ADDICTION'S LONG ARM

Fight Joined to Stem Youthful Opiod Abuse

The terrible and tragic wave of Connecticut teens and young adults
dying from heroin and abuse of prescription drugs reveals a
fundamental truth about drug abuse. Addiction has no boundaries or
borders ... Bridgeport, East Haddam, Glastonbury, Hartford, New
Haven, Newtown, Ridgefield and Southington. And it can be deadly.

Overdoses have claimed at least eight lives of high school and
college-age students in communities large and small during the past
year. Cheerleader, honor roll student, camp counselor, athlete --
youngsters just like those in your family or neighborhood.

They are young people who don't fit societal stereotypes about
"addicts." We mistakenly believe some families and communities are
immune to the problem, or somehow protected from the extraordinary
power of drug abuse. The deaths are occurring and more frequently.
Even as illegal drug use among teens has dropped, there is a
spreading, downward spiral from prescription drug abuse to heroin
among students as young as 13.

In the past 15 years, abuse of prescription drugs, including powerful
opioid painkillers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, has risen
alarmingly among all ages, growing fastest among college-age adults,
who lead all age groups in the misuse of medications. From 1992 to
2003, teen abuse of prescription drugs jumped 212 percentnationally,
nearly three times the increase of misuse among other adults. Abused
by an estimated one in five teens, prescription drugs are second only
to alcohol and marijuana as the substances they use to get high.

Fueling the increase is their availability, often as easy to access
as a medicine cabinet that is far less likely to be locked than a
liquor cabinet. Family, friends and classmates are the chief source
of supply for teens who perceive these medications to be safer than
illegal drugs because they are prescribed by a doctor.

Meanwhile, heroin, cheap and plentiful throughout the Northeast, has
been migrating into suburbs and rural areas where drug-trafficking
organizations are setting up shop. Higher purity levels allow it to
be smoked or snorted, removing the initial stigma of injection. For
teens and young adults who become addicted to opioid medications,
expense drives the shift to heroin. One oxycodone pill can cost $80
on the street, compared to $3 to $5 for a bag of heroin. As addiction
intensifies, many users end up injecting.

The state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has
joined with public health officials, prevention experts, treatment
specialists, doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement to stem this
crisis. Last summer, the state Department of Consumer Protection's
Division of Drug Control launched a prescription monitoring system
that enables doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement officials to
track doctor-shopping, misuse of legal prescriptions, patterns of
overprescribing by physicians and potentially dangerous drug interactions.

In September, a prescription drug task force, convened by Gov. M.
Jodi Rell and The Governor's Prevention Partnership, mobilized to
prepare a short- and long-term response to proliferating youth drug
abuse. The task force is reaching out to schools, communities,
pharmacies, doctors and parents.

A public effort is required to cut off the ready supply of
prescription drugs feeding this epidemic. This includes the unwitting
suppliers -- parents, grandparents and neighbors. Although the
federal government has approved legislation to crack down on
fraudulent Internet pharmacies, less than 1 percent of teens obtain
prescription medications online.

Clean out your medicine cabinets. Properly dispose of unneeded
medications and safeguard those truly needed. Discuss the dangers of
prescription drugs with your children and grandchildren so they
understand that legal medications, when used for unintended purposes,
can be just as lethal and addictive as illicit drugs.

New scientific research has taught us that the brain doesn't finish
developing until the mid-20s, especially the region that controls
impulse and judgment. Before our youth learn too late on their own,
it's up to the adults in their lives to educate them and eliminate the source.

To learn more, visit www.ctclearinghouse.org and click on Quick
Links, Quick Facts, or call 860-418-6962.