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Published Sunday, March 06, 2011 in Local

Abuse of legal drugs growing problem

By Elizabeth Melville

The Newnan Times-Herald

Georgia's top law enforcement officials gathered at a day-long summit this week to forge a strategy to fight back against the growth of prescription drug abuse and addiction in Georgia.

Four members of the Coweta County Sheriff's Office were among those in attendance.

The summit Wednesday was held amid an effort by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta to crack down on so-called "pill mills" that make it easy for drug abusers to obtain the medications, according to Associated Press.

Gathered at Georgia State University's Student Center were federal investigators, medical experts and legitimate pain clinic physicians to address ways to reverse the trend.

"We're not seeing the same type of problems that we learned about [Wednesday]," said Coweta Sheriff Mike Yeager. "Our biggest problem is people going into pharmacies with forged prescriptions."

Yeager said there was a lot of discussion Wednesday about these "pill mills" -- places where people can go to see a "doctor" and get large prescriptions for pain medications and other narcotics without scrutiny or significant medical examinations. These mills are prevalent in Florida, but the sheriff said there was discussion Wednesday about a suspected pill mill located as nearby as Peachtree City.

"It's all about money," said Yeager.

Georgia is one of six states in the nation that hasn't implemented a prescription drug monitoring program.

"This would help monitor who writes prescriptions, who's dispensing them and who's receiving them," said Yeager. "I think it would be very effective in the state of Georgia."

There was talk Wednesday about initiating a monitoring program in Georgia to discourage the practice known as "doctor shopping" across state lines, according to the sheriff. Yeager remains uncertain about what role law enforcement would play in the program.

"There will be a multitude of people who will have a role in that," he said. "We wouldn't carry the torch, but we would ultimately be in the mix. We need to get the program going so that Georgia won't be one of the last six states standing."

Yeager said that this county's most frequently abused prescription medications appear to be hydrocodone, methadone, oxycontin, oxycodone and other pain killers and stimulants.

At the summit, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said that even though the pills are available by prescription, they are just as dangerous and addictive as illegal drugs.

Joseph Rannazzisi, who oversees the Drug Enforcement Administration's prescription drug investigations, told the summit that prescription pills have replaced marijuana as the new "gateway drug" for teens, according to AP.

He said "this country has an insatiable appetite to feel better. We take prescription medications to feel better and our kids see us doing that."

Yeager said that participants in Wednesday's summit were warned about a dangerous new trend among teens -- "pharm parties." These parties -- sometimes referred to as "skittle parties" -- involve teenagers stealing prescription medications from their own homes, dumping them into a communal bowl and inviting party-goers to partake one handful at a time.

Yeager's advice to parents -- "If you've got medications at your house, keep an inventory. If it's disappearing, there's something wrong."

Dr. Kris Sperry, a medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said prescription drug problems are taking a tremendous toll in the state.

Sperry said 508 people died in Georgia of prescription drug overdoses in 2009 -- about six times the number of people who died of overdoses of illegal drugs.

There were also more drug-related deaths last year than there were vehicle fatalities, according to Yeager. He said that around 74 percent of the deaths attributed to drug use in 2009 involved people between the ages of 35 and 64.

"Georgia is facing an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, and this is not a problem that can be solved by law enforcement alone," said Yates, according to a release by the U.S. Attorney's Office. "Everyone who is affected by this problem, including doctors, pharmacists, nurses, educators, and parents, must come together to identify solutions to reverse this trend."

"We fought the battles against crack, methamphetamine, and meth labs in Georgia, and now the problem we face is prescription drug abuse," GBI Director Vernon Keenan told the audience. "The GBI medical examiner is receiving three to five new deaths from overdoses of prescription drugs each week."

"I think this is something pharmacies, doctors, parents -- everybody -- need to take a look at," said Yeager. "Let's do a better job at keeping an eye on it so this doesn't get out of hand."

Approximately 260 people heard a wide variety of experts and community representatives during the full-day summit, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency, and the Medical Association of Georgia Foundation jointly hosted the summit at Georgia State University's Student Center.

For more information about prescription drug abuse, visit www.justice.gov/usao/gan/programs/prescriptiondrugs.html -- a webpage established by the U.S. Attorney's Office to serve as a public resource about prescription drug abuse.

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