LATEST OD HIGHLIGHTS PROBLEM OF PILL MILLS

Prescribing For Profit

Overdoses by area

LONG BEACH - Drug overdoses in Harrison County have claimed 35 lives this
year, compared to 46 last year.

The Coroner's Office reports that only five of the deaths this year were
intentional, compared to nine intentional drug deaths last year.

The number of drug deaths this year through Nov. 3:

Long Beach: 8

Pass Christian: 1

Gulfport: 13

Biloxi: 7

Harrison County: 6

Surviving overdoses

While death statistics speak for themselves, there are no solid numbers
available to show how many people in Harrison County survive drug overdoses.

Several hospitals declined to provide numbers. Those who did said their
overdose reports include allergic reactions and poisonings in the same
category. The numbers from last year:

. Biloxi Regional Medical Center, Biloxi: 53

. Garden Park Medical Center, Gulfport: 204

. American Medical Response: 618

A Long Beach woman is the second Harrison County resident since August to
die of an unintentional drug overdose from prescriptions written by doctors
in Houston.

Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove confirmed that a 34-year-old woman
died Monday of an overdose of OxyContin and methadone. That doctor, and the
physician who prescribed the drugs that killed a 23-year-old Gulfport man
in August, are suspected "drug shop" doctors, Hargrove said.

The doctor that wrote prescriptions for the Gulfport man has been linked
with several other drug deaths in Harrison County.

The trend shows that "drug shops" or "pill mills" are hitting home,
Hargrove said, using terms that refer to unscrupulous doctors who prescribe
painkillers for profit, not for medicinal purposes.

"In my opinion, we should be able to charge them with manslaughter,"
Hargrove said.

Prescription drug deaths continue to rise in Harrison County, where 35
people have died of overdoses this year. Long Beach has the highest fatal
drug death rate per capita in the county.

The Long Beach woman who was found dead at her home Monday morning got the
OxyContin from a Houston doctor, but she did not have a prescription for
the methadone, Hargrove said.

The coroner said she had no valid reason for taking either drug.

Jared Bishop's parents have said he didn't need the prescription drugs that
killed him Aug. 23. Bishop overdosed on methadone and generic Xanax. The
Gulfport resident traveled to Houston for about two years to get his
prescriptions, his family said.

Overdoses by age

A Sun Herald analysis of drug-related deaths recorded by the Harrison
County Coroner's Office this year shows that 80 percent of the victims are
"thirty-something."

A breakdown by age category for drug deaths this year:

Up to age 20: 1

21 to 30: 6

31 to 40: 14

41 to 50: 8

51 to 60: 3

61 to 70: 3