances," says Joseph Troncale, medical director for Caron
Treatment Centers based in Wernersville, Pa. He says up to 30% of the
patients at Caron's drug-rehabilitation centers are being treated for
prescription-drug abuse.

The drugs are cheap and readily available on the street, Troncale says.

"OxyContin, Percocet - all these medicines are just being handed out
like candy. I think there's too much availability," Troncale says.

Most prescription drugs abused or sold on the street come from
pharmacy robberies, pharmacist dealers or doctor dealers, says Mark
Caverly, an investigator for the Drug Enforcement Administration.