Prescription Drug Abuse in Collier County on the rise.
Knowing someone who abuses prescription medications is very difficult.
Note: This talks about DEATHS by prescription drugs but the amount of the ADDICTICTED is much much greater, and includes the tweens, the teens and those who never grew up and are "stuck" in life.
This is in addition to the "normal" abuser of prescription drugs, the stereotypical middle aged woman who is bored with life, somewhat attention seeking, in pain and always at doctors offices for mysterious reasons. [commentary on article by Ken, the webmaster]
COLLIER COUNTY — The most popular drugs in Florida aren’t scored in back lots or dark alleys.
They are found in a friend’s medicine cabinet or purchased in a local pain clinic.
Prescription drugs have eclipsed street narcotics as the most common abused drug in the state, not including alcohol, and the most lethal. In Collier County, data indicates that prescription drug abuse among teenagers may be higher than in other parts of the state.
On Wednesday, Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk warned a group of anti-drug advocates that an “epidemic” was approaching, and that the tools for fighting it aren’t the same as for other drugs.
“We cannot get into friends’ and families’ homes as law enforcement,” he said during the annual meeting of Drug Free Collier, a group of law enforcement, social service providers and parents, among others.
Statistics are concerning:
n Of drug-caused deaths in Florida in 2008, Oxycodone lead all other substances with 941. Next were Benzodiazepines, a class of painkiller that includes brand names Xanax and Valium with 929, and Methadone, a cheap painkiller once used to fight heroin addiction, with 693. Cocaine use, meanwhile, resulted in 648 deaths, and alcohol was blamed for 489.
n 65 percent of non-medical users obtained prescription drugs through friends or families, while 19 percent of drugs were obtained through doctors. A mere 4 percent of pills were obtained through drug deals with strangers.
n Florida is home to the top 25 pain management clinics in the country, by volume of pills sold.
n A recent survey of Collier County high school students found that 12 percent of students claimed they used prescription drugs non-medically in the previous 30 days. The state average is 9 percent, according to Maria Delgado, executive director of Drug Free Collier.
“It is the most illicitly used drug today, except for marijuana,” Rambosk said.
Collier County Medical Examiner Marta Coburn recalls her recognition of the problem when in 1998, her first autopsy of the year was an overdose. Previously, overdoses had been few and far-between; alcohol was the drug of choice for Collier County, she said.
“That, really for me, it was a red flag,” she said.
Overdoses have only risen with time, Coburn said. The drugs of choice are Methadone and Alprazolam.
In 2008, Coburn’s office saw 57 deaths in which the drugs were present in the toxicology report. Oxycodone was found in 24 examinations.
The drugs are most lethal when mixed together or with alcohol.
Combatting prescription drug use could be more difficult than fighting street narcotics.
“This is a parent problem and a family problem and a community problem,” said Coburn.
State lawmakers addressed the problem this year when they passed a law requiring prescriptions at pain clinics be recorded in a state database within 15 days. The law attempts to close a loophole allowing users and dealers to travel between “pill mills,” typically on the state’s east coast, collecting identical prescriptions.
Rambosk said the law is too weak.
“We don’t need it in 15 days,” he said. “We need it in real time. So that when you go and purchase in one location and an hour later you purchase in another location, and an hour later in another location, someone needs to stop it.”
Rate this! 1-5 starsThis is in addition to the "normal" abuser of prescription drugs, the stereotypical middle aged woman who is bored with life, somewhat attention seeking, in pain and always at doctors offices for mysterious reasons. [commentary on article by Ken, the webmaster]
COLLIER COUNTY — The most popular drugs in Florida aren’t scored in back lots or dark alleys.
They are found in a friend’s medicine cabinet or purchased in a local pain clinic.
Prescription drugs have eclipsed street narcotics as the most common abused drug in the state, not including alcohol, and the most lethal. In Collier County, data indicates that prescription drug abuse among teenagers may be higher than in other parts of the state.
On Wednesday, Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk warned a group of anti-drug advocates that an “epidemic” was approaching, and that the tools for fighting it aren’t the same as for other drugs.
“We cannot get into friends’ and families’ homes as law enforcement,” he said during the annual meeting of Drug Free Collier, a group of law enforcement, social service providers and parents, among others.
Statistics are concerning:
n Of drug-caused deaths in Florida in 2008, Oxycodone lead all other substances with 941. Next were Benzodiazepines, a class of painkiller that includes brand names Xanax and Valium with 929, and Methadone, a cheap painkiller once used to fight heroin addiction, with 693. Cocaine use, meanwhile, resulted in 648 deaths, and alcohol was blamed for 489.
n 65 percent of non-medical users obtained prescription drugs through friends or families, while 19 percent of drugs were obtained through doctors. A mere 4 percent of pills were obtained through drug deals with strangers.
n Florida is home to the top 25 pain management clinics in the country, by volume of pills sold.
n A recent survey of Collier County high school students found that 12 percent of students claimed they used prescription drugs non-medically in the previous 30 days. The state average is 9 percent, according to Maria Delgado, executive director of Drug Free Collier.
“It is the most illicitly used drug today, except for marijuana,” Rambosk said.
Collier County Medical Examiner Marta Coburn recalls her recognition of the problem when in 1998, her first autopsy of the year was an overdose. Previously, overdoses had been few and far-between; alcohol was the drug of choice for Collier County, she said.
“That, really for me, it was a red flag,” she said.
Overdoses have only risen with time, Coburn said. The drugs of choice are Methadone and Alprazolam.
In 2008, Coburn’s office saw 57 deaths in which the drugs were present in the toxicology report. Oxycodone was found in 24 examinations.
The drugs are most lethal when mixed together or with alcohol.
Combatting prescription drug use could be more difficult than fighting street narcotics.
“This is a parent problem and a family problem and a community problem,” said Coburn.
State lawmakers addressed the problem this year when they passed a law requiring prescriptions at pain clinics be recorded in a state database within 15 days. The law attempts to close a loophole allowing users and dealers to travel between “pill mills,” typically on the state’s east coast, collecting identical prescriptions.
Rambosk said the law is too weak.
“We don’t need it in 15 days,” he said. “We need it in real time. So that when you go and purchase in one location and an hour later you purchase in another location, and an hour later in another location, someone needs to stop it.”
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