NARCOTICS TEAM TO BATTLE PRESCRIPTION-DRUG ABUSE

GULFPORT - A drug diversion unit introduced Monday will combat
prescription-drug abuse, which has claimed 50 lives in Harrison County this
year.

The Coastal Narcotics Enforcement Team will coordinate the full-time unit
of four officers, said Capt. Pat Pope, who directs CNET and the Gulfport
Police Department's narcotics team.

The diversion unit will tackle drug-related problems such as prescription
fraud, thefts, embezzlements and robberies. The unit is composed of police
officers from Long Beach and Gulfport and agents from the Mississippi
Bureau of Narcotics. The unit also will investigate cases in Hancock and
Stone counties.

Prescription-drug overdoses claimed 46 lives in Harrison County last year.
The growing death toll shows it's time for agencies to share resources that
could save lives, Pope said.

"If 50 people had died of West Nile Virus this year, there would be
mosquito nets everywhere and we would have the National Guard out spraying
and draining swamps," he said.

"We're also going after unscrupulous physicians, or 'dirty doctors,' who
work outside the scope of their practice," he said.

The diversion agents will work under cover and build relationships with
pharmacists to catch people who alter or forge legal prescriptions. Fraud
is one of the most common methods that drug addicts use to obtain
prescription drugs, Pope said.

"Name a drugstore, and I can take you there and find an altered or forged
prescription in 30 minutes," he said.

"I can find one in 10 minutes," countered Sam Owens, MBN's southern region
director.

Only a few states have a centralized computer system that keeps track of
prescriptions for controlled substances. Until Mississippi begins to use
that technology, CNET's diversion unit will search pharmacy records to find
instances of "doctor shopping," a term for visiting several doctors to get
multiple prescriptions, Pope said.

Most of Harrison County's fatal overdoses were unintentional and the result
of mixing drugs or alcohol. One recent death involved only five pills taken
within four hours, Pope said.

"It's not a matter of body size. It's a genetic thing," he said. "You could
take the same pills as me, and I would be fine but it would kill you. Every
person's body is different."

The diversion unit's work is similar to MBN's efforts, said Dwayne Brewer
of MBN's Gulfport district, but "a small police agency just doesn't have
the manpower to do this full time."

"We do now," Long Beach Police Chief Harley Schinker said, referring to the
CNET unit. Long Beach has the highest drug fatality rate per capita in
Harrison County.

CNET is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.