Pubdate: Sun, 29 Mar 2015
Source: Frederick News Post (MD)
Copyright: 2015 Randall Family, LLC.
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/Z0khz4CI
Website: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/814
Author: Paige Jones

POLICE: PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE IN COUNTY PERVASIVE, BUT PALES TO 
HEROIN EPIDEMIC

When it comes to prescription drug abuse in Frederick County, the 
issue often falls second to the county's heroin epidemic despite its 
persistent prevalence, according to officials.

The use and abuse of nonprescribed drugs, however, has garnered 
recent attention after several teens overdosed Wednesday on Ambien 
and Adderall at Oakdale High School.

A 15-year-old student provided the prescription pills to several 
schoolmates, sending four to the hospital as they experienced 
dizziness, shortness of breath, vomiting and lack of coordination. 
The fifth was released into the care of a parent, according to the 
Frederick County Sheriff's Office.

Although teens overdosing on prescription drugs at Frederick County 
high schools is uncommon, students trying and using nonprescribed drugs is not.

About 18 percent of Frederick County high school students reported 
taking prescription drugs without a doctor's prescription in 2013, 
slightly higher than the Maryland state average of 15.2 percent, 
according to a national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.

Additionally, nearly 30 percent of the surveyed high school students 
in Frederick County said they were offered, sold or given an illegal 
drug by someone on school property in the last year, the survey states.

But law enforcement officials said they are seeing people of all 
ages, race, social class and background using nonprescribed drugs, 
the issue affecting people from "all walks of life."

"We see a lot of different groups using (nonprescribed drugs) ... 
black, white, whoever really," said Sgt. Tom Leone, of the Frederick 
County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Unit.

Cpl. Vincent Brown of the Frederick Police Department's drug 
enforcement unit agreed, noting prescription drug addiction does not 
affect just one population.

"It's like the heroin use - it runs across the spectrum of age, race 
and social class," Brown said of those using nonprescribed drugs. 
"We're not seeing any one demographic more than the other."

While it is hard to measure prescription drug abuse in the county, 
Leone said the sheriff's office has seen an overall increase in 
nonprescribed drug activity recently, noting the issue "goes hand in 
hand" with heroin.

"It kind of fluctuates week to week and month to month, depending on 
availability of prescription drugs. ... It's not like an epidemic ... 
it's highly abused, but it's not on the level of heroin," Leone said.

For Frederick police officers, prescription drug abuse is a concern, 
but less pervasive than heroin, the widespread use of which was 
deemed a statewide crisis by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in February.

"It's not gone, but it's not at the forefront of drug abuse in the 
city," Brown said of prescription drug abuse.

Today, heroin is the drug of choice for those living in the city of 
Frederick, a cheaper and obtainable option when compared with 
prescription drugs. However, many heroin users began their drug 
addiction with nonprescribed drugs such as prescription painkillers 
before switching to heroin.

"They actually have done studies on that. One in 15 people who abuse 
a prescription pain medication will try heroin within 10 years," said 
Anne Marie Merritt, of Whitesell Pharmacy.

Brown attributes the switch in part to the chemical alteration of the 
prescription pills traditionally abused, such as OxyContin.

Before the changes, users looking for a high could crush and snort, 
swallow or inject the residue, bypassing the drug's time release.

However, these medications were modified so that those abusing the 
drug could no longer circumvent its time-release properties, 
according to Brown.

"We started seeing a shift from prescription pill abuse to heroin (in 
2012 and 2013), and that trend has continued," Brown said.

Prescription drug abuse was rampant several years ago, but the 
problem has not altogether disappeared. Officers still find people 
using, selling and trading nonprescribed drugs mostly through traffic 
stops in and around the city, according to Brown.

However, prescription opioid-related overdose deaths in Frederick 
County have dropped in the past several years from 21 deaths in 2011 
to 14 in 2013, according to the Maryland Department of Health and 
Mental Hygiene's data.

Although the total number of prescription opioid-related overdose 
deaths in 2014 has yet to be released, DHMH reported six fatal 
prescription opioid-related overdoses in Frederick County during the 
first nine months of 2014.

Battling prescription drug abuse

To combat the issue, law enforcement agencies have organized drug 
disposal events, held information sessions at schools and meetings 
and placed drop-off boxes throughout the county.

Drug disposal events allows residents to get rid of their unwanted or 
unused prescription medications in a safe and environmentally 
friendly way, according to Cpl. Rebecca Carrado, who spearheads FPD's events.

"Most people forget and don't finish medications, they'll leave them 
in their medicine cabinets and that's where their children will find 
them," she said. "In the community I think there is a lot of 
underreporting of (prescription) drug abuse because a lot of times 
people don't know their prescriptions are gone; they've forgotten about them."

The drug disposal events for FPD are "very successful," Carrado said, 
as the department collects almost 1,000 pounds of disposed 
medications for each event.

"The last one we had was back on Sept. 27, and we collected about 
1,191 pounds of drugs, so we get a nice amount," she said. People can 
drop off any kind of prescription medication, including those from 
over the counter, pet medications and even ointments and lotions, 
according to Carrado.

The prescription drug drop-off bins dispersed throughout the county 
are also effective in curbing the spread of nonprescribed drugs, 
according to Leone.

"In Brunswick, we would collect maybe 20 pounds in medications 
monthly," Leone said, noting people would dispose of anything from 
vitamins to prescription painkillers.

In addition, the state health department launched the Prescription 
Drug Monitoring Program in 2013. The program requires anyone 
dispensing prescription drugs, such as clinicians and pharmacies, to 
report what kind of medication was dispensed, for whom and more, 
according to Laura Herrera Scott, deputy secretary for Public Health Services.

More than 9,000 physicians, pharmacists, registered nurses and other 
dispensers have signed up for the program, which can help those 
prescribing drugs know if their patients are taking the medications 
as well as identify those "shopping" for the drugs, Herrera Scott said.

"The ER (doctors) provide really good feedback on their ability to 
identify if someone is doctor shopping or legitimately needs a 
prescription," she said.

A recent report named Maryland No. 2 for highest percentage of 
patients who tested positive for a nonprescribed drug in 2014.

Nearly 50 percent of Maryland patients who underwent a urine test in 
the first eight months of 2014 had a nonprescribed drug in their 
system such as Xanax, Adderall or a prescription painkiller, 
according to the annual prescription drug report released by Ameritox.

"It's above almost every other state," said Lon Wagner, spokesman for 
Ameritox, a private company based in Baltimore that helps clinicians 
monitor pain medication in patients through urine samples.

Only Massachusetts had a higher percentage of patients with a 
nonprescribed drug in their system at 53 percent, according to the report.

However, Ameritox only tests samples for controlled medications such 
as prescription painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax and 
stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin. This allows clinicians to 
understand if their patients are taking the prescribed medication as 
well as any other drugs, the report states.

While finding a nonprescribed drug in a sample could mean the patient 
forgot to tell his or her doctor about a prescription from a second 
doctor, or it could indicate the patient is taking the drug without a 
doctor's permission, Wagner said.

Maryland was also ranked fourth in the nation for percentage of 
patients found with one or more illicit drugs at 20 percent, just 
behind Minnesota, New Hampshire and Maine, the report states.

Staff writer Jeremy Arias contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom