PRESCRIPTION ABUSE NEW DRUG WAR TARGET

The White House is taking aim at the illegal use of legal drugs and
Gloucester County police officials think that's a good idea.

On Monday, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
unveiled a new anti-drug strategy that targets the use of pain
relievers, sedatives and stimulants for non-medical purposes,
something the White House says has exploded in the last 10 years.

A key part of the policy is to step up state monitoring programs to
track a person's use of prescription medications. Such programs red
flag cases in which there seems to be a pattern of abuse such as
doctor shopping, where patients get prescriptions from several doctors.

Twenty states have prescription monitoring programs and John Waters,
the director of the drug policy office, said he expects to expand the
program to 11 more states by next year. Approximately $10 million in
federal funds will pay for the additional programs.

"This is a refocusing," said Washington Township Police Chief Francis
Burke.

"As the other drugs exploded in the '80s, I think they kind of
downplayed some of the other stuff and now we're back to a
prescription drug abuse," he said.

"Obviously it has increased because the numbers of these things is out
there," Burke said.

"The last big case that our people worked on, one in particular,
OxyContin was part of it," he said.

"I almost haven't worked a drug case with illegal drugs that
prescription drugs that are being abused haven't been involved, too.
It's very common," said Burke.

"A lot of people who abuse illegal drugs need those legal
pharmaceutical drugs to counter some of the bad effects," he said.
"That's why I think they're in combination quite frequently. That's
what I've seen in my experience."

Elk Township Police Chief Steve Brogan spent 13 years as a member of
the Gloucester County Narcotics Strike Force.

When he last was involved in drug investigations a couple of years
ago, "I can tell you OxyContin was hitting the scene hard. They were
burglarizing doctors' offices and pharmacies" and even veterinarians'
offices to get pain medications, Brogan said.

"Back when we were doing prescription drug investigations, there was
no way to tell (who was abusing prescriptions) unless they hit the
same place. Unless we went to every drug store in a three-county area,
there was no way to find out," Brogan said.

"We'd get a lot of guys who legitimately don't use drugs and get into
an accident or something and then they become addicted to pain killers
and pretty much do anything to get them, so I think it's definitely
going to be a benefit," said Brogan.

Franklin Township Lt. Michael DiGiorgio spent a decade on the
Narcotics Strike Force.

"It really is a problem. We had a lot of cases where we had diversion,
people diverting prescription drugs, we had a lot of prescription
fraud and there's a lot of abuse for prescription drugs," said DiGiorgio.

One of the tactics is that "they doctor shop, they pharmacy shop and
that's how they get around," he explained.

DiGiorgio agreed with Brogan about how some patients become addicted
to the drugs.

"That's when the prescription fraud starts and they start buying them
from illegal sources," he said.

"It is very big, a serious problem. I'm glad that someone's identified
it," DiGiorgio said.

Prescription medicine now ranks second, behind marijuana, among drugs
most abused by adults and young people, said a report by the drug
policy office, citing a recent study by the federal Health and Human
Services Department.