Prescription
drug abuse is
a local problem
By BRIAN SLUPSKI - bslupski@nwherald.com
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| Klonopin (left) and Oxycontin sit in evidence bags at the McHenry County Government Center Sheriff's Department. (Nick Dentamaro – ndentamaro@nwherald.com) |
Diazepam. Nordiazepam. Oxycodone. Amiodipine. Oxazepam. Temazepam. Hydromorphone. Oxymorphone.
The list of drugs seems like it should be the inventory of a pharmacy.
But the list represents the toxicology results of just one of 18 drug overdose deaths in McHenry County so far this year. In the vast majority of the deaths, prescription drugs played a role. Of the 18 deaths, 14 are considered to have been accidental, three were suicides and in one the cause has not been determined.
“A lot of people who get addicted think that because it came from a doctor, it can’t hurt [them],” said Chris Gleason, director of substance abuse services for Family Service & Community Mental Health Center for McHenry County.
The death of Michael Jackson and subsequent investigation of his doctor, Conrad Murray, once again has thrust the topic of prescription drug abuse into national headlines. Although the results of Jackson’s toxicology report still is pending, there have been multiple reports that the pop singer had a prescription drug problem.
The Jackson story stirred public interest, but some who treat drug addiction worry that it is more spectacle than a serious discussion of a real problem. Generally, there are two kinds of people who abuse prescription medications: People who were legitimately prescribed medication and become addicted, and people who are just looking to get high. The latter category often involves young adults and teenagers.
In February 2007, the Office of National Drug Control Policy issued a report that found, “Among young people ages 12-17, prescription drugs have become the second most abused illegal drug, behind marijuana.” The report also found that “there are troubling signs that teens view abusing prescription drugs as safer than illegal drugs and parents are unaware of the problem.”
“The kids who are abusing drugs often are getting them from their parents’ medicine cabinet,” said Rick Atwater, director of Northwest Community Counseling in Crystal Lake and Woodstock. “The parents might even be using the drugs legitimately.”
Atwater said that about 90 percent of the teenagers in his weekly substance abuse group typically had abused prescription drugs.
“[Prescription drugs are] in the mix now, where maybe 10 years ago it wasn’t in the mix, generally,” Atwater said.
The practice of “pharming,” in which various medications are poured into a bowl and randomly consumed by teenagers and young adults at parties, poses a serious and potentially lethal health threat, said Brian Fingerson, a pharmacist who runs the Kentucky Professionals Recovery Network.
“If someone is at one of these parties and they are naive to these drugs, what can happen is that they end up passed out in the corner, and then no one notices that they’ve turned blue until the next day,” Fingerson said.
Atwater said that parents need to keep track of their prescription medications and control access to them. He said when they are done with a prescription, the medication should be disposed of properly.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that poisoning was second only to motor-vehicle crashes as a cause of death from unintentional injury. Most poisoning deaths were drug-related and most drug poisonings resulted from the abuse of prescription and illegal drugs. The CDC reported that in 2005, there were 23,618 accidental poisoning deaths in the United States. The number of deaths has been steadily rising since 1992.
Gleason said the problem of prescription drug abuse and addiction is a community issue. He said it was the main issue for 10 percent to 15 percent of Family Service’s clients. Sometimes, Gleason said, people simply develop a problem based on taking a prescription for a long time. Eventually, the problem for which the medication was prescribed goes away, but they continue to use the drugs.
“One of the difficult things is that someone who is addicted to prescription medication usually doesn’t see themselves as an addict,” Gleason said. “They think, ‘I just take medication.’ ”
Fingerson said that medical professionals who write prescriptions for medication need to do a better job of monitoring how the drugs are being used.
“There is very little training of health care professionals on the disease of addiction,” Fingerson said.
Gleason said he’d like to see a national database that would assist doctors in tracking prescriptions that have been given to patients. Gleason said people need to have a better awareness of what they are taking and its effects.
“This is a problem in McHenry County,” Gleason said. “We’re not unlike any other place in the country.”
