The Pioneer Times

Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Healthcare

Media Credit: Google Images

When parents tell their children to not use drugs, they are usually referring to narcotics such as marijuana and cocaine. But now they have to add prescription drugs to the list.

"Lots of people are finding ways to get high off prescription drugs," said Union Police Department Sgt. Kevin Skiper.

According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 49.8 million Americans aged 12 or older reported non-medical use of any psychotherapeutic. These pyschotherapeutics include any prescription type pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant, or sedative but does not include over-the-counter drugs.

How are people getting a hold of all these narcotics?

"One of the more common things I've seen is actually people breaking into doctor's offices and stealing prescription pads," said Skiper, who once worked as an undercover police officer and detective. "These people are usually addicts who not only get high off prescription drugs, but crack and drugs like that."

Addicts are not the only people finding ways to get a hold of prescription drugs. According to the NSDUH 9.6 percent of high school seniors surveyed in 2007 reported use of Vicodin without doctor's orders. Skiper doesn't recall ever catching these teenagers breaking into doctor's offices but notes how easy it is for them to get their hands on these drugs.

"Well, obviously they could just go into their parents' drug cabinet or hold onto the empty bottles and bring them to the pharmacies for refills."

There really isn't much risk for these adolescents when they head over to the pharmacy to pick up someone else's prescription because these pharmacies don't check for identification.

"We don't get a lot of people picking up prescriptions for other people, but it is possible," said Grant Porter, a pharmaceutical technician at CVS Pharmacy in Union.

There are ways in which pharmacies are able to catch abusers.

"A big hint that a person is dropping off a fake prescription is that they want to pay for it out of pocket. These medications are often hundreds of dollars," says Porter. "When we do ask for identification they will say that they do not drive. We are obligated to call the police when we

are sure the prescription is fake. We also keep the prescription that is known to be fake in order to match handwriting for future attempts."

Even if people end up stealing these prescription pads there are certain anecdotes of information that need to be written on the pad that these criminals are not aware of. They require a prescriber's unique Drug Enforcement Agency number, signature, quantity, explicit directions, and in many cases an extra identification number.

Continued...

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