The McKean County district attorney has seen an increase in
OxyContin use and is looking towards the medical profession to help
curb the abuse.
District Attorney John Pavlock sent out a letter this week to
medical providers and pharmacists seeking more input into the
widespread abuse of OxyContin, a pain reliever prescribed by a
doctor.
“Please, please, please use caution when prescribing OxyContin
and other narcotics,” Pavlock said in the letter with the words in
bold, all in capital letters and underlined.
For the past few years, Pavlock and law enforcement officials
have seen an increase in its use.
“It was so obvious to us that there was an explosion of illegal
use of prescription narcotics, including several overdoses,”
Pavlock said. “We were used to, regretfully used to, heroin
overdoses” but there have been a lot more prescription drug
overdoses.
Pavlock first went on attack in 2005 when he sent a letter to
local medical providers and pharmacists asking for input into the
problem.
He said the majority of responses he got were those who agreed
and recognized there’s a problem. He’s still looking for input from
these professionals and hopes to compile his findings and
suggestions.
He also acknowledges that some people need the prescription
drug, but all need to be aware of its addictive qualities.
“There are some people who need OxyContin and high-level
narcotics. I fully understand that,” Pavlock said, adding that the
drug needn’t be taken away completely but used cautiously.
“We have people doctor shopping all over the country,” he said.
In response, Pavlock suggested looking at the procedure for
prescribing the drug.
While there are a lot of drugs that are a problem across the
board, Pavlock said, “OxyContin seems to be in high demand … people
are using it like heroin.”
Pavlock explained that those who may take crack or heroin “get
by” with OxyContin when they can’t get their illegal drug of
choice.
“Nationwide we have a huge problem,” Pavlock said. “The point of
my letter is look at what’s going on in front of you, in your
community, not just national … to be more aware in McKean County,
in your community.
“We are trying as much as we can on law enforcement to lessen
the demand, but the supply is coming through prescriptions.”
Pavlock said there’s confidentiality issues to deal with,
too.
He established a drug task force two years ago, which has been
busy tracking down drug activity.
“In one case, they were handing it back and forth behind the
Riddle House. We’ve seen it everywhere.”
The district attorney said those involved are getting
younger.
“We’ve had a problem with teenagers, pretty young teenagers,
trading pills,” he said. “They go to mom and dad’s medical cabinet,
take a few of these and a few of that and pool their resources, get
all the stuff together and try this and try that.”
Then there’s those who do it for the money.
“It’s way more than that now it’s a business. There’s people
working to get it to sell it.”
John P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy, said
OxyContin is a problem for teens.
“Parents need to know that teens are turning away from street
drugs and increasingly abusing prescription drugs to get high. They
should also be aware that suppliers of these drugs might not be
sinister characters on the street corner, but are more likely close
friends or relatives,” said Walters. “Too many young people see
popping pills as a painless high.”
The fact that these drugs are more available doesn’t help
either.
“The explosion in the prescription of addictive opioids,
depressants and stimulants has, for many children, made their
parents’ medicine cabinet a greater temptation and threat than a
street drug dealer,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman and
president, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at
Columbia University. “The world of children and teens is awash in
prescription drugs and some parents can become inadvertent drug
pushers by leaving their prescription opioids, stimulants and
depressants in places where their kids can get them.”
Pavlock also pointed out an article released by National Public
Radio about employees of Purdu Pharma LP, the makers of OxyContin,
pleading guilty to misleading the public on the drug’s risks.
U.S. attorney John Brownlee said the company had deliberately
downplayed the drug’s potential for abuse and addiction.
Now that the drug is out on the market and widely used, it’s
important to recognize the problems it may cause.
“Real life experience – what you directly observe and what
others in your community are telling you – must be strongly
considered when deciding what narcotics to prescribe,” Pavlock said
in the letter. “We have an extreme problem here that we all need to
recognize and work to address.”
