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MONDAY, DEC. 13
Houston remains at the dark heart of the Lone Star State's
growing prescription drug abuse problem - accounting for a quarter
of complaints about doctors' suspect prescriptions and one-sixth of
the state's 1,900 annual accidental fatal overdoses, according to a
review by the Houston Chronicle.
But an examination of death data and interviews from around the
state shows the pill-popping problem is growing exponentially
across Texas.
Deaths by accidental overdoses - including preventable deaths
involving prescription drugs - more than doubled from 2000 to 2008,
according to the latest statewide death certificates.
In San Antonio, a string of military servicemen's accidental
deaths have been blamed on lethal combinations of prescription
pills. Overall, Bexar County reported 184 accidental overdoses in
2008 - almost three times as many as in 2000.
The medical examiner's office in Corpus Christi has seen one of
the biggest percentage increases in overdose deaths of any county
in Texas.
Nueces County reported 40 poisoning deaths in 2008 - compared to
one in 2000.
Some Corpus deaths appeared to be linked to a growing popularity
of partying with prescription pills, including cocktails of drugs
like Vicodin (hydrocodone) and Xanax (alprazolam), said Stefanie
Wiser, who compiles statistics for the office.
"I know there's a huge increase," she said. "There are some
cases where they buy them as recreational drugs, and they mix them.
It's quite prevalent in the teenagers - it seems to be the cool
thing to do."
'No one noticed'
In Dallas, two Southern Methodist University students are among
those who died in recent years after reports indicate they mixed
prescription drugs with alcohol or other drugs, though most victims
of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe as
a national prescription pill epidemic tend to be middle-aged.
"I still find it amazing that the problem escalated to epidemic
proportions right under our noses and no one noticed or tried to
address it - it took the unnecessary deaths of our children to open
eyes," said Anita Goodman, a Beaumont-based nurse who lost her own
son Aaron, 31, to a prescription drug overdose and has spoken
across the state to warn others.
Houston has been identified by the U.S. drug czar as a major hub
for prescription drug diversion with hundreds of so-called pill
mills and more than 1,200 related overdose deaths reported here in
the past three years alone. One Houston doctor saw his license
suspended and his clinic closed last week over pending criminal
allegations he oversaw a rogue pill mill operation in which fake
doctors continued to dispense illegal prescriptions even after a
drug raid.
The latest statewide fatal overdose statistics, compiled by the
health department from 2008 death certificates, show accidental
drug poisonings also jumped in many other Texas communities -
including Jefferson and Orange counties, among others in East
Texas, San Antonio (Bexar County), Dallas-Fort Worth (Tarrant and
Dallas counties), Austin (Travis County) and Corpus Christi (Nueces
County). Fifteen Texas counties reported more than 100 such deaths
in the past five years.
Re-evaluating program
Drug research expert Jane Maxwell, a nationally-known addiction
expert based at the University of Texas School of Social Work, is
among those calling for state legislators to fund a real-time
prescription drug tracking system and to create a comprehensive
monitoring system of overdose deaths to improve statewide response.
"We don't have the data we ought to have in order be able to
really determine (the scope of) the problems," she said.
Army officials nationwide are re-examining so-called
polypharmacy - the practice of prescribing multiple prescription
drugs to soldiers - after 32 prescription drug-related deaths of
service members undergoing care in Warrior Treatment Units in Texas
and other states in the past three years, according to the Military
Times.
At least four servicemen treated in San Antonio have died of
accidental prescription drug overdoses since 2008: Sgt. Robert
Nichols, 32; Army Warrant Officer Judson Mount, 37; Army Sgt.
Franklin Barnett, 29; and Army Specialist Erik George Vega, 29,
according to nonprofit and press reports.
Colleges across the state are working to improve awareness of
risks of mixing medicines with alcohol or other drugs, including
posting emergency OD information on the doors of dorms, offering
substance abuse classes and even amnesty to students who might
otherwise be afraid to summon medical help if criminal drug or
alcohol possession charges could result.
SMU formed a task force after one student died of a mixture of
prescription pills and another drug in December 2005. John Sanger,
SMU's director of alcohol and drug abuse prevention, said the
university starts early by addressing incoming students at summer
orientation.
Urging strong response
Prompted by increasing prescription drug fatalities in Texas and
nationwide, the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance called last month
for stepped up CDC response and emergency public education
campaigns on how to prevent prescription pill overdoses as well as
mass distribution of the overdose reversal drug naloxone. If
administered in time, naloxone almost instantly halts potentially
lethal side-effects of opiod pain pills.
"There's been a wave of overdoses and an explosion of pain
killer prescriptions being written," said Meghan Ralston, a Los
Angeles-based researcher for the alliance. "Many are people who
are in pain or use these drugs recreationally ... and we fail to
tell them that is a risk of overdose."
Many die from pills received from a legitimate physician for
real medical problems, while others obtain them from street dealers
or so-called doctor shoppers, according to national and local
research.
Still, complaints about potentially abusive or questionable
prescriptions by physicians have skyrocketed statewide, according
to the state medical board. Of 324 complaints filed so far this
year, 80 involved doctors in Harris County compared to 19 in Bexar
County; 32 in Dallas County and 20 in Tarrant County.
Hydrocodone big
Whatever the source of the prescription, pharmacies across Texas
report sales continue to boom for the powerful opiate pain pill
hydrocodone, the drug most often linked to cocktail drug overdose
deaths in many communities.
Prescriptions dispensed increased 24 percent for hydrocodone,
often sold as Vicodin or Lorcet, for the first nine months of 2010
compared to the same period in 2009, a Chronicle analysis of state
Prescription Monitoring Program data shows.
So far this year, enough hydrocodone pills have been dispensed -
734 million - that if divided equally, every man, woman and child
in Texas could each consume 30 doses.
lise.olsen@chron.com
c.2010 Houston Chronicle