Prescription Drug Abuse - Oxycontin Vicodin Lortab

Granted, society is 5-8 years late recognizing this serious problem, but at least it is now out in full view.


Prescribed problem Illegal use of medications a growing concern

OHIO - 2009 - The Daily Record - The stereotypical view of drug addicts buying their daily fix in small bags in back alleys is giving way to a new reality of prescription drug abuse where pharmaceuticals come in plastic bottles with a prescription pasted on the side.

Police and drug enforcement are dealing with a growing threat in the form of abuse of pharmaceutical opiates such as Oxycontin, Vicodin and Percocet. Typically prescribed for pain through legitimate prescriptions, obtained by deceptive means, or raiding medicine cabinets, the drugs are creating a new culture of addicts and dealers.

Only the OraPoint on-site drug screen effectively screens for these prescription pain relievers.

The problem with pharmaceutical opiates, according to Medway Drug Enforcement Agency Director David Smith, has grown in recent years so much it had to double its pharmaceutical diversion unit.

"If they learn there's an easy mark out there, they'll travel. Within that type of community, that word travels real fast. I'm sure they go to rural areas because they assume no one's watching, (rather) than to go to a bigger city," Smith said. "We have seen people from all over, not just adjacent counties, (but) two, three counties away."

The pharmaceutical diversion unit began May 2008, with aid of grant funding, consisting of former Wayne County Sheriff's deputy Jim Garrett. Bill Hofer, a former Wooster Police officer, came on in May to help with the caseload.

Cases investigated come from complaints filed, whether it's a doctor's office, a pharmacy, law enforcement or anonymous tips.

Medway made seven buys of Xanax in 2008, compared to two buys in 2007, and six buys of Oxycontin in 2008, compared to one buy in 2007. Other opiates purchased in 2008, not seen in 2007, include morphine, Darvocet, Lorazepam, Percocet, Klonopin and Hydrocodone.

Garrett said he has done a lot of outreach to local pharmacies, hospitals and they have been receptive and cooperative.

"They're on the front lines, they have a keen sense of observation," he said of local doctors. "Red flags will go up. They'll either question it or call us."

In 2008, Wooster Police reported 29 thefts of medication. So far this year, 11 thefts of medication were reported, Chief Steve Glick said.

"It's a tough one for us to do anything in a preventative measure because it's going to be happening inside people's homes," Glick said. "... It's kind of a wide ranging problem. Drugs like cocaine have to be imported and have to get here. Oxycontin, Vicodin, Percocet, those drugs are readily available, and it's not the health profession's fault necessarily, it's just the fact that the drugs are available because they are prescribed."

Millersburg Police detective Sgt. Roger Estill said investigations have turned up instances of trafficking as well as addiction involving opiate-based prescription drugs. The drugs are often obtained through fraudulent means from pharmacies and emergency rooms, prompting physicians and pharmacists to watch for signs that illegal activity is occurring.

"I don't think there is an increase in activity. What's happening is an increase in reporting," Estill said. "The medical community is looking for it more, were getting a lot of cooperation from pharmacies."

Two individuals facing felony charges in Holmes County Common Pleas Court are charged with using deceptive means to obtain the drugs. The cases involve a 48-year-old Millersburg man who tried to get a prescription filled twice after claiming to have lost the first prescription, and a 28-year-old Warsaw woman charged with changing the number of pills on a prescription form.

In both cases, the drugs were legally prescribed by a physician, only not in the amounts requested.

"I find that when you go talk to them, they acknowledge it's a problem, but they don't know how to address the problem," Garrett said of people addicted to opiates. "They're just embarrassed to come to their family and say 'I have a problem.' Unfortunately, it takes us to contact them to admit it."

Drugged Driving In Canada up 100%

RCMP cracking down on drug impaired drivers
Officers trained to spot drivers using illegal drugs
Jim Goddard VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) | Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 3:02 pm

The RCMP have a new focus for summer time driving enforcement. Inspector Norm Gaumont says they're going to be hunting for drivers impaired by drugs or a combination of drugs and booze.

Gaumont says 100 B.C. officers have now been trained to spot a driver who has had their judgement impaired by something other than alcohol. "They can make do a set of tests. If you fail those tests, they can actually make a demand for a blood, urine or saliva, and those are then sent to the lab."

Gaumont says studies found a 100 per cent increase in the number of B.C. drivers killed with drugs in their system between 2002 and 2007. He feels those number have increased since that study was done.

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Teen Drug Abuse on the Rise

Police say teen drug abuse is on the rise in the Desert Southwest, as the number of hospital visits for drug abuse is increasing nationwide. Police say kids are having "pharming" parties; they show up with their pharmaceutical drugs, dump them in a bowl, and have at it. Yuma Police Department School Resource Officer Erick Resendiz held a presentation Wednesday night at City Hall as part of the Yuma Education Series. His message is if you abuse drugs, you're taking your life in your hands.

"We don't want to be responding to your house for an overdose when we can be responding to your house for advice on how to stop it," says Resendiz. Drugs can take a perfectly normal person, and turn them into a zombie. Resendiz says more kids in town are potentially throwing their future down the drain. He says police are seeing "over the counter and prescription drug abuse. Kids are trying any drug, if they have a drug that affects them somehow they think well if I take it more, can it help, will it help me." Resendiz also says more kids are inhaling toxins. Why are they doing drugs? To get high, deal with problems, change their body, help with school work, and a slew of other reasons. Resendiz says kids can find information on how to abuse drugs with the click of a mouse. "There's also experiment websites; sites they (kids) can go on-line that tell them how to abuse these drugs to get better highs safer. They even have rules like they're supposed to have a watcher; someone who can standby them when they're getting high in case something goes wrong." Resendiz says once a kid starts abusing drugs, they'll become a completely different person. Signs and symptoms of look out for: "Changes in behavior, changes in appearance, drastic things that don't normally happen in juveniles. Kids are giving away their belongings, they're losing an inappropriate amount of weight."

Resendiz says you can potentially save a loved ones life by getting them help before it's too late, and also studies show that if you talk to your child about not doing drugs, they'll be more likely to stay away from them. His advice for anyone is "don't even try them, don't even abuse them, don't take them any way, you shouldn't take them unless prescribed by a doctor. If you're already taking them get help, before you get past that addiction point where you can't get help anymore." For more information on Wednesday night's presentation, or for ideas on future presentation topics for the Yuma Educational Series, contact Officer Resendiz at the Yuma Police Department.

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Prescription Drug Abuse - Oxycontin / Vicodin - #1 Drug Threat p 2009 Federal Survey

Prescription Drug Abuse

Despite the prevalence of prescription drug abuse, especially pain releivers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin, most organizations.. including federal mandated DOT drug testing do not monitor their use.

A recent Federal Survey* says prescription drug abuse by teens and young adults continues to be a serious problem in the United States.

Today, teenagers are not using as much marijuana, cocaine, crack, LSD, and ecstasy as the adolescents of the 1960’s. American kids have a new favorite way to get high; painkillers and other prescription drugs are being abused at record levels.

This group of young adults has been given the name “Generation Rx.”

For the first time, national studies show that today’s teens are more likely to have abused a prescription painkiller than any street drug.

Surveys shows, that kids as young as 12 years old are trying or using prescription drugs -- to get high or for "self-medicating." The pharmaceuticals are often more available to kids than street drugs because they are often found in their very own homes. Also, pills may regarded as safer because they are professionally manufactured in a lab.

The survey also shows that painkillers are the most common pharmaceutical abused by teens with stimulant abuse more common among older teens and college students than younger teens.

Many young adults think these drugs are safe because they have legitimate uses, but taking them without a prescription to get high or to “self-medicate” can be as dangerous – and as addictive – as using street any drug they find on the streets.

*The Monitoring the Future survey – now in it’s 33rd year – is a series of classroom surveys of eight, tenth and twelfth graders. It is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan under a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the national Institutes of Health (NIH), and US Dept. of Health of Human Services (HHS).

The survey indicates a continuing high rate of prescription drug abuse among teens, with little change seen in the past six years. In fact, seven of the top 10 drugs abused were prescribed or purchased over the counter. The most common drugs used were Vicodin and Oxycontin.

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Prescription Drug Abuse & Identity Theft

Cedar City Rotary learns about ID theft and prescription drug abuse

[Source:thespectrum.com]

CEDAR CITY — Cedar City Police lieutenants Darin Adams and Keith Millett informed Cedar City Rotary members on Tuesday about identity theft schemes trickling in from Las Vegas, prescription drug abuse and gang issues facing Festival City, USA.
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Nevada has the nation’s third-worst identity theft problem, the Federal Trade Commission reported last week, as Nevadans filed 2,930 identity theft complaints in 2007. Adams and Millett said Southern Utah should heed that statistic as a warning to be alert to the frauds occurring about 150 miles away.

“We haven’t experienced the number of identity theft cases that Las Vegas has, but that doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to it,” said Adams, who also announced his promotion from sergeant to lieutenant at the meeting. “We need to be aware that these scams are happening so if they do appear here we can do something about it right away.”

In 2008, 9,101 cases were reported to the Las Vegas Metropolitan identity theft and forgery task force, the Las Vegas Sun reported. A rising scam identified by Adams in Las Vegas among those cases is medical identity theft. Adams said health care information is being stolen by thieves making appointments at doctor’s offices or hospitals posing as the victim of the identity theft. This can happen to anyone with a health insurance card, he said.

The grave consequences are when the victim gets the medical bills or when records are corrupted with incorrect information, creating potentially life-threatening situations for the real patient, Adams said.

To learn more about this story, please read tomorrow's online and print edition of The Spectrum & Daily News.

Pharmascists to Fight Prescription Drug Abuse

Ohio pharmacists use education to fight drug abuse


Source: COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)

Ohio pharmacists and the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy are partnering to help educate residents about the abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

The Ohio Pharmacists Association, the college and Cardinal Health Inc. plan to soon launch pilot programs using local pharmacists to teach residents in Columbus, Mount Vernon and Chillicothe about the dangers of abusing drugs they may find at home.

The partnership was announced Friday at the association's annual meeting, focusing on targeting teen drug abuse.

It follows a recent report by the Ohio Department of Health that showed drug overdoses topped traffic crashes as the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio in 2006 and 2007. Though heroin and other illegal drugs play a big role in those figures, the department attributed the increase to the use of prescription pain medicines.

"The drug problem is moving from the streets to the medicine cabinet," said Kenneth Hale, the pharmacy college's assistant dean for professional and external affairs.

Firght Student Drug Abuse - Information for Parents

Birdville district forum aims to help parents counter drug abuse
(Source: By DIANE SMITH dianesmith@star-telegram.com)

Town experiences 16 drug related deaths in three months.


Prom, graduation and summer break are important times in teens’ lives, but they are also times in which many youths make poor choices about drugs and alcohol.

The Birdville school district wants to help parents by educating them today during a forum titled "The Real Story About Drug Use."

"We want to give them some information that gives them the warning signs and things to look for," said Donna Layer, coordinator of guidance and counseling services.

The forum will include discussions on trends and concerns, emergency services and the law. It comes as law enforcement agencies have investigated several drug-related deaths in Tarrant County.

From January to mid-March, the medical examiner’s office has confirmed 16 heroin-related deaths. Four other deaths are being investigated as possibly heroin-related. One drug-related death involved an accidental overdose of the drug Ecstasy.

Layer said the recent headlines heightened the need to hold a community discussion. Another key reason for the forum, part of a federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities grant, is to remind parents that teen drug and alcohol abuse continues to be a community worry.

"None of these things ever go away," Layer said. "Just because you are not hearing about it out on the forefront doesn’t mean it’s not an area of concern."

Here are some questions and answers about the forum and drug issues.

Is teen drug and alcohol abuse still a concern?

While the issue surfaces in cycles in the news media, it is always a concern, said Layer, adding that the community can’t become blase.

"Sometimes our kids just believe they are indestructible," she said.

What are some warning signs that my teen is abusing drugs or alcohol?

The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry states that these may be warning signs: a drop in school performance, a change in friends, delinquent behavior and deterioration in family relationships. Go to the academy’s Web site ( www.aacap.org) for more information.

Where can I get educational information about drugs?

The National Institute on Drug Abuse Web site ( www.nida.nih.gov) details drugs and how they affect the body. It also has educational materials for teens, parents and educators.

Oral Fluid Accurate vs. Urine

Oral fluid testing proves comparative accuracy to urinalysis in detecting drug use
A recently published study in the December issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence indicates that the use of oral fluid analysis may be an effective alternative to urinalysis in detecting drug use in a opiate treatment setting. Gerald A. Bennett and Eleanor Davies from the Addictions Service, Dorset HealthCare NHS Trust and Peter Thomas from Dorset Research and Development Support Unit, Poole Hospital NHS Trust, Bournemouth University studied the use of rapid oral testing to assess accuracy in detecting drugs
of abuse. The study examined specificity and sensitivity of oral screening as a viable alternative to urinalysis, which is more invasive and an often defrauded method.

Mexican Drug Cartels in America

Traffic shifts from major interstate routes

Source: Alan Riquelmy - ariquelmy@ledger-enquirer.com

Atlanta area remains a major hub for moving drugs and cash

It makes sense that illegal drugs from Mexico move on interstates to Atlanta, a hub for the Southeast, and then along spokes to smaller communities like Columbus.

But drug traffickers often take detours — and make drops — in Columbus before reaching Georgia’s capital.

Interdiction teams along Interstate 85 have made plenty of busts in places such as Montgomery, Ala., and LaGrange, Ga.

Someone worried about being caught while driving through Montgomery might take state and federal highways to Dothan, Ala., then drive north to Phenix City and onto J.R. Allen Parkway on the way to either Atlanta or Macon.

“They’re taking alternate routes because of the heat on the interstate,” said Russell County Sheriff’s Lt. Heath Taylor. “That means Columbus and Phenix City are in the middle of it.”

Sgt. Rick Stinson, a Columbus police officer with the Metro Narcotics Task Force agrees. And a Columbus dealer with good contacts, he said, can convince someone carrying drugs to stop here if it works out to be easier.

Conversely, a local dealer will drive to Atlanta if that is the route of least resistance.

Agencies in Metro include the Columbus Police Department, the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Department, the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, the Russell County Sheriff’s Department and the Phenix City Police Department.

Removing Atlanta as a drug hub likely wouldn’t change anything, Stinson said. Certain people will always be willing to provide drugs, but law enforcement can make it more difficult, just as education programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education aim to stem the drug tide.

“You’re not going to stop a supply as long as there’s a demand,” he said. “Somebody’s going to step up and probably supply a certain portion of that demand.”



A month ago, an 18-wheeler was stopped and found to have around $1 million inside, Taylor said.

Two weeks ago, a former Phenix City police officer who’s now with the state patrol stopped an 18-wheeler near Montgomery. It had a huge amount of drugs inside, Taylor said.

“All around us there are signs of drug trafficking to Atlanta,” the lieutenant said.

Around March 1, Stinson’s eight-member, five-agency team raided a north Columbus home and found 50 pounds of marijuana, he said. It was a rental home being used for the drug trade — a trend law enforcement has seen in Atlanta as well.

Such houses are usually rented in low-traffic areas. No one would live there all the time, and neighbors would never see an endless line of drug buyers lining up. That would draw attention to the home, Stinson said.

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What's an EAP ? Employee Assistance Program

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are designed to help identify and resolve productivity problems affecting employees who are impaired by personal concerns.

EAPs come in many different forms, from telephone-based services to on-site programs.

Face-to-face programs provide more comprehensive services for employees with substance use disorders, including screening, treatment referrals and follow-up care.

5 STEPS TO A HEALTHIER , SAFER WORKPLACE

1. Establish an Employee Assistance Program that includes confidential substance abuse screening, education, treatment referral, and recovery support.

2. Develop a policy for dealing with substance abuse in the workplace: at a minimum, provide training for supervisors in recognizing and dealing with drug or alcohol problems and support treatment for and recovery from substance use disorders.

3. Offer employees health insurance that provides comprehensive benefits for substance abuse treatment, including a broad range of service options, such as therapy, medications, and recovery support.

4. Be sure that health plans require their physicians to screen patients confidentially for substance use problems.

5. Support drug-free workplace policies.

Workplace Drug-Free Workplace Policy Information

Free Drug-Free Workplace Information

Save Your Company Money By Assuring Access to Substance Abuse Treatment

What You Need To Know About Older Workers and Substance Abuse

What You Need To Know About Younger Workers and Substance Abuse

What You Need To Know About Mental and Substance Use Disorders

Save Money By Addressing Employee Alcohol Problems

Save Money By Addressing Employee Drug Problems

What You Need To Know About the Cost of Substance Abuse

Save Money By Encouraging Workers To Get Help For Substance Use Problems

An EAP that Addresses Substance Abuse Can Save You Money

How You Can Support Workers in Recovery

Resources Available to Employers

What You Need To Know About Substance Abuse Treatment

Save by Providing Comprehensive Benefits for Substance Abuse Treatment

You Save When Your Health Plans Improve Substance Abuse Screening

http://csat.samhsa.gov/IDBSE/employee/index.aspx

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Opiate and Meth Abuse Rates Not Declining

Highlights for 2007 Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS)

The report provides information on the demographic and substance abuse characteristics of the 1.8 million annual admissions to treatment for abuse of alcohol and drugs in facilities that report to individual State administrative data systems. TEDS does not include all admissions to substance abuse treatment. In general, facilities reporting TEDS data are those that receive State alcohol and/or drug agency funds (including Federal Block Grant funds) for the provision of alcohol and/or drug treatment services.

Five substances accounted for 96 percent of all TEDS admissions in 2007:
alcohol (40 percent);
opiates (19 percent; primarily heroin);
mar­ijuana/hashish (16 percent);
cocaine (13 percent); and stimulants
(8 percent, primarily methamphetamine.

More than two-thirds (69 percent) of all alcohol-only admissions were non- Hispanic White

For primary heroin admissions, the average age at admission was 36 years.

Just over half (53 percent) of primary non-heroin opiate admissions were male

Non-heroin opiates admissions are increasing from from 1 percent of all admissions in 1997 to 5 percent in 2007. These drugs include codeine, hydrocodone, hydro­morphone, meperidine, morphine, opium, oxycodone, pentazocine, propoxyphene, tramadol, and any other drug with morphine-like effects. Non-prescription use of methadone is not included.

Methamphetamine/Amphetamine and Other Stimulants* * The proportion of admissions for abuse of methamphetamine/amphetamine and other stimulants increased from 4 percent in 1997 to a high of 9 percent in 2005. In 2006 admissions decreased to 8 percent and remained at 8 percent in 2007.

Urine Drug Screens and Potential False Positives

The following have been shown to react with urine drug screens.
PHARMACEUTICAL NAME BRAND NAME USE
Amantadine Amantadine Parkinsonism
Bupropion Wellbutrin & Zyban Antidepressant&Smoking cessation
Chloroquine AralenTreats Malaria
Chlorpromazine Thorazine, Largactil Psychotic disorders
Desipramine Norpramin Antidepressant
Dextroamphetamine Dexedrine Narcolepsy "sleep
Ephedrine Ephedra and Ma Huang Amphetamines
Fenfluramine Fen Phen Diet pill outlawed by FDA Labetalol Labetalol Blood Pressure
Mexiletine Mexitil Cardiovascular
n-acetyl procainamide Procainmide Cardiovascular
Phentremine Adipex/Obenix/Oby-Trim Diet Pills
Propranolol Inderal Cardiovascular

Phencyclidine
(PCP)
Dextromethorphan Dextromethorphan Cough treatment
Diphenhydramine Benadryl Allergies
Thioridazine Mellaril RidarilinCanada Tranquilizer
Venlafaxine Effexor Antidepressant

Workplace Drug Testing Overview

Drug tests in the USA can be divided into two general groups, federally and non-federally regulated testing.

Federally regulated drug testing started when Ronald Reagan enacted executive order 12564, requiring all federal employees refrain from using illegal substances in specified DOT regulated occupations. Drug testing guidelines and processes, in these areas exclusively, are established and regulated (by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA, formerly under the direction of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or NIDA) require that companies who use professional drivers, specified safety sensitive transportation and/or oil and gas related occupations, and certain federal employers, test them for the presence of certain drugs. These test classes were established decades ago, and include five specific drug groups. They do not account for current drug usage patterns. For example, SAMHSA / DOT tests exclude semi-synthetic opioids, such as oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, etc., and other prescription medications that are widely abused in the United States

Non-federally regulated or General workplace drug testing allows for far more effective drug testing procedures. While SAMHSA / NIDA guidelines only allow laboratories to report quantitative results for the " NIDA-5 " / " SAMHSA-5 " for their official SAMHSA-approve tests, many drug testing laboratories and on-site tests offer a wider, " more appropriate " set of drug screens to better detect current drug use patterns. As noted above, these tests include synthetic pain killers such as Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), Oxymorphone, Hydrocodone (Vicodin), Hydromorphone. Some also include benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, Restoril) and barbiturates in other drug panels (a "panel" is a predetermined subset of tests run). The confirmation test (usually GC/MS, or LC/MS/MS) can tell the difference between chemically similar drugs such as methamphetamine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy). In the absence of detectable amounts of methamphetamine in the sample, the lab wold report the sample as negative, or report it as positive if present.

Oral Fluid / Saliva Drug Test Proven Accurate - Again

A large-scale study of laboratory-based oral fluid drug testing results found that the technology is comparable to urine drug testing. Approximately 650,000 oral fluid laboratory test results analyzed were collected over a five-year period of time in the non-federally regulated workplace market.

The results of this expansive study, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), were presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists.

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