Abuse of prescription
drugs a growing problem in Cache Prescription drug abuse
By Diana Hurren
November 7, 2005 | Over
15 million Americans abused prescription medications
in 2003, making this one of the fastest growing and
most serious drug problems in America.
Abuse rates are high across the nation
and Utah is no exception, nor is Cache Valley. The National
Survey on Drug Use and Health discovered that the
highest percentage of intentional abuse occurs among
university age students ages 18-25. In a spring 2005
survey, 26 percent of Utah State University students
reported they use prescription drugs, but not as prescribed.
While discussing a Logan
pharmacy robbery that took place in September 2005,
Capt. Dave Tarbet of the Logan City Police Department
said, "It brings the rising problem of prescription
drug abuse close to home."
"The bottom line is this: our
nation is in the throes of an epidemic of controlled
prescription drug abuse and addiction," said Joseph
A. Califano, Jr., chairman and president of the National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA).
"Today more people are abusing prescription drugs than
the combined number who abuse cocaine, hallucinogens,
inhalants and heroin. And that number underestimates
significantly the extent of the epidemic."
Accessibility to prescription drugs
is high, which may help explain the rapid increase in
abuse. These types of drugs can be obtained by abusers
through dealers, doctor shopping, pharmaceutical theft
and can also be found in medicine cabinets in almost
every home across the nation. Controlled substances
have recently become easily available over the internet
as well. According to a study done by CASA, 94 percent
of pharmaceutical websites did not require any prescription
to order drugs, making the internet a huge source that
needs proper regulation.
Many prescription drug addicts in
the Logan area are "innocent addicts"; our society trusts
medical doctors too much, and a lot of people are starting
to fall into the "prescription trap," said Roland Parent,
Deputy Director of Substance Abuse Diversion at Bear
River Health Center. Too many doctors prescribe medication
according to patient-described symptoms rather than
tests, which is feeding the problem with legal abuse
especially Parent said.
"People need to stop looking
to a prescription bottle for every answer to life,"
said local pharmacist Mike Hale. Hale said that doctors
hand out drugs entirely too easily to patients who simply
want them, but may not necessarily need them.
Pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants,
and sedatives tend to be the most commonly abused prescription
medications. The prevention specialist at USU's Wellness
Center, Jana Carling said Vicodin, Lortab, and Oxycontin
are currently some of the most popular drugs being abused
locally.
The effects of abuse are different
for each drug, but all can be very severe and cause
long lasting damages. Many leave abusers with serious
addictions that can be hard to stop. "I had to have
the drug to function," said Doug, a former addict of
prescription pain killers, who requested his last name
not be used in this story. Doug said when he did not
have the drug in his body, he was in so much pain that
he always just wanted and needed a little more.
Prescription pills are being sold
for approximately $1 to $1.50 a milligram on the street
which makes the addictive habit very expensive for users.
Doug said he knows countless abusers who resort to pawning
stolen items, check fraud and drug dealing to support
their own addiction.
"Eighty-five percent of offenders
have a drug problem that drives their criminal behavior,"
Parent said, because often addicts will do almost anything
to get their next fix.
Drug abuse is not only costing addicts
a great deal of money, but the rest of America is spending
a lot of money on it too. Figures from The National Drug Control
Policy show that in 1999 local, state and federal
governments combined spent over $30 billion on drug
control.
The Bear
River Health Center, the only treatment facility
for drug abusers in Cache Valley, treats all forms of
drug addiction. Counseling and therapy are the best
ways to fight addiction, said Parent, because addiction
is considered to be a disease that takes hold in the
mind and not just the body as many people think.
"The addiction is all in your
mind," Doug said. "I don't think you can stop until
you really decide that you want to; nobody else can
make you stop."
What can you do if you know somebody
suffering from an addiction? "Support them in whatever
choice they make. If they choose to get help, go with
them. If they choose not to get help, let them know
you still care without having to accept the behavior,"
said Carling.
According to the National
Institute on Drug Abuse, the responsibility of preventing
and stopping the misuse of prescription drugs lies in
patients, healthcare professionals and pharmacists together.
Patients need to take prescription medications as prescribed
and to stop using them immediately when they are no
longer needed, said Carling.
Parent said, "We are not doing enough
to educate our public about the problem." He also said
doctors should be receiving a better education on addiction
specifically in order to understand it and help control
it.
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