CORONERS: DRUG OVERDOSES COSTING LIVES, MONEY

GULFPORT - Three south Mississippi coroners say prescription drug abuse is
causing an increase in overdose deaths.

A Jackson County resident died of an OxyContin overdose Friday, the same
day Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove told county supervisors that his
office is averaging two to three drug overdoses a week.

Drug fatalities in Hancock County during the first seven months of this
year are already 15 more than all of 2001.

The trend is increasing costs for the coroners. Hargrove asked the Harrison
County Board of Supervisors for more money Friday. Harrison County has seen
about 20 to 30 more deaths than it had a year ago.

"We have to investigate to see if they're suicides or accidents," he said.

The office already has performed 144 autopsies this year. During 2001, the
county performed 156 autopsies. An autopsy costs about $550 a person, not
including lab tests.

The overdoses are coming from a combination of prescription drugs, alcohol
and illegal drugs. Hargrove said he is seeing an increase in overdoses from
harder drugs such as OxyContin, a prescription painkiller turned street
drug, and methadone, commonly given to heroin addicts to curb physical
withdrawal, he said.

Jackson County Coroner Vicki Broadus said a young Jackson County adult died
Friday of an overdose of OxyContin, a time-release drug prescribed in a
pill form.

People who abuse the drug are crushing it and snorting it. The second-most
abused prescribed narcotic is the Xanax "bar," a large pill used to treat
anxiety.

The most dangerous drug may be painkiller patches prescribed to people with
chronic pain. Addicts are stealing them from relatives, putting the patches
in water to remove the medicine and injecting the drug. Others are chewing
up the patches.

"I can assure you when they do that, it's over," Broadus said. "They are
taking 72 hours worth of medicine at one pop."

Hancock County Coroner Norma Stiglet says she already has seen 15 or more
drug overdose cases so far this year, the same number of drug overdoses the
county experienced during the entire year in 2001.

"It's increasing every year," Stiglet said. "Most of these people are
long-standing drug or alcohol addicts who just did it one time too many."