'DRUGGED DRIVING' ON THE INCREASE IN EASTERN KENTUCKY

Abuse Of Narcotics Rivals Alcohol Use In Some Counties

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Police say Eastern Kentucky's raging problem with
prescription drug abuse is changing the face of impaired driving.

"Everybody you're looking at now is a pillhead," said former Martin County
Sheriff Darriel Young, who left office last month. "In the last couple of
years, it's gotten a whole lot worse. Everybody's pilling."

County after county has seen explosive growth in "drugged" driving, a
signal that the abuse of narcotics now rivals -- or even surpasses -- the
abuse of alcohol.

"The day of the old-fashioned drunks on the road is about over," said
Flatwoods Police Chief Buddy Gallion.

More than half of his arrests for driving under the influence now involve
drugs, Gallion said.

Last June, 24 of 27 DUI cases in Martin District Court involved drugs, not
alcohol, court records show.

In 2000, Martin, Laurel and Clay became the first Kentucky counties in
which drug-related DUI charges outnumbered alcohol-related DUIs, state
records show.

In the last several years, Eastern Kentucky has become a hotbed of abuse of
legal prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin. Nearly half a
ton of narcotics reached six small mountain counties from 1998 to 2001 --
the equivalent of three-quarters of a pound for every adult who lives there.

In an analysis of federal data, the Lexington Herald-Leader found that, on
a per-capita basis, Eastern Kentucky drugstores, hospitals and other legal
outlets received more prescription painkillers than anywhere else in the
nation.

The abuse is reflected in the number of people seeking residential
treatment for painkiller addiction -- it nearly tripled from 1998 through
2001, according to Scott Walker of Mountain Comprehensive Care in Prestonsburg.

Prescription-drug abuse has been "slow and insidious over the years; the
last three or four years, it's been overwhelming," Walker said.

Police say the increase of abusers has created problems with DUI arrests.
Quick, easy Breathalyzer tests, routine in drunken-driving arrests, will
not work in drug cases. Instead, drivers' blood samples must go to the
state crime lab, where a nine-month backlog jeopardizes prosecutions in
some counties.

Clay County Attorney Clay Bishop Jr. said that more than a few drugrelated
DUIs have been dismissed because of delayed test results.

State court officials have recommended that DUI cases be processed within
60 to 90 days, Bishop said.

"We try to leave it on the docket for as long as possible, but after nine
or 10 months, if a defense attorney is worth anything he'll move to
dismiss," Bishop said.

The Kentucky State Police crime lab has a backlog of about 6,000
drug-identification cases that will take about nine months to process, said
Lt. Lisa Rudzinski, an agency spokeswoman.

The last General Assembly approved the hiring of 25 new lab analysts,
Rudzinski said. Eleven were hired before tight budgets forced a state
government job freeze, she said.

"We anticipate that backlog to diminish, depending on what happens to the
budget when the legislature meets," Rudzinski said.

Though state records show significant growth in drug-related DUIs across
Kentucky during the late 1990s, the problem was particularly acute in
Eastern Kentucky.

In 2000, one out of every three motorists stopped on a first-offense DUI in
Eastern Kentucky was alleged to be impaired by drugs, not alcohol.

In the rest of the state, the figure was one out of every 10.