DILAUDID PASSES METH AS RURAL DRUG PROBLEM

The biggest drug problem in rural Tennessee may not be methamphetamine --
now the focus of a statewide campaign --but Dilaudid, a common painkiller
drug addicts have learned to abuse.

And Nashville plays a big part in the problem.

Dilaudid is an opium-based painkiller, which is usually prescribed for
post-surgical pain relief, management of acute or chronic pain, and relief
of cough and diarrhea.

However, drug addicts have learned to crush Dilaudid pills, liquefy them
and inject them into their bloodstream much like heroin.

Sheriff Lloyd Emmons, who organized a large drug round up in DeKalb County
Tuesday involving several local, state and federal law enforcement
agencies, said Dilaudid is the number one problem in his area.

"Dilaudid is a prescription drug... it's extremely addictive, it's a
Schedule II narcotics, and we have a large Dilaudid trade here in DeKalb
County. It is probably the largest drug problem as far as intravenous drug
use goes," Emmons said. "Methamphetamine runs a close second and then, of
course, we're awash in all these TennCare medications."

DeKalb County is a rural area about one hour from Nashville covering 305
square miles with a population of roughly 18,000 people.

Emmons started an intense drug investigation examining what kind of drugs
come into DeKalb County in October 2004 and asked the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation for support in spring of 2005.

What Emmons found was that methamphetamine started coming into DeKalb
County in the mid-1990s. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, people moved
into the area who taught others how to cook methamphetamine.

Because meth consumers in rural counties generally cook their own meth,
they cannot really make money from it, Emmons said.

But he found the big money in illegal drugs in his county was in Dilaudid.

"Dilaudid you can make money in," he said. "They sell it for about $13 a
pill in Nashville that sells for $25 to $30 here. So that's a problem."

Emmons said the Metro Police Department and the district attorney's office
are aware of the problem.

"[In] most counties in Middle Tennessee, if there is Dilaudid it's probably
coming out of Davidson County," Emmons said.

District Attorney Bill Gibson, who oversees seven counties including
DeKalb, said each county has its own predominant drug problem.

"In some places it's meth, in some crack cocaine, but there are several
areas that have a particular problem with prescription drugs," Gibson said.
"It flies under the radar screen because meth gets more attention."

But Gibson said Dilaudid is dangerous.

"We just tried a case where a young man killed both his grandparents,"
Gibson said, adding the defendant was on morphine and Dilaudid.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 48 million people older
than age 12 have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons.

"This represents approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population," Dr. Nora
Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, wrote in a letter
on the institute's Web site (www.nida.nih.gov).

The institute reported in 2004 that 9.3 percent of 12th graders surveyed
said they used Vicodin without a prescription in the past year, and 5
percent reported the use of OxyContin. Both prescriptions are used to treat
acute or chronic pain and are addictive.

Tuesday's round-up in DeKalb County targeted 79 individuals, many of whom
were accused of selling prescription drugs paid for by TennCare. Emmons
said two defendants were charged with marijuana abuse, and 12 were charged
with dealing Dilaudid.