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Prescription drug abuse destroys lives with death and crime

Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland gauges the area's prescription drug abuse problem by how often he has to ask a family to identify the body of someone who overdosed.

As deputy coroner in 2003, Mr. Rowland recalls meeting families about once every three weeks. Now it's closer to once a week.

Lackawanna County had 48 deaths related to prescription medicine abuse in 2012. Since 2008, the county has had an average of 41 such deaths per year.

From Jan. 1 to Friday , Mr. Rowland said there have been three deaths in the county that can be linked to prescription drug overdoses, and one that was an overdose on heroin and prescription drugs. He is waiting for toxicology tests before declaring another five deaths in that time frame were caused by prescription drug overdoses.

Nationally, drug overdose death rates have more than tripled since 1990 and have never been higher, federal data show. Throughout the United States, 100 people die from drug overdoses each day. In 2008, more than 36,000 people died from drug overdoses, most resulting from prescription drugs.

David Withers, M.D., associate medical director at Marworth, an alcohol and chemical dependency treatment facility in Waverly, said he believes the increase in prescription medication abuse has many factors. He said some people have a genetic disposition toward drugs like hydrocodone and oxycodone, more commonly known as Vicodin and OxyContin.

Many who abuse the drugs started taking them for legitimate reasons, such as a back injury or other ailment, but become addicted. Some people were addicted after trying the pills for recreational use. Addiction can snatch control of abusers' lives, leading them to actions they'd never do otherwise.

Scranton Police Department Acting Chief Carl Graziano spent nine years of his law enforcement career in the department's special investigation unit, where he worked undercover and as a supervisor related to drug work. He said prescription drug abuse affects people across income and education levels. In recent years, doctors and police officers have been arrested for abusing pills.

"Just because you have a certain title doesn't mean you're immune to addiction," he said.

While the Scranton Police Department doesn't keep statistics on prescription medicine abuse, Chief Graziano and other law enforcement officials say the drugs have connections to many crimes in the area. From selling pills on the black market, burglarizing pharmacies, stealing prescription pads and robbing others to get money to buy the drugs, the community has felt effects of addicts looking for a fix.

According to the CDC, people who abuse medications often get them from friends and family. The second most popular method is from a doctor. Some doctors knowingly prescribe too many pills to patients. In 2007, A Shenandoah physician and his wife were arrested and charged with obtaining more than $17,000 in OxyContin and Duragesic.

While Pennsylvania has a database to track patient prescriptions, the database can only be accessed by the state attorney general's office. Many doctors and other health professionals believe Pennsylvania lawmakers should give doctors access to the database to limit doctor-shopping.

State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo of Bensalem in Bucks County, chairman of the human services committee, is the lead sponsor of a bill to give doctors and pharmacists access to patients' prescriptions. The Pennsylvania Medical Society, one of the state's leading medical organizations, backs the bill.

Dr. Withers said treatment should be more widely available and more resources should be directed at young at-risk groups. Long-term, the doctor said successfully fighting prescription drug abuse takes a concerted effort from policymakers, health provider networks, public safety officials and individuals.

"I describe addiction as a hole in the soul that blows the cold North wind of life," he said. "The goal of treatment is to shrink the holes."

Contact the writer: rward@timesshamrock.com, @rwardTT on Twitter.


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