PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE IN DANBURY AREA IS STEALING LIVES

Ridgefield substance abuse therapist Liz Jorgensen is shocked that no
one has hit the panic button yet over the latest drug abuse trends.

Statistics indicate prescription drug overdoses are killing nice kids
from nice families in well-to-do communities all over the country.

Prescription drug use in Connecticut now kills more people under the
age of 34 than car crashes, Jorgensen said, quoting a national study
of figures from 2006 released this year.

Nationwide, 45,000 are killed in car crashes; 39,000 die from
prescription drug overdoses, according to the study.

"Why isn't everybody freaking out?" asked Jorgensen, who owns Insight
Counseling and leads educational seminars and workshops on substance
abuse. "It's terrifying."

Jorgensen's professional network and private practice indicate an
increasing number of teens are dying from the scourge of prescription
drugs, particularly opiates that mimic heroin. She said kids do not
perceive the addictive danger of these drugs.

Jorgensen said some teens get hooked on heroin when the price of
narcotic painkillers gets too high.

In recent months, Jorgensen said she has sent 30 of her patients under
age 22 to in-patient treatment for opiate abuse. They all started
using strong painkillers and then moved toward heroin as a cheaper
alternative.

One OxyContin pill -- a trademark version of the narcotic painkiller
oxycodone -- costs about $80; a gram of cocaine is $50, and heroin is
even cheaper at about $10 a bag, area experts said.

Jorgensen and other substance abuse specialists said opiates -- many
found in bathroom cabinets and family medicine drawers -- are quite
prevalent and accessible. Not only are they addictive, too often they
can prove deadly when combined with other medications or alcohol.

The much-publicized death of a 17-year-old Newtown High School
student, Danielle Jacobsen, just before her graduation ignited renewed
concern about these troubling trends, according to area substance
abuse specialists.

The investigation determined Jacobsen ingested a relatively unknown
drug at a party in a Monroe condominium complex and early the next
morning was found dead in a nearby pond.

Soon after news broke about Jacobsen's death, rumors started to
circulate about teens who attend "pharm" parties, where unknown brands
of prescription drugs are offered to guests.

Local substance abuse officials and police said they think that is
relatively rare. Rather, they said, teens tend to sell or barter
prescription drugs raided from family stashes, with some even stealing
the drugs or altering medications they are able to buy over the counter.

"I don't think this 'bowl thing' is exactly what it looks like," said
Allison Fulton, executive director of the Housatonic Valley Coalition
Against Substance Abuse. "But prescription drugs are out there.

Students don't just abuse narcotic painkillers, Fulton
said.

She said she regularly hears of teens and young adults abusing
attention deficit disorder and anti-anxiety drugs, as well as taking
over-the-counter cough medications in higher doses than advised.

Cocaine is making a resurgence in some of the wealthier towns, and
heroin use is clearly on the rise and readily available, she said.

Fulton also is highly concerned about underage drinking and marijuana
use. She and others said that often is the beginning of drug
exploration by teens and young adults. If not stopped early it can
fuel addictions that lead them crave other drugs.

"It's pretty scary," Fulton said.

Newtown Parent Connection co-founder Dorrie Carolan said the
availability of prescription drugs is cause for concern. In recent
months, she has received calls about overdosing teens who ended up in
emergency rooms and some in relapse after a period of sobriety.

Teens most vulnerable to these drugs tend to be those with lower
self-esteem who are yearning for peer acceptance or approval, Carolan
said.

"When they are high, they feel good," she said.

As for the cult or rare, drugs, Carolan said she doesn't hear much
about that. Rather, it is opiates, prescription narcotics and heroin.
She also hears from teens about marijuana experimentation, and the pot
teens smoke today is far more potent than what their parents might
have tried years ago.

Most disturbing, though, is teens mixing drugs and alcohol, she
said.

"They all think they are invincible, nothing's going to happen,"
Carolan said, noting she has attended far too many funerals of
teenagers whose friends' final goodbye is a night of drinking and
drugging. "When there's a death, it raises awareness, but two weeks
later everyone goes back to their day-to-day routines."

Some overdose deaths go unreported as such, deemed accidental or
linked to some other health ailment, local specialists said. Families
fear the stigma, so they stay silent.

But Carolan, a mother who helped create the coalition in 1999 as a
response to the prescription drug overdose of her 28-year-old son,
Brian, chooses to fight back by educating all those who can make a
difference: parents, teachers, doctors, social service providers and
their peers.

The coalition wants to ensure that addicted teens and their families
find the right treatment the first time or for a relapse; embrace the
success of a recently sober teen; and educate the entire community on
prevention techniques and why this problem can affect everyone.

Carolan said teen drug abuse hurts senior citizens when they cross
paths with an impaired driver; it hurts the unsuspecting student who
shares the locker next to someone dealing drugs or the neighbor whose
house is burglarized by someone looking for prescription
medications.

"When we started Parent Connection, we figured it would be worth it if
we saved one life. And we have seen many, many kids stay clean for
years, and some of those kids have given a lot back to their
community," Carolan said.

But the effort to halt drug abuse requires constant community
vigilance, Carolan and others said.

Parents, schools, law enforcement, the medical profession, civic
leaders, and the media need to be banging the drum about the realities
so the danger is clear and easy access diminishes, the local experts
said.

"What needs to happen is a whole culture shift," Fulton said, citing
the success of the decades-long anti-smoking campaign that taught the
public its health risks.

"We can't be Pollyanna about it. We have to create real awareness
about what is going on ... and get kids to be more informed," Fulton
said.