CARTERET 'DRUG DEAL' ADDRESSES A PROBLEM

MOREHEAD CITY - Vials of morphine and more than 40,000 pills of
various prescription medications were spread across the table at a
Wednesday press conference on Carteret County's latest drug operation.
But these drugs weren't seized via an undercover bust or arrest.
Citizens of the community voluntarily turned in expired medications
and pills they no longer needed as part of the recent "Pills Can Kill"
Prescription Drug Collection Day.

Collection points were set up at Food Lion grocery stores across the
county Sept. 27, giving residents an easy way to dispose of
medications and helping reduce the chance of the pills falling into
the hands of individuals who might abuse them.

"We have a severe problem in Carteret County - and it's not just in
Carteret County, it's statewide and nationwide - with the abuse of
prescription medications," said Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck. Buck
said 40 percent of the drug cases investigated by the sheriff's office
last year were prescription pill cases, and there are larcenies,
break-ins and home invasion cases directly related to prescription
drug abuse. The "Pills Can Kill" event was an effort to reduce the
availability of the drugs in cooperation with the community.

"It's very important for us for the law enforcement aspect of it to
try and get people to determine whether or not they need these pills
in their home anymore and, if they are not needed, to turn them in and
let us destroy them; thereby reducing the number and sheer amount of
these medications that are out in the community," Buck said.

The prescription medications collected ranged from vials of morphine
to patches and pills of painkillers, as well as heart and seizure
medications. The medications will be destroyed in an incinerator and
the county's first "Pills Can Kill" collection day was seen as a
success, but law enforcement officials said the medications spread out
in front of them were only a small part of what's out there.

"This was (collected) over four hours," said Morehead City Police
Department Maj. Richard Abell. "I think it's just a small indication."
Law enforcement agencies aren't alone in their efforts to tackle
prescription drug abuse in the county Healthy Carolinians of Carteret
County, a nonprofit group focused on addressing the health and
well-being of Carteret County citizens, has launched an educational
campaign targeting the issue. "We found out in a 2005 health
assessment that Carteret County citizens were very worried about
substance abuse and then had forums about substance abuse over the
next two years and found out that prescription drug abuse is a leading
problem in this county," said Dr. Gwen Solan Littman, a member of the
Healthy Carolinians board and chairman of the 2008 Prescription Drug
Abuse Prevention & Education Campaign.

Littman said the campaign addresses multiple aspects of the problem,
from educating the public about the safe use of prescription
medication to the proper storage and disposal of medications.

"We're really concerned with the problem from across the spectrum;
about children getting hold of them, about adverse drug reactions;
about drug overdoses; about drug addictions," she said. "There's a
huge problem." She said the medications should not be shared and only
taken as prescribed, and they recommend keeping prescription drugs in
a locked box rather than in medicine cabinets or drawers and cabinets.

She points to the findings of one study as good reason for keeping
medications safely stored away. In that nationwide study, more than 70
percent of individuals who abused prescription medications indicated
they got them from friends or family members.

Buck said the effort to reduce the abuse of prescription medication is
a public health issue as much as a law enforcement one. "More people
die from overdosing on prescription medication than they do ingesting
illegal street drugs," he said.

With the success of the first "Pills Can Kill" event, the prescription
drug collection day could become a regular event.

But Buck said residents don't have to wait for another collection day
to turn in any expired or unwanted medications. He said they can drop
them off at the sheriff's office or their local police department.
Participating in the "Pills Can Kill" Prescription Drug Collection Day
were the Carteret County Sheriff's Office; the Morehead City,
Beaufort, Atlantic Beach, Pine Knoll Shores, Indian Beach and Emerald
Isle police departments; and volunteers with the Carteret County
Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force. Food Lion Corporation allowed
the use of its stores for the event.