DRUG CULTURE: A PILL FOR EVERY ILL

Northeast Tennessee's most dire drug problem isn't crack,
methamphetamine or marijuana. Because of common medical practices and
the growing philosophy of a pill for every ill, Sullivan County
District Attorney Greeley Wells says prescription medications have
become the drug of choice for many.

"In numbers, what we're talking about in this area, the biggest
problem we see is with prescription drugs," Wells said.

In 2005, the 2nd Judicial District saw 93 people indicted for
prescription drug fraud. This year there have already been 48
separate counts of prescription fraud, with 32 defendants indicted.

Based on his caseload, Wells said folks in the middle to upper
classes appear most prone to abuse and becoming hooked on pills.

"My own personal feeling is there's a lot more prescriptions being
written for addictive painkilling medications than have been written
in the past," he said.

"I think the medical profession really should look at what they are
doing more closely in dispensing these drugs."

And, according to a recently released survey from the American
Prosecutors Research Institute, the Southeast is abusing prescription
medication at a rate higher than elsewhere in the country. Based on
the responses of 560 district attorneys, including Wells, the most
prevalent drugs in caseloads nationwide are marijuana, followed by
methamphetamine and cocaine.

Prescription drugs ranked fourth, and the survey noted that
"prosecutors in the Southern region had significantly more cases of
prescribed drugs when compared to other regions."

In 2002, according to health research company Novartis, Tennessee led
the country with an average of almost 18 prescriptions per person per
year. The Volunteer State's prescription-use rate has risen 28
percent since 1999 and is more than twice that of California.

"There is no question prescriptions are being written for pain
medication that are much stronger then needed to alleviate the pain
of the sufferer." Wells said.

"Pain is a relative matter, and it is a very subjective thing. I can
go to the doctor and tell them I'm in a great deal of pain, and the
doctor doesn't know if I am or not. If my objective is to get one of
these pain medications, I can fool the doctor by saying I'm in a
great deal of pain."

Wells and some members of the medical community believe medicine in
America has become compromised by special interests.

"I'm aware of cases where folks in the medical community have been
taken along on free vacation trips for the number of sales they've
(prescribed to patients)," Wells said.

Wells believes pain-management clinics - where morphine and methadone
are often prescribed for pain - are also a factor in people becoming addicts.

"The police that investigate those cases are certainly aware who
those physicians are," Wells said of pinpointing the source of
prescription abuse.

Though it doesn't possess methamphetamine's immediate, explosive
risks to a child's health, Wells sees a nation of pill-popping
children on the horizon.

"From talking with folks in juvenile court, and talking to school
children, prescription drugs are the biggest problems for our
children," Wells said. "It's trickling down. The drug cases that come
into juvenile court are mostly kids that have gotten into the
medicine cabinets of their parents or a friend's parents."

According to Novartis, U.S. consumers spent $115 billion on
prescription medication in 1999 -- about 10 prescriptions per person per year.

Wells sees the trend as creating an uphill battle for prosecutors,
law enforcement and families trying to battle prescription abuse.

"I'm concerned it's habituating a number of children into the
excessive and nonessential use of drugs," Wells said. "Unless
something occurs to break the trend I'm seeing right now, the outlook
is bleak. There are an increasing number of people becoming addicted
to prescription painkillers. As those numbers increase, dangers to
the public increase."