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A Dangerous Trend: Prescription Drug Addiction
February 06, 2008 5:50 PM
Howard Rosenberg Reports:
The determination by the New York medical examiner that 28-year-old actor Heath Ledger "died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone (Oxycontin), hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam (Xanax) and doxylamine," won’t come as much of a shock to those struggling with addiction. It appears that no one drug was taken in excess in Ledger’s case and the examiner concluded that "the manner of death is accidental, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications."
The use and abuse of prescription pharmaceuticals among young people is an ever-growing and troubling trend that Nightline began documenting two years ago in our series, "Pharm Country." Back then, anchor Cynthia McFadden, heard the first-hand tales of teenagers at a residential drug treatment program in Houston called The Right Step about their use of over-the-counter cold remedies and prescription drugs like oxycodone (Oxycontin) and alprazolam (Xanax) stolen from their parents' medicine cabinets.
Last weekend, the Partnership for a Drug Free America unveiled a new ad campaign during the Super Bowl targeting prescription drug abuse. The ad campaign comes on the heels of the latest "Monitoring the Future" survey by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the University of Michigan that indicated "more teens abuse prescription drugs than any other illicit drug, except marijuana — more than cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine combined. In the Partnership’s annual tracking study, 1 in 5 teens reported abusing a prescription pain medication, and the same number report abuse of a prescription stimulant or tranquilizer."
That trend is seen first-hand by The Right Step counselor Ernest Patterson, who told Nightline just last week that, "most of the kids that come here have actually experimented with Xanax. That’s the one drug that I see a lot of the kids here that they get it off the streets or, or even sometimes the medication is prescribed to their parents, and they’re able to get into the medicine cabinet or to their mom’s purse, and they’re taking medication and they just take it illegally."
Dr. Jason Powers, an addictionologist and The Right Step medical director, explained that while alcohol and marijuana used to be the "gateway" drugs among his teen patients, in the past few years, that’s changed. "It’s scary because kids now a days are using heavy prescription drugs which are just as dangerous if not more so than street drugs as their gateway drugs. So their first exposure to a life of addiction sets them back."
Powers says that it is a dangerous trend especially because teens are experimenting with prescription drugs earlier. "The disease of addiction starts earlier the earlier in age that you experiment. So a 13-year-old trying Oxycontin is going to have those brain changes a lot more rapidly than a 21-year-old trying his first drink."
Nightline will continue our Pharm Country series in upcoming programs
February 6, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (76)
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So - we've stated that this is a problem in our country (under-stated this, that is).
So what are we going to DO about it?
My husband is now an addict because he was able to easily obtain drugs without a prescription from the internet. He's not alone...and more addicts are generated each day because of this "dangerous trend".
Where are the laws that should protect our children, our loved ones, and even ourselves -- when we cannot?
Posted by: Teri | Feb 6, 2008 6:56:14 PM
I RECENTLY WATCHED YOUR ARTICLE ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. WHY DO THEY CONTINUE TO ALLOW THE PHYSCIATRIST TO PRESCRIBE ALL THESE BAD COMBINATIONS . I DO KNOW FIRST HAND MY DAUGHTER IS PRESCRIBE THIS LETHAL COMBO ADDERRALL, VALIUM, CLONOPIN 4MGS. A DAY (LEGAL LIMIT) METHADONE, SARAQUEL, SOMA, DILANTIN LEMECTAL EVERY TIME I SEE A WELL KNOWN STAR DIE IT IS ALWAYS ON A COMBO OF THESE DRUGS. I JUST WONDER HOW LONG SHE WILL GO ON AND IT SCARES ME. AND WHEN YOU TRY TO DETOX HER OFF THEM IT HAS TO BE DONE IN A HOSPITAL SETTING AND NATURALLY SHE DOES NOT WANT TO BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS THINK THEY ARE INFALIABLE. BUT WHY OH WHY CAN DOCTORS GET AWAY WITH THIS. WHEN I VOICE MY CONCERNS THE DRS. ACTUALLY LAUGH AT ME AND TELL ME SHE'S AN ADULT HOW CAN ONE FUNCTION ON ALL THESE MEDS? I REALLY THINK THEY ARE JUST DRIVE THRU PHYSCIATRIST THEY DO NOT CARE I KNOW BECAUSE LIKE I SAID I SEE IT ON A DAILY BASIS FIRST HAND IT IS OUT RIGHT DISGUSTING THESE DOCTORS GET THEM HOOKED AND KEEP THEM HOOKED AND AS YOU SEE MORE AND MORE ARE DYING FROM THESE COMBO'S
Posted by: donna | Feb 6, 2008 7:11:01 PM
This really isn't a new phenomenon--prescription drug abuse has been the leading cause of drug-related deaths for more than 20 years. As a consultant for a couple state's Board of Medical Examiners, the data have been available for many years--it just didn't attract the attention given to illicit drugs. Even Elvis died from a combination of prescription narcotics, sedatives and amphetamines. Unfortunately, some medical societies have blocked efforts of states to enact effective laws to limit one of the primary sources of prescription drugs of abuse entering the black market.
Posted by: Alan | Feb 6, 2008 7:11:10 PM
Rather than "entice and inform" those most vulnerable why would those with knowledge of such deficiencies not expend their energies to help "fix" the problem? As a healthcare professional it seems that free advertising to spread news of illegal accessibility is a negative approach.
Perhaps an ABC investigative exercise in concert with the FDA or another regulatory agency would result in ending this illegal and unacceptable practice.
Isn't there a reporter interested in helping to "fix" things and report success rather than inviting others to participate in such unacceptable practices?
Posted by: Tina Mc Clatchy | Feb 6, 2008 7:14:03 PM
This report amazed me. I live in Florida and I cannot find a physician who will write me a prescription for pain medication. I have a collapsed vertebra and five herniated discs. I have no history of drug abuse and I have never been arrested for anything. I am 44 years old and have a bachelor's degree. The doctors I have seen want to me take medications like xanex. I've never taken these types of medication and don't want them. The last doctor I saw wouldn't even write me a prescription for an anti-imflamatory. I brought my MRI and he wouldn't even look at it! I want a prescription from a doctor, not a website, and I don't want to abuse them. I just want a little relief from the pain I live with all day, every day. I have been told they are afraid to treat me or that I will become an addict. Well, that is all fine and good, but what am I supposed to for the rest of my life? Live in pain for another forty years so the doctors won't get in trouble for treating me and so I won't become an addict? Let's see, chronic pain or addiction? Which would you choose? I would rather be whole again, trust me.
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