Prescription drug use

Dawn Marks, Staff Writer

Published: July 27, 2008

Oklahoma has a problem with prescription drug use.

Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs officials estimate 87,000 Oklahomans are using prescription drugs for non-medical reasons and prescription drugs are the second biggest problem in terms of numbers of illegal drug users in the state, said Mark Woodward, bureau spokesman. Marijuana is the first, he said.

“Many of them have never used a street drug in their lives,” Woodward said. “We have seen an escalating amount in the last 10 to 15 years.”

In the 25 autopsy reports the bureau receives each month, about 20 are the result of prescription drug overdoses, Woodward said. One of the biggest problems is hydrocodone — the ingredient in Lortab and Vicodin — commonly prescribed pain medications. Often people mix hydrocodone with other narcotics and alcohol, Woodward said.

“I think a lot of people look at it as a drug you can just stop,” he said. In addition, doctors are prescribing more painkillers because of increased demand from patients and addicts sometimes see multiple doctors — a practice called doctor shopping, to obtain several prescriptions. Then they go to different pharmacies to get them filled, said Phil Woodward executive director of the Oklahoma Pharmacists Association.

The bureau of narcotics started a prescription monitoring database in July 2006 designed to help pharmacists and doctors determine when someone might be getting too many prescriptions, Mark Woodward said.

The problem also has spread to teens. With more prescription drugs in circulation, young people are taking pills from medicine cabinets of relatives or friends. In addition, prescriptions can be purchased illegally, Phil Woodward said.

He points to unregulated Internet pharmacies where people just have to sign a form stating they are 18. Many of the pharmacies are based outside the country, he said. Often, people don’t realize they have a problem. They are told by a doctor or someone close to them — possibly their children — that they might be addicted, Mark Woodward said. The person might lie or steal and exhibit the same behaviors that people addicted to illegal drugs show.

Treatment for those addicted to prescription medication isn’t usually different because many times people are addicted to prescription and illicit drugs, said Vicky Brooks, director of clinical services for substance abuse at Oklahoma Youth Center/Norman Adolescent Center.

Treatments start with once-a-week outpatient visits, intensive outpatient visits three or more times a week, residential treatment and detox. More detox centers are needed for adolescents because there are very few in Oklahoma, Brooks said.

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