PRESCRIPTION PAINKILLERS REPLACING ILLEGAL NARCOTICS

Prescription painkillers may be replacing illegal narcotics as drugs
of choice, a sheriff's narcotics detective said.

And users are going through different means to get their hands on the
pills - through prescription forgeries, doctor shopping, drug store
robberies, home and auto burglaries and thefts from family medicine
cabinets, said Detective Jerremy Weaver.

For example, grand jurors indicted six people for prescription fraud
last week after Weaver accused them of forging a physician's
prescription 57 times to get Percocet, a prescription painkiller.

And a lone robber held up the CVS pharmacy on Southeast Broad Street
where he demanded not money but prescription medications.

"As this girl told me last week, 'Pills are the crack cocaine,'"
Weaver said. "I would estimate that probably 40 to 50 percent of the
activity we do in our office - undercover buys, illicit drugs - are
pharmaceutical related."

But Murfreesboro Police Lt. Eric Cook doesn't believe pills replace
crack cocaine from what he's observed in Murfreesboro.

"I don't know that pills are replacing cocaine as the drug of
choice," Cook said, but conceded, "It's definitely more prevalent
than it has been in years past. Mainly, it's the mimic opiate-based
drugs like OxyContin, hydrocodone and Percocet. It's almost like heroin."

Other similar drugs include methadone, Xanax, Dilaudid and Valium.

Pills are priced based on the milligram. For example, OxyContin with
80 milligrams may cost $80 apiece. Hydrocodone sells for about $10 to
$20 a tablet.

Both Weaver and Cook described the people using prescription drugs as
"drug seekers" rather than drug dealers.

Drug seekers usually start out with a legitimate reason such as a
severe injury to take prescribed medication.

"They become addicted to that specific pill," even though they
healed, Cook explained.

Once the prescription dries up, the "drug seeker" will try to get the
pills from other sources.

"There's a black market for pills out there," Cook said.

People will go to different doctors in an attempt to get
prescriptions, forge prescriptions, buy from other people or seek the
drugs from other countries online.

"You really don't know what's in them" if you order from outside the
U.S., he warned.

Murfreesboro vice detectives have worked a number of cases involved
prescription pills, including a delivery of 10,000 hydrocodone tablets.

Pharmacists and doctors report "drug-seeking behavior" to law
enforcement officers for investigation.

Weaver said the problem with prescription medications is becoming
overwhelming for investigators, especially with about 70 pharmacies
in the county.

Pharmacists should check written prescriptions and verify with the
doctor prescriptions called into the drug store.

"They don't want to fill bad prescriptions," Weaver said. "I've dealt
with every pharmacy in Rutherford County. They are more than
cooperative and helpful and forthcoming with information."

He urged pharmacists to follow the 2006 Prescription Monitoring
Program law to help combat the problem. The program information is
available to pharmacists but not law enforcement.

Pill use doesn't discriminate based on income. Weaver's found drug
seekers living in government housing to expensive $500,000 homes.

Besides the adult users who forge prescriptions, Weaver said pills
are appealing to teens.

"The access is they're so easy to get a hold of medicine cabinets at
home," Weaver noted.

Pills can be distributed to other classmates for misuse.

People who have information about misuse of prescription medication
may call Weaver at 895-3609 or Cook at 849-2652.

Director Karen Claud of the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of
Murfreesboro and Rutherford County said community residents can help
prevent illegal prescription medication abuse.

"Know who has access to your medications, lock them up or keep them
from being easily accessible and monitor the quantities so you will
know if some are missing and ask your pharmacists and doctors about
options to filling full prescriptions," Claud said. "If it is a new
medication, see if you can get a partial prescription filled until
you are sure the medication will work for you."