For those struggling with prescription drug addiction or any sort of substance abuse, there is help out there.
Fayette Recovery Center is located at 5 Fayette Center in Washington C.H. and can be reached at (740) 335-8228.
"We also have an email address where people can send us questions," said Barry Bennett, the executive director of Fayette Recovery. "Sometimes people feel more free and comfortable using the email address."
That email address is fayetterecovery@sbcglobal.net.
"We encourage anyone who feels they need help to contact us."
Prescription for trouble?
Ryan Carter Staff Writer
Thirteen deaths over the past three years. Fifty criminal cases in the same time period. Approximately 70 people just this year who sought help at a recovery center.
Statistics related to alcohol abuse? No, prescription drug abuse. Some say it has reached epidemic levels and these numbers are from right here at home.
"The number of people we have treated for prescription drug abuse addiction has quadrupled over the last five years," said Barry Bennett, the executive director of Fayette Recovery Center. "We serve Pickaway County as well as Fayette. Of the approximately 350 people who have been treated here, around 70 have had problems with prescription drug abuse. And in the past two years, we have seen a huge increase."
So far this year in Fayette County, there have been two deaths that were at least partially related to prescription drugs. In 2008, there were also two related deaths. In 2007, there were nine deaths, six solely because of prescription drugs and three related.
The number of criminal convictions related to prescription drug abuse has steadily climbed. These crimes include theft of drugs, trafficking in drugs, deception to obtain dangerous drugs, possession of drugs and illegal processing of drug documents.
In 2007, there were nine individuals in Fayette County who were charged and convicted for one or more of these crimes. In 2008, the number grew to 19. In 2009, the number has gone up to 22 with one month still to go.
These statistics are alarming, Bennett said, but they don't even begin to reflect the irrevocable damage that prescription drugs can do. Statistics do not measure the number of jobs lost, health problems caused, families ripped apart and lives ruined.
"These drugs, such as Percocet, Oxycontin and Vicodin (the most commonly abused prescription drugs) are emotionally and physically addictive," said Bennett. "They can take over a person's life. It becomes so powerful, it becomes their life to seek these drugs."
In Fayette County, these addictions are more of a problem than addiction to illegal narcotics, said Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth.
"It's definitely more of a problem," he said. "One, because it's undetected and it's unregulated for the most part. It can be devastating. I've seen it destroy families. And it's a burden financially and emotionally."
Stanforth said that most of the individuals who become addicted have a legitimate medical condition. "Without the constant supervision of a physician, the person can be addicted to some of these drugs in a matter of days," he said. "Then it may take the individual a significant amount of time to get weaned off of them. Recovery is a long, long process."
Prescription drugs are also abused by individuals who don't have a medical condition, but instead are just seeking a high. "We see those too," said Stanforth. "They know that this particular medication will give them the buzz they want to ease some of their pain, whether it's physical or emotional."
Those types of cases are difficult to investigate and prosecute. "You've got to be able to show that that person had the narcotics in their system," he said. "And sometimes that's difficult for us to do because we don't have justification to get a search warrant to go after the medical records. Just because they go to the hospital for an overdose doesn't mean we're going to be able to adequately investigate that because of the HIPAA law. The hospital is unable to discuss many of these cases. Unless there's a death, it's difficult to connect an overdose with prescription drugs."
To make a troubling situation even worse, Bennett said he sees more and more prescription drug abusers turning to illegal drugs when the money starts to run out.
"That's the unfortunate part," he said. "They can't afford that high anymore, so many times they switch to heroin because it's cheaper. And heroin is an extremely dangerous and addictive drug."
Stanforth has seen the same issues. "Many times, they become related," he said. "You're taking an illegal drug to possibly address the same emotional or physical need that a prescription drug could afford, whether it's depression or anxiety. Whatever it may be, they often find illegal drugs that do the same thing. So you will often find a relationship between the abuse of illegal drugs and prescription drugs."
What is called "drug-seeking behavior" also becomes prevalent for those who become hooked on prescription medication, according to Bennett.
"They seek drugs at multiple emergency rooms or from multiple physicians," said Bennett. "That is the one thing about sedative drugs. You build a tolerance to them and once that tolerance is built up, you need more of the same drug. It becomes so powerful that it can take all of someone's money. And when individuals abuse these drugs, they become isolated and absent from their family and friends. They can be present but still they're not really there. Invariably, they get arrested and it's horrible on their health. It's just devastating."
As one woman told Bennett in a group session at Fayette Recovery, "I don't know how I went from having a great job and a great family to all the sudden the job being gone and my kids being gone."
"That's how quickly it can happen," Bennett said. "They wake up and it's all gone."
This is an excellent article and sets forth how prevalent is prescription drug addiction and how likely it is that Oxycontin--legal heroin, leads to heroin addiction.
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