DRUG OVERDOSE REVEALS GROWING PROBLEM

Six Deaths Involve Prescriptions

Gulfport Tops List

GULFPORT - Prescription drug overdoses have claimed 29 lives in
Harrison County since January, compared to 46 drug overdoses in 2002.
Where the overdoses occurred this year through Aug. 25:

. Gulfport: 10

. Biloxi: 8

. Harrison County: 6

. Long Beach: 3

. Pass Christian: 2

Deadly Drugs

Several types of controlled substances caused the recent drug
overdoses reported by the Harrison County Coroner's Office, but
oxycodone remains the deadliest prescription drug in the state. Some
of the drugs, what they're for, and their brand names:

. Alprazolam: An anti-anxiety medication also sold as Xanax.

. Hydrocodone: A pain reliever considered as potent as oral morphine and
also used to control coughing. Also sold as Lortab, Lorcet, Tussionex,
Tylox, Vicodin, Vicoprofen, Anexsia, Hycodan and Hycomine.

. Methadone: A pain reliever also used to treat heroin addicts. Also
sold as Dolophine, Methadose and Amidone.

. Oxycodone: A time-released pain reliever for severe pain, often given
to cancer patients. Brand names include OxyContin and OxyIR, but it's
also in combination products such as Percodan and Percocet.

. Soma: A muscle relaxer.

[source] - Drug Enforcement Administration

By the Numbers

. 525 drug arrests in Harrison County last fiscal year by the state
Bureau of Narcotics ranks the county as having the highest number of
drug arrests statewide for at least three consecutive years.

. About 12 percent of drug arrests statewide by MBN agents last fiscal
year involved prescription drugs, along with heroin, LSD and MDMA,
also known as ecstasy.

. Nine Mississippi doctors investigated by DEA last year were asked to
surrender their licenses. Since January, DEA has asked another six
doctors.

. 51 complaints investigated by the State Medical Licensure Board in
the past fiscal year resulted in disciplinary action against two
doctors, one pending case on appeal and eight doctors asked to
surrender their licenses.

. 300 is the average number of complaints against doctors received
each year by the State Medical Licensure Board, which is one of three
licensing agencies. The other agencies that license doctors are the
DEA and the State Board of Pharmacy.

For at least two years, Jared Bishop of Gulfport routinely visited a
Houston doctor who kept him supplied with prescriptions for methadone
and generic Xanax, drugs his family doesn't believe he needed.

Then the side effects snowballed. The 23-year-old hotel bellman lost
his job and moved into his parents' home with his toddler. Money and
family belongings began to disappear. He became a different person. In
May, his temper led to a domestic violence conviction and a court
order to attend anger-management classes.

His mother, Susan Bishop, said she hoped his brush with the law would
force him to realize he needed help.

"He denied having a drug problem and he wouldn't listen to us," she
said.

Jared Bishop died of an unintentional overdose Aug. 23, a day after he
picked up another round of prescriptions.

He is one of six Harrison County residents who died of a prescription
drug overdose in a recent two-week period. Four of the six deaths
involved methadone, a medication so powerful and addictive that it's
considered a controlled substance, said Harrison County Coroner Gary
Hargrove.

Bishop's death brings to 29 the number of drug-related deaths
countywide from January through August. Last year, drugs killed 46
people in Harrison County and 31 people in Jackson County.

The growing death toll raises concerns about the dangers associated
with controlled substances and how easy it is for people to get them.

In Bishop's case, his family believes he lied about symptoms to get
the prescriptions. He died unintentionally after taking too much
methadone and alprazolam, also sold as Xanax. Either drug can be
deadly, but the combination increases the risk, said Harrison County
Coroner Gary Hargrove.

According to DEA, Mississippi has a major problem with people stealing
controlled substances from pharmacies or hospitals, buying them
illegally from others, altering prescriptions to increase the quantity
or going "doctor shopping," which means visiting several doctors to
get multiple prescriptions.

Unscrupulous doctors are more commonly found in larger cities such as
New Orleans, Mobile and Houston, Gulfport Police Capt. Pat Pope said.
However, "I'm not saying we don't have dirty doctors, but they are few
and far between.

"But once the word gets out that a doctor has given the pills that
somebody wants, it's like a bear attracted to honey. Addicts have an
intelligence network of their own."

Authorities have heard that some doctors even ask patients to slip $25
in cash in an envelope for a legal defense fund. Or the doctor sets up
shop, opening his doors only at night and suddenly leaves town.

"Regardless of where you go, you're always going to find a doctor
who's simply there to make money from drug abusers," said DEA Agent Ed
Dickey.

About 98 percent of the state's doctors want to do the right thing by
prescribing the proper drugs when patients describe symptoms that can
be improved by those drugs, said W.J. Burnett, director of the state
Medical Licensure Board.

"A big problem we face is that there's no central database set up on
doctors and patients who may be drug-seekers," Burnett said.

In a pending case, a white-collar professional in Jackson visited 64
doctors for the same prescription and none of the doctors knew about
the others, Burnett said.

The board's eight investigators spend 65 percent of their time
visiting pharmacies to identify drug-seekers.

DEA and MBN also have agents who specialize in prescription drug
problems.

But even if a doctor suspects a patient has a drug problem, the
federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA,
prohibits him from discussing a patient's case with family members
without permission.

"Nine out of 10 times, people who are hooked on drugs aren't going to
openly admit it or go for help," Hargrove said.

"Family members, school officials and employers can choose to ignore
the symptoms. But if they do, death's going to be the result."