RESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE KILLED MORE THAN 160 PEOPLE IN BROWARD IN
2005, REPORT SHOWS

Law enforcement officers from across the state are meeting in Fort
Lauderdale today to discuss a phenomenon that killed more than 160
people in Broward County last year: prescription drug abuse.

They do so on the heels of a Florida Medical Examiners Commission
report released this week showing Broward County, more than any
district in Florida, had more deaths in which alprazolam, the generic
form of Xanax, and diazepam, the generic Valium, were present.
Broward also ranked high in deaths from oxycodone -- the generic
Oxycontin -- methadone and heroin, the report said.

The numbers reflect an alarming increase in Broward County of
prescription drug abuse, experts say. That increase has challenged
law enforcement, medical examiners and drug treatment centers.

Police are finding themselves ill-equipped to combat prescription
drug abuse, said Charles Cihon, executive director of the National
Association of Drug Diversion Investigators. His organization is
sponsoring today's Florida Training Conference at the Harbor Beach
Marriott in Fort Lauderdale to teach new methods of investigating
these crimes. He said looking into an illegal pill mill, for example,
is quite different from probing a suspected crack house.

"You're not kicking in the doctor's office door or the pharmacy,"
Cihon said. "Many times it's a long, drawn-out investigation that
requires a lot of work."

Medical examiners have had to change their methods of determining
prescription drug abuse, said Dr. Joshua Perper, Broward County's
medical examiner. Toxicologists need better equipment that can detect
a greater variety of substances in blood and other fluids.

The demandsfor drug treatment centers across the state have also increased.

"This is a steady and constant problem for a very long time," said
Dr. Richard Seely, a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction
medicine and directs the Family Hospital in Sunrise and another
program in North Miami. "It's just part of the addiction environment
that we're in."

People's addictions are growing more dangerous, with more
prescriptionpills mixed with other drugs to make toxic cocktails, Seely said.

"Most of all, the Xanax. The Xanax bars are just street currency for
a lot of people, with the real tragedy being the kids," he said.
"They take two or three of these bars and drink a few beers and smash
their car into a tree."

All agreed the problem will likely grow worse and the drugs of choice
probably will change.

Already in Broward, authorities are seeing the painkiller Roxicet
abused more and more, Seely said. In the greater Detroit area, 44
people died in two weeks after taking the painkiller fentanyl with
heroin or cocaine, The Associated Press has reported.