March 10, 2010 9:43 a.m. EST

Corey Haim, pictured at a 2009 event in Hollywood, California, has died of a possible drug overdose, police say.

 

Haim, 38, was taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, where he was pronounced dead at about 3:30 a.m. PT Wednesday (6:30 a.m. ET), police Sgt. Frank Albarran said.

The death appears to be accidental, possibly an overdose, Albarran said.

Haim's most famous role was in the 1987 movie "The Lost Boys" in which he appeared with his frequent co-star, Corey Feldman.

In later years, the two friends -- who appeared in eight movies together -- both struggled with drug abuse and went their separate ways. They reunited for a reality show, "The Two Coreys," in 2007, but A&E Network canceled the program after slightly more than a year.

In a 2007 interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Haim and Feldman both discussed their battle with drugs. Feldman told King that he had gotten clean, but it took Haim a while longer.

Haim called himself "a chronic relapser for the rest of my life."

"I think I have an addiction to pretty much everything," he said. "I mean, I have to be very careful with myself as far as that goes, which is why I have a support group around me consistently."

He told King that he also had lost more than 150 pounds while getting sober.

"I didn't like looking in the mirror anymore," Haim said. "I couldn't do it ... See, I hit about, my peak, about 302 [pounds]. ... And now I'm back to 150."

In 2008, Feldman told People magazine that he would no longer speak to Haim until Haim got sober. In a clip from "The Two Coreys," Feldman and his wife, along with two other former teen stars, called on Haim in an effort to get him to admit he needed help, the magazine said.

The meeting followed an incident in which Haim -- scheduled to film a cameo appearance in a direct-to-DVD sequel to "The Lost Boys" -- appeared on the set "clearly under the influence," People reported.

"I don't feel that he's a safe person to have around my wife and child at the moment, for a multitude of reasons," Feldman told People. Haim told the magazine in the August 2008 story that he was currently sober and said, "I will always love Corey Feldman, but I lost 105 percent respect for him and his wife."

Haim was born December 23, 1971 in Toronto, Ontario, according to a biography on his Web site. He made his first television appearance in 1982 on the Canadian series "The Edison Twins." His first film role was in 1984, when he appeared in the American movie "First Born."

Haim also won rave reviews for his title role in the 1986 film "Lucas." Film critic Roger Ebert said of him at the time, "If he continues to act this well, he will never become a half-forgotten child star, but will continue to grow into an important actor."

Following "The Lost Boys," both Haim and Feldman appeared in "License to Drive" and "Dream a Little Dream."

Posted Mar 1st 2010 7:55AM by TMZ Staff

Former WWE Superstar Eddie Fatu aka Umaga -- who died in December -- was the victim of a bad combination of drugs, according to the Harris County Medical Examiner in Texas.

Dan Morgan, the supervisory forensic investigator for Harris County, blamed "acute toxicity" -- claiming the combined effects of hydrocodone (aka Vicodin), carisoprodol (muscle relaxer), and diazepam (aka Valium) were responsible for the wrestler's death.

The death was ruled "accidental" -- Fatu was 36.

According to the WWE, Fatu was released from his wrestling contract on June 11 for violating the WWE Wellness Program and for refusing to go to rehab.

Read more:

By DAVID K. L I

Last Updated: 9:18 AM, February 25, 2010

Posted: 2:46 AM, February 25, 2010

By Kate Kelland - Wed Feb 24, 2:03 AM PST

LONDON (Reuters) - Abuse of prescription drugs is growing rapidly around the world, with more people abusing legal narcotics than heroin, cocaine and ecstasy combined, the United Nations global drugs watchdog said on Wednesday.

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2006 file photo, bottles of prescription medications move along a production line at Medco Health Solutions, Inc.'s Willingboro Dispensing Pharmacy, in Willingboro, N.J. Pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions Inc. said Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010, its profit climbed 24 percent in the fourth quarter on higher revenue due to higher prices for brand-name drugs and new clients.(AP Photo/Mel Evans, file)

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) also pointed to a rise in the use of so-called "date rape drugs," as sexual abusers try to get around more rigorous controls with substances not banned by international drugs laws.

The INCB said several high-profile celebrity deaths, such as pop star Michael Jackson last year, had focused attention on prescription drug abuse.

In the United States, abuse of prescription drugs "is now the second most important drug abuse issue after cannabis," it said, with 6.2 million people hooked on them in 2008.

"Abuse of such drugs has been spreading over the world in recent years," said Hamid Ghodse, director of the International Center for Drug Policy at St George's University in London and one of the report's authors. "It needs to be tackled urgently."

Ghodse said it was difficult to get comprehensive data on the abuse of pharmaceuticals, which he described as a "hidden problem," but in Germany, for example, an estimated 1.4 to 1.9 million people were addicted to prescription drugs.

In Canada, an estimated 1 to 3 percent of the population abuses prescription opioids, and in several European countries -- such as France, Italy, Lithuania and Poland -- between 10 and 18 percent of students use sedatives or tranquilizers without a prescription.

Illegal internet pharmacies, which sell stolen, diverted and counterfeited medicines around the world, are a major supply source for prescription drugs abusers, the INCB said, and it urged governments to monitor them closely or shut them down.

The INCB also said it wanted to raise the alarm about new substances becoming the drugs of choice for sexual abusers.

Drugs like ketamine and gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL), which are not controlled under international drug conventions, are replacing Rohypnol, which was in the past so commonly used in sexual assault that it was called the "date-rape drug."

Ghodse said stricter control measures by governments and the pharmaceutical industry had helped curb use of Rohypnol, or flunitrazepam, which is now rarely used in attacks, but newer drugs were easier to get hold of and abuse.

"Since in many countries these drugs are easily available, they frequently fall into criminal hands," he told reporters.

INCB president Sevil Atasoy said greater efforts were needed in preventing drug abuse of all kinds as a means of cutting off demand and breaking the supply chain. Organized and powerful criminal networks were constantly finding new processes, routes and substances to keep drug manufacturing operations alive.

"Preventing drug abuse is a crucial area of demand reduction," she wrote in the report.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Brittany Murphy Death: Accident Says Coroner, But Role of Rx Drugs Unresolved in Actress' Demise

NEW YORK (CBS) Actress Brittany Murphy's death is being called an accident, primarily due to pneumonia, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office. But additional findings that anemia and prescription drugs also played a role leave several unanswered questions.

Photo: Brittany Murphy arriving at the premiere of her film "Happy Feet" in central London.

PICTURES: Brittany Murphy Dead at 32

The co-star of "Clueless" and "8 Mile" died Dec. 20, 2009 at age 32, after she collapsed in her Hollywood Hills home. Her husband, Simon Monjack and mother, Sharon Murphy, both claim she did not abuse prescription drugs or have an eating disorder. They told investigators she had been experiencing flu-like symptoms days before she died.

The coroner determined that Murphy's death was from "community acquired pneumonia," while also citing as contributing factors, iron deficiency anemia and "multiple drug intoxication."

Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey declined to specify what types of drugs were involved but said they were all prescription medications. Details about the drugs will be released in several weeks.

Dr. Michael Baden, the former chief medical examiner in New York City, said the coroner's determination indicated drugs probably played a key role in Murphy's death.

Baden said the use of some prescription medications can lead to pneumonia, and the coroner's office may have listed that as the primary cause to lessen the blow to Murphy's family.

"One doesn't die of pneumonia, usually, that quickly," Baden said. He also downplayed the role anemia may have played in Murphy's death.

A memorial for a foundation in Brittany Murphy's name had been planned for Thursday, but was abruptly canceled with no explanation.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/02/04/crimesider/entry6173499.shtml

OUR VIEW

Disposing of unused drugs

By DALE WETZEL (AP) – 2 days ago

BISMARCK, N.D. — Young people are abusing prescription drugs with alarming frequency, sometimes during "pharm parties" where pills are set out like candy, a man whose son died of an overdose of painkillers told a conference Tuesday.

"Kids refer to them as skittles or trail mix," Dan Pearson said. "It's real. It's very real."

Pearson, of St. Cloud, Minn., spoke at the conference to brief social workers, medical professionals and law enforcement officers about what Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says is a rising prescription drug abuse problem in North Dakota.

More than 300 people attended the conference. Stenehjem is holding another meeting Wednesday in Fargo and said he expected a similar turnout.

"We need to create and promote public awareness of the extent of this problem in North Dakota," the attorney general said. "The problem is out of control. Illegal prescription medications are everywhere."

The state Department of Public Instruction said a recent survey of North Dakota youth behavior indicated illegal use of prescription drugs has been increasing for both middle school and high school students.

A separate 2008 survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that 2.9 percent of eighth graders and 9.7 percent of high school seniors had abused Vicodin, a narcotic painkiller.

Pearson said the term "pharm parties" has entered the teenage lexicon, where young people bring prescription pills — some obtained from their parents' medicine cabinets — and dispense them in dishes or bags.

Dan Pearson has pushed for state and federal legislation to make it more difficult for Internet pharmacies to legally dispense drugs since the death of his son, Justin, on Christmas Day 2006. Justin, 24, used more than a dozen Internet pharmacies to feed his habit, his father said.

Justin Pearson began using painkillers after he suffered a broken shoulder and ruptured spleen in a four-wheeler accident, and to alleviate pain from two ruptured discs in his back. After his doctors cut off his pain prescriptions, he turned to the Internet, Dan Pearson said.

"With a few clicks of a mouse, the kids can get drugs," he said. "It's not like you have to go through any big hassle. It's like ordering pizza."

Minnesota and North Dakota's rules are among the nation's most stringent, Pearson said. This year, the North Dakota Legislature endorsed a new law that requires a face-to-face consultation with a doctor before a patient may fill a prescription at an Internet pharmacy.

Stenehjem has asked police stations in Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot and Bismarck to set out containers for people to drop off unneeded medications, which the Bureau of Criminal Investigation will collect for incineration.

The container in the Bismarck Police Department's lobby had been emptied three times by late afternoon Tuesday. Bismarck Police Sgt. Mark Buschena said at least a half-dozen people had visited Tuesday, including one woman who filled the two-gallon container almost half full with pill bottles.

"It appears as though there's a need for this," Buschena said.

The Fargo Police Department put out its container late Tuesday, said Liz Brocker, a spokeswoman for Stenehjem. Containers will be installed at the Grand Forks and Minot police departments Wednesday, spokesmen at the agencies said.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board/The Star-Led...

November 28, 2009, 5:30AM

In a logistical wonder, law enforcement agencies across New Jersey teamed to collect (and incinerate) 9,000 pounds of unwanted prescription drugs last week in Operation Medicine Cabinet, the nation’s first statewide pill drive.

Now when you go snooping in your neighbor’s medicine chest, fewer prescription bottles are likely to tumble out. More important, teens will find it more difficult to pilfer their next high from their parents’ bathroom.

The statistics are jolting: Approximately 20 percent of teens admit using prescription drugs without a prescription, according to researchers.

Each day, 2,500 youngsters ages 12 to 17 abuse a prescription drug for the first time, and more teens abuse prescription drugs than any other illicit drug except marijuana. New Jersey middle school students abuse prescription drugs more than twice as much as cocaine and ecstasy.

Many of these teens also believe that, since the drug has been prescribed to someone, it can’t be harmful. Parents often are equally clueless. More than half of state’s middle-school parents surveyed didn’t realize there is a prescription drug abuse problem.

With the statewide drive, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the state attorney general’s office, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and 440 law-enforcement agencies took 3 million pills out of an estimated 20,000 households and out of kids’ reach.

But why wait another year for the next collection? Why not provide opportunities for citizens to dump their drugs — like those old paint cans — on a regular basis?

“We’re trying,” said Gerard P. McAleer, head of the DEA’s New Jersey division. “It can be a logistical nightmare. This was planned for two years. Can you imagine how difficult it is to get 440 police chiefs to agree on something? It’s a monumental task.”

But the state reaps a monumental benefit.

Experts say prescription drugs are gateway drugs. When the medicine chest is tapped out, hooked kids will try to buy the pills on the street. Operation Medicine Cabinet can stop an addiction before it happens.

Tossing the pills into the trash or toilet presents two problems: Teens can snatch them from the wastebasket, and improperly dumped prescription drugs already are polluting water supplies.

State and federal agencies should build on the momentum they’ve created with Operation Medicine Cabinet.

If they do, life-saving pill-disposal days might become as popular as National Smokeout days.

BBC News Online/Interactive

One teenager from New York talks about getting hooked on prescription drugs Growing numbers of teenagers in the US are putting their lives at risk by abusing prescription drugs.
According to a survey by The Partnership for a Drug Free America, one in five teens admit experimenting with legal medication at least once.

The charity has described abuse of prescription drugs and over the counter medicine among teenagers as a 'troubling trend'. Concerns are also growing that rising numbers of young people are being admitted to hospital after taking an overdose. 'They are experimenting with anything, with everything', Special Agent Gerard McAleer from the US Drug Enforcement Agency said. 'We're finding more and more experimentation with our youth in America, they are going into medicine cabinets at home and taking them from there.'

That is how it started for 16-year-old Henry Walkdale from New York, who is now on a drug rehabilitation programme. 'Prescription drugs are definitely much easier to find', he said. 'You can get fake scripts [prescriptions], there are people that literally sell them out of the back of hospitals if you know the right neighbourhoods to go to.' Henry's addiction got worse when he was taken to hospital with a leg injury. 'They were keeping me full of painkillers and when I got out they gave me a prescription and so I just started popping them like candy,' he admitted. 'I'd steal from my friends' parents cabinets, I'd do whatever I could to get that fix.' There are concerns that teenagers are using prescription drugs to self medicate as well as to get high. 'They are thinking about it in a very tactical and almost strategic way,' said Steve Pasierb, president of the charity The Partnership for a Drug Free America.

He added that there were a wide variety of types of drugs with which teenagers are experimenting. 'The drugs that grab the headlines are the prescription pain relievers. But what we know from the research is it's stimulants, sedatives, psychoactives, anti-depressants.' One trend in particular, so-called 'pharm parties', are causing concern among drugs charities and law enforcement agencies. 'We see it all the time. The price of admission is a handful of pills. They all go in the bowl, they pass the bowl around and they pop it to see the effect,' said Mr Pasierb. Recent deaths of celebrities including Michael Jackson from prescription drugs have highlighted the problem of abuse.

But there is no sign that those high profile cases are putting people off abusing legal medication.

A recent amnesty held by the Drug Enforcement Agency in New Jersey saw approximately 9,000 lbs of un-used prescription medication handed in.

Gerard McAleer of the DEA says it highlights how easy it is for teenagers to get access to the drugs. 'In the wrong hands it is very dangerous,' he said. 'We've asked people to talk to their kids, look in the medicine cabinet, take an inventory, secure the medicines you need to keep and dispose of those that have just been sitting there.'

Contact:  DEA Special Agent Douglas S. Collier, M.A.

Public Information Officer

TEL:   (973) 776-1143

CELL: (862) 849-9833

douglas.collier@usdoj.gov

Contact: Angela Conover, Director of Media and Community Relations,

Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey

973-467-2100, ext. 25

conover@drugfreenj.org

November 18, 2009

Thousands of New Jersey Residents Prescribe to Operation Medicine Cabinet

Over 9,000 Pounds of Prescription and Over-the-Counter Medicine Collected During

First in the Nation Day of Disposal

(NEWARK) – Gerard P. McAleer, the Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New Jersey Division and Angelo M. Valente, the Executive Director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), announced today that over 9,000 pounds of medicine, with a street value of over $35 million, was collected during Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey, the first in the nation statewide day of disposal of unused, unwanted, and expired medicine.  This statewide effort is being spearheaded by the DEA New Jersey Division, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General (OAG), and the PDFNJ, with partnership and support by many other local and statewide prevention and enforcement organizations.  (Please see attached list.)

Over 440 local police departments and sheriff departments, in all of New Jersey’s 21 counties, hosted collection sites, where New Jersey residents came out in force to support Operation Medicine Cabinet and rid their homes of unused, unwanted, and expired medicines on November 14th, clearing their homes of over 9,000 pounds of prescription and over-the- counter medicine.

Gerard P. McAleer, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA New Jersey Division, stated, “This initiative reduced the availability of prescription drugs that could have been abused by our family members and friends.  Approximately 3 ½ million pills have been voluntarily discarded and properly disposed, with the assistance of community members, law enforcement agencies, and prevention and treatment organizations throughout the state.”

“Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey accomplished two main goals—first and foremost, it generated unprecedented attention to the issue of prescription and over-the-counter medicine abuse, and secondly, it caused tens of thousands of New Jersey residents to look at their medicine cabinets as a potential source for young people to access highly addictive and deadly drugs,” said Angelo M. Valente, Executive Director of the PDFNJ.

Based on the overwhelming response and success of Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey, the program organizers are currently planning on expanding this program to other states throughout the country.

###

Please click on any part of the image below to read the advisory in its entirety

By Cynthia Henry

Inquirer Staff Writer

With Americans increasingly engaged in prescription-drug abuse, law enforcement is attacking their supply line: home medicine cabinets.

Nearly 70 South Jersey police departments will collect unwanted or expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs Saturday in Operation Medicine Cabinet, a statewide project organized by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the state Attorney General's Office, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey.

"Something inherently good is dangerous in the wrong hands," said Gerard P. McAleer, DEA special agent in charge. "Kids are going into their medicine cabinets at home or visiting Grandma and Grandpa to take painkillers."

An estimated 20 percent of the U.S. population age 12 or older have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Abusers tend to be teenagers, women, and older adults.

In a national survey of 12th graders conducted in 2007, seven of the 10 drugs reported most frequently abused were prescribed or over-the-counter, the agency found.

Nearly 10 percent of the students reported abusing Vicodin, and 4.7 percent had tried OxyContin, both powerful painkillers. Other drugs cited included the painkillers Percocet and codeine and tranquilizers Valium and Xanax.

While alcohol and cigarette use by teens has dropped in recent years, the rate of prescription-drug abuse remains high, NIDA found. The agency's annual Monitoring the Future report, now in its 33d year, is based on classroom surveys.

Operation Medicine Chest organizers hope the New Jersey drop-off, to be held between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., will become a national model. Officers will ask no questions about the medicines, nor will they seek residents' identification. The DEA will dispose of the materials.

Among more than 400 communities participating are all 24 in Gloucester County; a dozen in Camden County, including Camden, Cherry Hill, and Gloucester Township; and 30 in Burlington County, including Burlington Township, Evesham, Lumberton, and Willingboro.

"Teens abuse prescription drugs for different reasons," said David Rubenstein, director of counseling and psychological services at Rowan University in Glassboro. "Some to self-medicate, trying to help with sleep, anxiety, depression. Others abuse prescription drugs in a recreational sense, to get high."

New Jersey's latest public-school violence statistics showed downward trends in fights, theft, property damage, and alcohol use, but reported incidents involving unauthorized prescription drugs up 77 percent between 2005-06 and 2007-08.

"It's something we will certainly be focusing on going forward," state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said when the report was released last month.

Many parents focus on illicit drugs and overlook the danger of legal medications, according to Angelo M. Valente, executive director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey. In the group's annual survey of middle-school parents, about 47 percent said they knew little or nothing about prescription-drug abuse.

Parents should keep all drugs in a locked storage area, Rubenstein said. "That also prevents other teens and children from abusing medications obtained from someone else's house."

Teens trade legally prescribed Ritalin and other attention-deficit-disorder drugs at school or pop painkillers while drinking or smoking marijuana at parties, said Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

If caught selling, they could be sentenced to probation, community service, or incarceration. Possession may result in curfews, mandatory treatment, or juvenile drug court, he said.

Operation Medicine Cabinet builds on an award-winning 2008 prescription-drug-abuse awareness campaign, titled "Grandma's Stash," by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey. Among the facts highlighted: 70 percent of abusers obtain painkillers from bottles prescribed to relatives or acquaintances.

"The average person has a prescription for 60 pills. If someone takes out five, no one will notice until the end of the month, and then they'll just think the pharmacy shorted them," said Pamela M. Negro, director of Rowan University's Center for Addiction Studies.

Negro, who voices Grandma Rose in the ads, counsels college students who try to ace tests by taking stimulants or reduce stress by drinking cough syrup.

"It's not new, it's just accessible," she said.

Operation Medicine Cabinet also hopes to benefit the environment by keeping medications out of municipal sewer systems, organizers said.

"Several years ago, the federal government spoke out against the long-accepted practice of simply flushing unwanted or expired medicine, alerting the public that the toilet is not a trash can," Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt said in a statement.

Last year, an Associated Press investigation discovered traces of antibiotics, anticonvulsants, mood stabilizers, and painkillers in the tap water near dozens of major metropolitan areas. Philadelphia fared among the worst, with 56 pharmaceuticals and by-products detected.

DEA hopes to make the collection an annual event, McAleer said.

"We won't measure success just by the amount of drugs turned in," he said. "We want to raise awareness - get parents talking to their children."

Operation Medicine Cabinet

More than 400 police departments and public offices in New Jersey will accept prescription and over-the-counter medicines for disposal from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

To locate a site, go to www.OperationMedicineCabinetNJ.com or call 973-467-2100.

Contact staff writer Cynthia Henry at 856-779-3790 or

.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky officials say more than 300 people have been arrested and 200 more charged in a crackdown on illegal trafficking of prescription drugs.

It's the largest drug sweep in state history. Bob McBride with the U.S. Attorney's Office says the sweep is trying to stop a massive influx of pills from other states, such as Florida. He says methadone and OxyContin are among the most prevalent drugs.

Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer says the roundup is the result of a three-year investigation.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Canadian, Oklahoma 10/28/2009 04:40 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

DXM (Dextromethorphan), a cough suppressant found in over-the-counter cough and cold remedies which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, was reported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to be responsible for an estimated 12,584 emergency departments visits in 2004. According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 1 in 10 teens – more than 2.4 million young people – report having abused over-the-counter cough medicines to get high.

Celebrity medical personalities are starting to notice these startling numbers.  Recently Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of the popular radio show “Loveline” and the star of the VH1 hits “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” and “Sober House,” announced that he was joining the national Five Moms Campaign whose goal is to further educate parents and legislators about the dangers of cough medicine abuse.
 
One of the founders of the Five Moms is Misty Fetko, a Registered Nurse, who lost her son Carl to an overdose of a lethal mix of drugs consisting of DXM, Fentanyl (a prescription narcotic) and marijuana.   “I was an emergency room nurse. I had recognized signs of substance abuse in patients over the years. Never once did I realize that cough medicine abuse was possible, let alone that my son would be drawn to this dangerous behavior. Through Five Moms I’m hopeful that we can arm other parents with the information and resources that I unfortunately did not have,” said Ms. Fetko.

Rebecca Pool, Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor with Narconon Arrowhead, applauds the campaign of the Five Moms and Dr. Drew that is educating the public about the dangers of over-the-counter drugs. “Ms Fetko’s story is a tragic one I have heard many times from families trying to get their loved one to Narconon for substance abuse, specifically DXM. Tragically, a number of our clients never arrive due to an accidental overdose before coming to our facility, trying to get that last ‘high’ not realizing how dangerous over-the-counter drugs are.  I am always amazed when our younger clients first arrive at our facility and state that their first introduction to ‘getting high’ was with over-the-counter cough syrup containing DXM.  The majority of those starting with DXM believed it was safer and not addictive because they had bought it in the local pharmacy and then progressed to mixing it with other drugs and alcohol. This is where educating both our youth and parents on the dangers of DXM abuse and drug addiction is of the utmost importance,” stated Ms. Poole. “Narconon Arrowhead fully supports any organization promoting drug education and prevention.  John Bitinas, Narconon Arrowhead’s drug prevention and education specialist, travels across the country delivering drug education and prevention lectures to schools throughout the U.S.  John spoke with over 65,000 of our nation’s youth last year and one of the ‘hot’ topics of the year last year was DXM abuse.”

If you would like more information regarding DXM or substance abuse, call Narconon Arrowhead today at 1-800-468-6933 or visit our website at

.  The Narconon international network of drug and alcohol rehabilitation and education programs was founded over 43 years ago. Narconon Arrowhead is the networks premier facility, located in southeast Oklahoma on 216 acres in Arrowhead State Park, is the perfect treatment environment for those addicted who are trying to regain control of their life. Since Narconon’s center opened in Oklahoma in 1990 over 3,580 people have graduated the full program. Over 70% of these graduates are enjoying sober and productive lives today.

A Nevada case causes concern for pharmacies about possible liability for actions taken by customers who may abuse drugs. The Wall Street Journal reports on the case of Patricia Copening, who pleaded guilty to reckless driving after her car swerved off a highway and struck and killed a 21-year-old and injured a 33-year-old. "In Ms. Copening's car, police found prescription bottles and loose pills, 167 in total, of hydrocodone, Soma and other drugs," according to the Journal article. Before the incident, the Nevada controlled-substance task force had sent letters to 14 pharmacies in the Las Vegas area warning that Copening could be abusing drugs. The Nevada Supreme Court is now reviewing whether pharmacies that supplied the drugs to her could be held accountable by the injured man and the dead man's family. "The case, Sanchez vs. Wal-Mart Stores et al, asks whether drugstores must use information at their disposal to protect the public from potentially dangerous customers. The Nevada case is part of a broader movement under way to place more responsibility for patients' prescription-drug use on pharmacies."

"Abuse of prescription drugs has risen dramatically over the past two decades, along with a surge in the number of controlled-substance prescriptions being written. ... At the same time, pharmacists have much more patient information at their disposal, thanks to pharmacy computer systems and a proliferation of state online prescription-tracking databases. The availability of patient information is only expected to increase as electronic health records are adopted by more and more doctors. As a result, consumers, government officials and pharmacies themselves are increasingly asking what a pharmacy is legally and ethically obligated to do with this newly available information. This week, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy is convening a task force to discuss pharmacies' roles in prescription-tracking programs" (Merrick, 10/28).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Media Credit: http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f35/Urbanhomemaker/mpglass-1.jpg

Lindsay Wertenberger

Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: News

 

Flushing a few pills may be a convenient way to dispose of some extra prescription drugs, but those chemicals most likely end up right back in the bathroom sink. Now that the Associated Press report revealing pharmaceutical contamination in drinking water has been out for a number of weeks, communities are beginning to react to the notion that their drinking water may not be as pure as they once thought.

In early March, the Associated Press released a report detailing the results of a five-month-long investigation of drinking water in a number of American metropolitan areas. The report found trace amounts of prescription drugs in the drinking water of 24 cities, affecting over 41 million people. Among the drugs found were anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, sex hormones and antibiotics.

The U.S. government does not require that water be tested for any pharmaceuticals. However, these drugs easily make their way into the drinking water. To start, people often flush unused pills. Though this may prevent anyone else from taking them, the flushed water eventually ends up back in the water supply. Before raw sewage is discharged, it is typically filtered for certain contaminants. Water is usually purified again before it becomes drinking water, typically treated with chlorine to kill most germs and often fluoridated for dental health. These processes remove bacteria, fecal matter, certain chemicals and other contaminants. Though not perfect, treating water removes enough contaminants to keep them at low enough levels to not cause any problems. The AP reports that according to the EPA, no sewage treatment is designed specifically to remove pharmaceuticals.

Keeping people from flushing the pills to begin with is not easy, however. According to an article posted on environmental group Potomac Riverkeeper's site, prescription drug "take-back" programs are unfeasible because of federal laws regarding the transfer of prescriptions to parties other than the prescription-holder. People are encouraged to wrap up and throw away old pill bottles surrounded by a substance such as used cat litter that would discourage anyone from going through the garbage for them.

The pill problem is not likely to go away soon-the AP report states that U.S. prescriptions over the past five years have increased 12 percent to 3.7 billion prescriptions.

Animals are other potential sources of drugs-both the medicines given to pets and the hormones and antibiotics pumped into cattle at the feedlot.

Stopping consumers from flushing old pills can help reduce the amount of medication in the water supply, but some contributors cannot be prevented. For example, medications are not entirely absorbed by the body and certain amounts are excreted through urine and eventually flushed into the water supply. CNN has reported studies of a certain bacteria being used to break down estrogen in the water supply, but programs to use these bacteria are not in place and would not remove other drugs.

These trace amounts of medication might still have an impact on health. The AP report cites recent studies showing how even small amounts of medication affect human cells-affected embryonic kidney cells grew too slowly, breast cancer cells grew at a faster rate and blood cells appeared inflamed. These findings, however, are not unexpected in the face of past evidence. In the fall of 2006 the House Government Reform Committee cited the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failure to take action regarding the changes in smallmouth and largemouth bass. In 2003, "intersex" fish were found in the Potomac River Basin. These fish are so called because they bear some traits of the opposite sex; in this case the male bass fish were beginning to develop eggs. This discovery signaled a high presence of estrogen and other chemicals in the water, possibly from birth control pills or hormone replacement drugs.

Dr. George Corcoran, the president of the Society of Toxicology reported to the AP that with the greater publicity and urgency spurred by the AP's investigations, testing for these drugs becomes increasingly important.

"The AP [report] has really put the spotlight on it, and it is going to lead to a pickup in the pace," he said. "People are going to start putting money into studying this now, instead of a few years from now, and we'll get the answers sooner than we would have otherwise."


Wertenberger is a Government junior.

I had no idea. But I guess I shouldn’t blame myself for being so naive. It seems that many parents don’t have any idea either. We generally assume that the drugs we need to worry about our children abusing are such party favorites as alcohol, ecstasy, pot, cocaine or even heroin. I never thought a popular drug of choice these days was dextromethorphan - a key component in cough medicine.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a firm representing the CHPA (Consumer Healthcare Products Association) and asked to attend a two day event in Washington DC covering the Five Moms. (Three of the Five Moms are pictured to the right.)

This Monday, I arrived at the lovely, historic Hotel Lombardy curious about what the next two days would bring me. While I settled down in my room over-looking Pennsylvania Avenue, I reviewed the materials that were left for me.

The Problem

A study from the Partnership for a Drug Free America has shown that about one in ten teens (roughly 2.4 million kids) ages 12-17  have reported to have intentionally abused over the counter cough medicine. And about 28% of teens know someone who has abused it. But only 4% of parents believe their children would actually abuse cough medicine. The Partnership for Drug Free America also reports that “41 percent of teens mistakenly believe that abuse of medicines is less dangerous than abuse of illegal street drugs.” And when teens do abuse dextromethorphan, it has been found that they take 20 - 50 times the recommended dosage which equates to consuming multiple bottles of cough medicine at one time.

The Five Moms

On behalf of StopMedicineAbuse.org, five dynamic mothers have currently become the faces of cough medicine abuse. And this week they arrived in Washington DC with the CHPA to meet with Congress people on Capitol Hill to lobby for their support. They had three goals:

1. Urge the importance of parental education about cough medicine abuse by promoting the StopMedicineAbuse.org site. The Five Moms believe education about the abuse of this common place medication will do more to curb it’s use rather than simply restricting purchase since these medications are found in every home. As one of the Five Moms noted during our meetings on Capitol Hill, “You can’t protect your family from something you don’t know about.”
2. Gain support for the dextromethorphan Abuse Prevention Act of 2009 (s. 1383) which would amend the Controlled Substances Act and prevent the sale of cough medicine (or any products with dextromethorphan) to those under 18 years of age.
3. Gain support for the dextromethorphan Distribution Act of 2009 (H.R. 1259) which if enacted would limit who may purchase bulk amounts of raw dextromethorphan. There are no current limits at this time.

During our time in DC, I got to know four of these mothers (the fifth wasn’t able to come due to an illness in the family) and was truly touched by their stories. Misty Fetko shares a powerful and upsetting story about her son Carl who passed away due to a lethal mix and overdose of drugs including dextromethorphan.  Blaise Brooks, a strong mother, speaker and mentor, educates her community about over the counter medication abuse. Hilda Morales-Roybal took on this cause after becoming informed about the abuse of over the counter medication in her own community. And finally Cristy Crandell currently has a son serving a 13 year prison sentence for crimes he committed while under the influence of dextromethorphan. Each amazing, each examples, each changing lives in their communities and now each delivering their message to Capitol Hill.

Dr. Drew

And so now you’re probably wondering how Dr. Drew fit in to all of this. Well, the night before we all went to Capitol Hill, we sat down to a lovely dinner with the Five Moms, the CHPA, the PR firm who organized all of our comings and goings, and we bloggers: Jenn, Janice and myself. While chatting with the mothers and considering our menus, an announcement was made that we would have another guest. Dr. Drew Pinsky was able to come to DC also to support this entire initiative and he would be joining us for dinner in a few minutes as well as coming to Capitol Hill with us the following day. After a few blogger (ahem) gasps (to put it subtly), Dr. Drew arrived soon there after and ate a delicious meal with us.

(And in case you’ve been living under a rock, here is where you might find Dr. Drew.)

Let me add a quick sidebar here to share something about Dr. Drew. He sat down at our table and graciously, patiently, wonderfully took question after question about addiction, abuse and even discussed our own personal stories. He didn’t have to do that. But he did. He truly cares about the work he is doing and obviously goes above and beyond to help others on a daily basis. I would like to extend a very heartfelt thank you to Dr. Drew for a fascinating dinner discussion.

CHPA

I have mentioned the CHPA before but should do so again now. Who are they? The Consumer Healthcare Products Association is a non for profit group representing the makers of over the counter medications. And yes, they brought me to this event because they wanted their message heard here. But during my brief time with the CHPA folks, I was impressed by and truly connected with this very committed group of people. And then we were lucky enough to have Alan, a CHPA representative and our valiant leader on the Hill, as part of our group too. With two children of his own and a clear dedication to this message, he fearlessly guided us through our day with humor and tact.

Moms Storm Capitol Hill

On Tuesday morning, the Five Moms, the bloggers, the CHPA folks, and PR peeps piled into cabs and found ourselves on Capitol Hill. Where was was Dr. Drew? He and Misty had already been up taping 39 segments for local television that morning to support this cause and we would meet up with them later. Check one of the segments out here:

However for the rest of us, our first stop that morning was the Rayburn building, home to Representative offices located directly across from the Capitol building. As we filed out of the cab, we stared up at this building’s grandeur considering what our day had in store for us. But we only took a moment and then continued up the steps. There was work to be done.

We met a lot of people that day. A lot. We criss-crossed Capitol Hill, tromped up and down the steps into and out of both the Rayburn Building and the Hart Building (where most Senator offices are located). While our fancy shoes silently tortured us with every step we hardly noticed because we were lucky enough to have appointments with:

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA)
Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

We didn’t meet every congress person. In fact, my group usually met with Legislative Assistants. But Dr. Drew and Misty, along with the President and CEO of the Partnership for a Drug Free America, arrived in time for our face to face meetings with both Rep. Fred Upton and Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Every office was welcoming and wholeheartedly interested in the Five Mom’s message. They listened, they gave us time, and they promised further consideration. And as Hilda Morales-Roybal so correctly put forward to each member of her audience: “we are simply asking for you to support common sense”.

Common sense. Yep, that is exactly it. So it would seem these bills are obvious shoe-ins, something every member of congress could get behind - wouldn’t you think? Not so fast. I came to realize that while open to the Five Moms’ message, even the most straight forward, bi-partisan issues won’t be immediately resolved without some behind the scenes work. Call it horse-trading, call it prioritizing, call it plain old politics but these bills have run into a couple brick walls in the Senate. I know, I don’t get it either, but they have.

What Can You Do?

First of all, every parent should educate themselves. Go to StopMedicineAbuse.org to learn more about the risks, the facts, how dextromethorphan is abused and what signs to look for.

Secondly (and probably MOST importantly) you need to discuss this drug and its risks with your teens. Don’t find yourself assuming your sweet innocent child would never do this. Don’t find yourself dealing with a future overdose just like Misty Fetko did.

Thirdly, read medicine labels, look for the educational icon (see at right) and keep careful tabs on what you have in your medicine cabinets. If you see this icon on a medicine label, you should be aware that it has the potential to be abused and may contain dextromethorphan.

Finally, email or write your Representatives and Senators about this issue. Because you know what? They asked me to tell you that. In fact, Senator Grassley had statistics right at his fingertips about how many letters or emails his office receives and how many they respond to. And then after our meeting, his assistant came up to the bloggers and urged us to tell our readers the same. WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS. Because they are listening and they will support what you feel strongly about. No really, they will.

My Afterglow

And so, readers of mine, I will wrap up this lengthy post to say that I was officially blown away by my Capitol Hill experience. You see, I got to experience first hand the influence that moms have on their communities and country at large. And it has left me awed and inspired. Because I often flashback a few years to when my children were very young, when I thought I had no affect on very much any longer apart from raising my boys. I was simply a mom not doing too much of consequence apart from wiping bums, washing bottles and watching Ellen from time to time. No no. Actually, we have a voice. An important one. One that is heard on Capitol Hill - whether it be in face to face meetings or via letters and blog posts. We can make an important difference if we get busy, get talking, get writing and get organizing. Don’t forget what we have the potential to accomplish. Thanks to my time with the Five Moms, I know I never will.

Disclosure note: While my trip and hotel expenses were covered by the CHPA, the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own. This is an extremely important initiative and I was proud to be there to offer my support.

Meth-scourged towns try new approach to crack down on problem

updated 5:29 p.m. ET, Wed., Oct . 14, 2009

UNION, Mo. - The meth problem in Union has gotten so bad that someone with a drug habit stole the light shades outside Marilyn Roark's house. She got them back, but they were unusable.

"They had made them into bongs for the meth," she said.

Another time, Bob Barton Jr., working as a carpenter on a homebuilding project, couldn't find his boss. "I came around the house and there he was, with a lighter and aluminum foil and a straw, smoking meth," Barton said.

In small Midwestern towns in the middle of meth country, folks are frustrated with the failure of many measures to control the scourge: putting cold medicines with the key methamphetamine ingredient

pseudoephedrine

behind pharmacy counters, requiring customers to show IDs, and limiting the number of cold pills someone can buy.

So some communities are taking bolder steps.

This week, Union became the second U.S. town to pass a law requiring prescriptions for cold and allergy medications like Sudafed, Claritin D and Aleve Cold & Sinus that contain pseudoephedrine. Washington, Mo., another meth-cursed town nearby, passed its own such law back in June.

'Shake and bake'
They and other towns are trying to keep up with meth cooks who deftly exploit loopholes in the law or shift to the simpler new "shake-and-bake" method of production that requires only a small amount of the decongestant.

Union Mayor Mike Livengood said he would prefer a statewide prescription-only law. "But they don't seem like they want to address it," he said. "We figured at the grass-roots level we'd start at the bottom and work our way up, and maybe they'll realize we're serious about this issue."

Some residents of Union, with a population of about 8,000, aren't happy either.

"It's going to be a hardship for people who use the medicines," said retiree John Wittrock, fighting a case of the sniffles. "I mean, I need it right now."

"Meth is definitely a problem," he added, but meth makers "can just go to the next town to get what they need."

Washington and Union, six miles apart, are fast-growing towns in a scenic part of the state about 50 miles from St. Louis. A growing number of suburbanites are moving to the area in search of small-town life that is still near enough to the amenities of a metropolitan area.

Missouri tops list for meth lab incidents
Drug Enforcement Administration statistics show that Missouri annually has far more meth lab incidents — arrests, dump sites and seizures — than any other state. Last year, there were nearly 1,500 — more than twice as many as in Indiana, the No. 2 state.

Through July 31, Missouri already had 966 meth lab incidents this year. For many years, Franklin County — home to Union and Washington — has been at or near the top of the list. The mayor cited three meth crimes in Union just last week.

Five years ago, Oklahoma became the first state to put medications containing pseudoephedrine behind pharmacy counters and to require people who want to buy it to show photo identification and sign for the medicine. More than 20 other states and the federal government followed suit.

In 2006, Oregon became the first and only state with a statewide prescription-for-pseudoephedrine law. It has been a huge success, said Craig Prins, executive director of Oregon's Criminal Justice Commission. Before the law, Oregon had about 400 meth lab incidents annually, Prins said. Last year, it had 20.

"Meth is still our No. 1 problem because it's still smuggled in," Prins said. "There's no question it still fuels crime in Oregon. But in the past, cops spent a lot of their time in cleanup suits, cleaning up meth sites. Now, they're concentrating on going after the criminals."

Other states, including Oklahoma and California, are considering similar laws. In Oklahoma, a state lawmaker plans to introduce the legislation next year. Many in Missouri are also pushing for a statewide prescription-only law. The state attorney general's office said 95 of Missouri's 115 county prosecutors have signed a petition supporting such a measure.

'We're tired of it, too'
Mary Frances Faraji, a spokeswoman for Claritin D maker Schering-Plough, said the company opposes laws requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine products. "We feel this places an added burden on patients who need an effective decongestant," she said.

Sudafed

"It's not only an inconvenience, it increases the cost of health care," said Robert Elfinger, a spokesman for Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen Co., the nation's largest pharmacy chain. "Now you have to see a doctor, set an appointment and then go to the pharmacy to purchase the medication."

But so far, pharmacists in Union say they haven't seen an outcry from customers.

"I think the benefits outweigh any inconvenience because meth is such a problem in this area," said Matt Carlisle, president of Rinderer Drugs, which has a pharmacy in Union. "People in this town are tired of the meth. We're tired of it, too."

By Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau

October 20, 2009, 7:14PM

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerNew Jersey

Attorney General Anne Milgram at a September press conference.Authorities have arrested 13 people, including a West Orange doctor, in connection with an alleged narcotics network that illegally distributed prescription painkillers, officials said today.

Officials said a yearlong investigation revealed the defendants were obtaining fraudulent prescriptions and filling them at pharmacies in Hudson County, billing Medicaid and private insurers for the drugs, which included OxyContin and Percocet.

"These defendants ripped off Medicaid and sold dangerous narcotics on the street, peddling black market pain pills such as OxyContin," Attorney General Anne Milgram said in a statement. "With these arrests, we have shut down their two-pronged criminal enterprise."

During the operation, authorities seized more than $1 million in various bank accounts, $35,000 cash, fraudulent prescriptions and more than 1,000 pills.

Officials accused three men — Robert Silverman, 43, of Jersey City; Louis Lisi, 34, of Union City; and Brian Kelly, 48, of Hoboken — of leading the operation. All three were charged with drug distribution.

According to officials, Medicaid beneficiaries were paid by the leaders to receive fake prescriptions from two doctors: Clifton Howell, 53, of West Orange, and Magdy Elamir, 56, of North Saddle Brook. Both doctors were arrested and charged with drug distribution, health care claims fraud and Medicaid fraud.

The drugs then were obtained from Tucker Drugs in Hoboken and Five Corners Pharmacy in Jersey City. The pharmacists at both stores Babak Bamdad, 41, and Amir Tadros, 32, were arrested.

Another six people were accused distributing the drugs: Joseph Burkhardt, 50, of Jersey City; Michele J. Oliver, 41, of Wallington; John Bussanich, 23, of Cliffside Park; Danny Reed, 25, of Toms River; Marty Taraboccia, 25 of Fairview; and Jack Kennedy, 28, of Keyport.

Officials said the dealers sold 30 milligram OxyContin pills for $10 to $20. Ten milligram Percocet pills fetched $5 to $8.

They said more arrests are expected.

Legal representation for the defendants either could not be reached or determined today.

Posted October 12th, 2009 by Misty Fetko

My name is Misty Fetko. I am a registered nurse and mom of two. In 2003, I discovered my older son, Carl, unresponsive in his bedroom. He passed away that day from a lethal mix of drugs, including Fetanyl, a prescription narcotic; marijuana; and dextromethorphan (DXM), the active ingredient in many over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicines.

The shock was sudden. I am an emergency room nurse. I had recognized signs of substance abuse in patients over the years. But never once did I realize that cough medicine abuse was possible, let alone that my son would be drawn to this dangerous behavior.

As a result, I’ve made it my mission to ensure that parents have all the information about cough medicine abuse that I unfortunately did not have. That’s why I’ve recently joined the Five Moms campaign, a national effort to encourage parents to get involved in the fight against cough medicine abuse.

During the month of October, Senators Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), Max Baucus (D-Montana), Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois), Dianne Feinstein (D-California), Charles Schumer (D-New York), Jon Tester (D-Montana), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) have joined this fight by proclaiming October as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month, calling on communities to come together and educate parents about the dangers of medicine abuse among teens.

According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one in ten teens reports having abused OTC cough medicines to get high and 25 percent know someone who has tried it. And even more teens (one in five) report abusing prescription drugs. Yet as serious as this issue is, it is frequently overlooked.

During the month of October, the Five Moms are trying to educate as many people as possible about this very important issue. Please join our effort by sharing this critical information with as many moms as you can. You can find more information about this type of abuse, tips for talking with your teens, and warning signs to look out for on StopMedicineAbuse.org, the home of the Five Moms campaign, and on Facebook.

I would like to thank MomsRising.org for shedding light on this important issue, as well as each of you for helping me to ensure that Carl’s death did not happen in vain.

source - http://www.momsrising.org/blog/october-is-national-medicine-abuse-awareness-month/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 8, 2009

Contact:               Angela Conover, PDFNJ, 973-467-2100, ext. 25 conover@drugfreenj.org

Douglas Collier, DEA-NJ, 973-776-1143 dscollier@dea-nj.gov

New Jersey to Host First Statewide Medicine Disposal Day in the Nation

NEW JERSEY— Gerard P. McAleer, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division (DEA), New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram, and Angelo M. Valente, the Executive Director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), announced today, over 250 local police departments have signed up for Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey. This initiative is available for all New Jersey residents to properly dispose of their unused, unwanted and expired medicine. Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey is a statewide initiative that is the first of its kind in the nation. This statewide effort is being spearheaded by the DEA New Jersey Division, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and the PDFNJ.

Gerard P. McAleer  stated, “We are very excited about the wide spread support and enthusiasm Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey is gaining in our coordinated efforts to bring public attention to this issue that is impacting our youth, our families, and our communities. Law enforcement is concerned with the alarming trend in the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs, with potential access to these drugs coming from the medicine cabinets of family and friends.”

"This operation will reduce the availability of potent drugs that lead kids down a path to addiction,'' Milgram said. "We can't break a cycle of dependence if powerful prescription drugs are stashed in our own homes, tucked away in drawers and cabinets."

“With Operation Medicine Cabinet, we are calling on New Jersey residents to see their medicine cabinets through new eyes -- as an access point for potential misuse and abuse of over-the-counter and prescription medicine by young people,” explained Valente.

According to McAleer and Valente, the 2007 study by the National Study of Drug-Use and Health, 70% of people who abuse prescription pain relievers say they got them from friends or relatives and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), reports that upwards of 9 million people use prescription medication for non-medical uses. They noted that the 2007 Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey (PDFNJ) Principals Survey found that half of the principals surveyed said that prescription drugs are abused more than twice that of ecstasy and cocaine by New Jersey Middle School students.

“What is equally disturbing, is that 47% of New Jersey parents of Middle School Students said they know a little or just about nothing about prescription drug abuse, according to the 2009 PDFNJ Parents Tracking Survey,” explained Valente.

A multi-lingual and multi-media public service campaign to alert New Jersey residents of this public health problem and how to participate in properly disposing of these medicines’ has been launched by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey.  It is currently under way and will continue through the statewide day of disposal, on November 14, 2009.The campaign entitled “Grandma’s Stash” is an expansion of last year’s successful statewide public service campaign that was recognized by the National Association of Government Communicators as the outstanding media campaign in the country.

New Jersey residents looking for information on their local collection site should visit www.operationmedicinecabinetnj.com. Local collection sites and contact information will be updated daily as new communities become part of this initiative.

Photo and interview opportunities are available upon request.

How to recognize the signs that your child has a serious drug problem

Seeing a family member struggle with addiction to prescription painkillers can be tough, especially when it's your child. Michele Baskin, 47, of Ponca City, Okla., watched her son, Andrew Newport, battle an addiction to OxyContin for years before he died in 2008 of a drug overdose at age 22. He and his friends started experimenting with over-the-counter cough syrup when he was about 15, Baskin says. He progressed to marijuana, MDMA (known as Ecstasy), the antianxiety medication Xanax (alprazolam), and finally to the OxyContin (oxycodone), which he injected "almost like heroin," she says. Despite stints in drug rehab, Newport relapsed, largely because of peer pressure, according to his mom. Baskin offers several words of advice, gleaned from her own experience, to help other parents:

Watch for stealing. Even if an at-risk child no longer lives at home, you may notice that money and valuable items disappear. "I never had money at my house," Baskin says. When Newport died, "he owed over $13,000 in bills. . . . He stole anything that wasn't tied down and hawked it." He sometimes came to her workplace and stole money from her desk.

Recognize instability at work or in school. Because the addiction is stronger than anything else, someone with a serious drug problem often behaves too erratically to keep a job or keep up with school. On the one hand, "when they're on drugs, they feel really good," she says. On the other, "they feel bad when they don't have it."

Don't rely on stereotype s to tell you how a drug addict should look. Many people assume that all drug addicts look and act a certain way, and "that's not what these kids [who abuse opioids] look like," Baskin says. Newport was "a very polite, obedient, very loving child," she says.

Follow your instincts as a parent. Baskin says she could tell that Newport was high just by looking at him. "Their eyes are just hollow," she says. "There was just nothing there. I could tell the minute he walked in." Still, even though Baskin sent her son to rehab repeatedly, Newport never left the drugs alone for long.

Don't assume one overdose will serve as a wake-up call. Newport overdosed in July 2008. "They had to shock his heart twice," Baskin says, he was in a coma for two days, and he had hearing loss in one ear as a result. But the near-death experience wasn't enough of a scare. The overdose that took Newport's life occurred just a few months later. When he was found unresponsive at the halfway house where he was living, it was too late to revive him, she says.

Don't blame yourself if your efforts to help your child fail. "We have peace about his death," Baskin says. "He's in a good place now. He doesn't hurt anymore."

                                                                                            
                                                                             Prescription drugs in drinking water

   ROSWELL, GA, September 18, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Across the country researchers are finding something in our drinking water which shouldn't be there without a prescription. According to and Associated Press investigation the drinking water of nearly 41 million Americans contains a disturbing array of pharmaceutical drugs, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones.

The five-month study detected prescription drugs in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas - from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky. The municipal water authorities are insisting the water is safe, some of them suggesting the public "doesn't know how to interpret the information" and might panic.

The biggest source of pharmaceutical residue in the water is from human waste, but residents also send unused drugs down the drain and into rivers and streams. These drugs then are put back into the drinking water.

According to officials the best way to dispose of unused medications is to mix them with water and cat litter and throw them away. Many communities and groups are also sponsoring programs which collect prescription drugs for disposal. These programs have two main goals, first to combat prescription drug abuse by removing unused drugs from medicine cabinets and second to stop the drugs from entering our water supply.

In one part of the country the another problem caused by prescription drugs - drug addiction is being addressed with a program which tries to keep people off drugs and clean up drinking water.

Mary Rieser, the Director of Narconon of Georgia stated, "We used to look to the schools to provide drug education. Now, statistics show that the schools actually need our help. Obviously, with so many drugs passing hands at school, the kids are not learning the truth about prescription drug abuse and many of their parents are unwittingly contributing to it. 'Operation Medicine Cabinet' provides an outside source of help to schools, kids and parents. If this campaign is aggressively run in every major city we can make a huge dent on the prescription drug abuse problem. Too many kids are getting addicted and too many have died. It is time to do something about it."

source: Narconon of Georgia's website http://www.drugsno.com

CADCA NEWSLETTER

U.S. Senate Introduces Resolution Naming October National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month

Sep 24, 2009

In response to the growing epidemic of prescription and over-the-counter medicine abuse, the U.S. Senate has introduced a resolution designating October as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month (NMAAM). CADCA applauds the Senate for this initiative, and in partnership with the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) is sponsoring several town hall meetings about medicine abuse during the month of October.

Sponsored by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D- Calif.), Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), S. Res. 263 designates October as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month and urges communities to educate parents and youth of the potential dangers associated with prescription and OTC medicine abuse.

According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one in 10 teens reports having abused cough medicine to get high with some teens intentionally take excessive amounts—sometimes up to 50 times the recommended dose—to get “high” from the active ingredient dextromethorphan. When used correctly, dextromethorphan-containing medicines have a 50-year history of being safe and effective. But when abused in extreme excess, dextromethorphan can produce dangerous side effects, especially when combined with alcohol, illicit drugs, or certain prescription drugs.

“I applaud Senators Grassley, Durbin, Feinstein, Whitehouse, and Schumer for introducing this important resolution. By designating October as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month, it will help raise awareness of the alarming numbers of young people who currently abuse prescription and OTC cough medicines. Hopefully, this will spur a dialogue on this issue in communities across the country,” said Gen. Arthur T. Dean, CADCA Chairman and CEO.

In May 2009, The Partnership/Metlife Parents Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) indicated that more parents are talking to their teen about the dangers of using OTC cough and cold medicine to get high. Additionally, in February 2009, the 20th annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Survey , a national study of teen behavior and attitudes about drugs and alcohol, showed that an increased number of teens view the intentional abuse of OTC cough medicines as risky.

“While we are pleased with our progress, raising awareness about the abuse of cough medicine remains a top priority for us. Continued support from the U.S. Senate coupled with our educational initiatives will help us in our efforts to stop medicine abuse,” said Linda A. Suydam, D.P.A., president, CHPA. Localities interested in hosting their own town hall or launching an educational campaign during National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month can download helpful planning tools at: StopMedicineAbuse.org.

Dr. Oz Reports: Prescription Pill Intervention

 By MIKE STOBBE • AP Medical Writer • September 30, 2009

ATLANTA — Drug-related deaths outnumber those from motor vehicle accidents in a growing number of states, according to new government data that highlight a shift in the top cause of deaths after disease and illness.

Crashes still cost more lives nationwide, but state-by-state calculations show the rate of drug-induced deaths outpaced vehicle accidents in 16 states in 2006, up from about a dozen states the year before and eight in 2003.

Drug overdoses make up the vast majority of the drug-related deaths, and there was a sharp increase in fatalities tied to cocaine and to drugs known as opioid analgesics — including methadone, fentanyl, sedatives and prescription painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin.

From 1999 to 2006, death rates for opioid analgesics increased for every age group. Deaths from methadone alone increased sevenfold, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released Wednesday.

Based on death certificate data, CDC researchers counted more than 45,000 U.S. deaths from motor-vehicle crashes in 2006, and about 39,000 from drug-induced causes. The CDC does not have finalized data for 2007 or subsequent years.

About 90 percent of those drug fatalities are sudden deaths from overdoses, but the count includes people who died from organ damage from long-term drug use or abuse.

The 2006 death counts and death rates were higher for drugs than for vehicle accidents in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

It's not clear why certain states have seen such a shift. There are probably a variety of reasons, and the explanation may vary a bit from state to state, said Bob Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Part of the story is that traffic death rates are going down. The death rate for people killed in motor vehicle crashes decreased by about 6.5 percent from 1999 through 2006 — from 15.3 per 100,000 to 14.3 per 100,000, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

Declines in motor vehicle fatalities "are considered one of the great public health triumphs" of the last few decades, said Margaret Warner, an epidemiologist who co-authored the new CDC report.

"But (drug) poisonings are definitely going up," she added.

Doctor group calls for warnings on new prescription drugs

The nation's leading group of general internal medicine physicians has taken the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to task over drug safety and urged the agency to adopt a raft of new consumer safeguards for prescription drugs.

The American College of Physicians recommended that the FDA place limits on the advertising of newly approved drugs to the public, and require that prescription drugs that are new to the market bear a symbol alerting consumers to that fact. The internists also urged the agency to improve its system of detecting drug-safety problems once a newly approved drug is in broad circulation, and said the agency must do a better job of monitoring the safety of drugs manufactured abroad.

The first years of a prescription drug's availability can be boom times for manufacturing giants, who generally "roll out" a new FDA-approved drug with a flashy and expensive marketing campaign aimed at doctors they hope will prescribe the drug and patients they hope will ask for it by name. Those efforts often make new drugs "blockbusters" soon after they reach the general patient population.

The problem: The general patient population is generally less healthy, more diverse, less careful about following use instructions and on more other medicines than were the subjects the drug companies used in their preapproval clinical trials. As a result, safety and effectiveness problems are sometimes detected only when a drug goes into wide circulation. The result is that, when drugs are withdrawn from the market over safety concerns, it is typically in the first couple of years they're on the market.

That's a perspective lost on many American consumers, who tend to reach for their wallets when they see a label proclaiming a product "New!" Advocates of stricter warnings say that an FDA new-drug symbol should serve as a warning that the product still has a limited track record of safety in a general population.

The example generally cited as Exhibit A  in support of such proposals is Vioxx, the arthritis pain reliever withdrawn from the market by Merck after post-marketing reports and company studies found the drug greatly increased stroke and heart attack risks. The withdrawal, however, came after an aggressive marketing campaign had made the drug one of the bestselling pain pills on the market.

But limits on the advertising of new drugs, as well as a "new drug" symbol, would likely require a go-ahead from Congress, and both initiatives would face stiff resistance from drug manufacturers and advertising interests. Both have charged that advertising restrictions on drugs that has passed FDA muster would trample free-speech rights and deny patients the right to inform themselves of a legal medical option.

-- Melissa Healy

Asbury Park Press -

Prescription for Abuse of Potent Drugs:

Teens taking substances from medicine cabinets

Please click here for full article

Burt Reynolds in rehab for pain pill addiction

Rep says actor ‘felt like he was going through hell’ and sought treatment

Getty Images file

Burt Reynolds hopes his truthfulness will encourage others to get help, his rep said.

LOS ANGELES - Burt Reynolds has checked himself into rehab, a rep for the star confirmed to Access Hollywood on Wednesday.

“After a recent back surgery, Mr. Reynolds felt like he was going through hell and after a while, realized he was a prisoner of prescription pain pills,” the rep said in a statement to Access. “He checked himself into rehab in order to regain control of his life.”

The 73-year-old “Smokey and the Bandit” star also hoped his truthfulness will encourage others to get help as well.

“Mr. Reynolds hopes his story will help others in a similar situation,” the statement continued. “He hopes they will not try to solve the problem by themselves, but realize that sometimes it is too tough to do on their own and they should seek help, as he did.”

Reynolds starred in such critically acclaimed pictures as 1972's “Deliverance” and 1997's “Boogie Nights.” He also had a hit TV show in the 1990s with “Evening Shade.”

In wake of Michael Jackson case, officials to unveil upgraded state prescription drug database

The CURES system, which has been in use for a decade, contains the name of every doctor that prescribes controlled medicines, the person for whom the drug is prescribed, the quantity and the date.

California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, who will announce the improvements this morning at a press conference in downtown Los Angeles, argued for the need to upgrade the system last year after the death of Anna Nicole Smith.

Earlier this year, prosecutors charged Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend and two of her doctors with repeatedly supplying the former Playboy centerfold with addictive prescription drugs since 2004, nearly three years before she died of an overdose.

More recently, state officials provided help to the LAPD in its investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of pop star Michael Jackson, who died June 25 in what the Los Angeles County coroner's office has ruled was a homicide due to acute intoxication from the anesthetic propofol.

In search warrants, police have cited Jackson’s use of pseudonyms to procure prescriptions. Brown told The Times last month that authorities wanted to be able to monitor prescriptions to make sure that the drugs were linked to a diagnosis of a medical problem and not being abused.

--Andrew Blankstein

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2009
Contact Information:
Angela Conover, Director of Media Marketing & Community Relations
Phone: 973.467.2100, ext. 25
E-mail: conover@drugfreenj.org

Operation Medicine Cabinet Underway in New Jersey

NEW JERSEY – New Jersey residents can now join the fight again prescription drug abuse – right in their own homes.

Operation Medicine Cabinet, a day of amnesty to dispose of unused, unwanted and expired medications in the home, has been scheduled for November 14, 2009, from 10 a.m until 2 p.m. “Operation Medicine Cabinet” will give New Jersey residents the opportunity to rid their homes and medicine cabinets of unused, unwanted and expired medicine. The program will allow New Jersey residents to deliver all of their unused, unwanted or expired medications to law enforcement officials, who can in-turn dispose of these controlled substances is a safe and non-hazardous manner . Currently, more than 70% of people who abuse prescription painkillers say they get them from family or friends, often in the home or right out of medicine cabinets.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)- New Jersey Division, in conjunction with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), have come together to support this day and to educate New Jersey residents about the dangers of prescription drug abuse and the easy accessibility of these drugs. This initiative will be held in partnership with several law enforcement and substance abuse prevention organizations.

Jersey residents who are looking for information on their local collection sites should visit www.operationmedicinecabinetnj.com.

Operation Medicine Cabinet is the first state-wide prescription drug disposal program in the nation.

Prescription Pills: The New Drug of Choice for Teens

  by Annemarie Conte

   It was just after dawn on one of those hot, sticky July days when the sun doesn't rise so much as slide up slowly like an egg poached by the humidity. Minutes earlier, a small platoon of police officers had eased their cruisers onto the side streets of Whippany, a prim New Jersey suburb. They drove past rows of vinyl-sided McMansions with fake-brick facades and matching Palladian windows, past Sports Authority basketball hoops and sleeping Audis and SUVs. Then, just like their cohorts from several other nearby towns, they parked and waited, the sweat trickling down under their Kevlar vests. More than 200 officers, each linked by radio to the task force headquarters, stopped at all-but-identical houses across three counties, pumped with the kind of adrenaline rush that comes from being part of a major takedown.

   Less than an hour later, more than 50 kids and young adults with bed head, in T-shirts and flip-flops -- many just roused by their shocked parents telling them that the police were at the door -- stumbled into the central command unit to be processed. Among their number were recent graduates, star athletes, an actress in a school play, their wrists secured behind their backs with plastic handcuffs, just like they'd seen on Law & Order reruns.

   At the center of it all was a baby-faced 18-year-old with gelled-back hair who was one class shy of graduation at Whippany Park High School. One of Evan Rokoszak's friends describes him as "sweet, goofy, and fun to be around." But for months leading up to that sweaty day in 2006, the police (later joined by the prosecutor's office in Operation Painkiller) had been investigating Rokoszak along with the students and recent grads involved in the drug ring he ran, which distributed and sold more than $50,000 of the prescription painkiller oxycodone each month -- mostly to other students and alumni.

   Almost daily, officers in Whippany had scanned the increasingly complex board at HQ that mapped out the key players in the business, praying that their own children's names wouldn't appear. Considering drug use was so rampant in the school that kids called it Whippany Perc (after the popular painkiller Percocet), how many students could remain untouched? "Everyone at school knew you could get pills from Evan if you were good friends with him," recalls a 2007 graduate who had attended school with the dealer for years. "Suddenly, everyone was good friends with him."

   Statistically, too, the officers had reason to worry. Although high school drug use is down across the country, in the past 10 years the rate of prescription drug abuse among teens has risen steadily. Nearly one in five

-- 4.5 million -- admits to abusing medications not prescribed to him or her, reported the 2005 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

   In December 2007, at a sentencing related to the bust, New Jersey State Superior Court Presiding Criminal Judge Thomas V. Manahan in Morris County described the Whippany teens' activities as "a large-scale drug distribution syndicate," adding that the abuse of prescription drugs "is not so much a plague on our society as a cancer that continues to grow."

Rokoszak's family spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to plead for leniency -- because the teen, as they put it, "is remorseful and has turned his life around" -- but the 30-odd letters were of no avail: In February 2008, Judge Manahan sentenced Rokoszak to seven years in state prison (he must serve a minimum of five). Hearing the decision, his mother broke down, sobbing, "Oh, my baby, my baby."

   Schools throughout the country have problems just like Whippany Park's.

The difference is that there the authorities took action. But law-enforcement officials elsewhere are catching on, too. Seven youths, two still in high school, were recently arrested in Merrimack, NH, on charges of distributing the prescription painkillers Vicodin and Klonopin, as well as marijuana, to other high school students. In May, 75 students at San Diego State University were arrested in a massive bust where police confiscated vast quantities of illegal and prescription drugs, weapons, and $60,000 in cash. Among the coeds picked up: a criminal-justice major and a homeland-security grad student. Perhaps most disturbing, in February, 14 students at Castle View High School and Castle Rock Middle School in Colorado -- one of them a 13-year-old seventh grader -- were caught using or distributing Vicodin and oxycodone, acts which would be felonies if adults committed them.

   None of these arrests surprises the experts. Pharmaceutical abuse has become so commonplace that it has filtered down to younger kids:

Prescription drugs are now the number one illicit drug among 12- to 13-year-olds, according to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And their own kid's arrest or even conviction is not the worst thing parents have to fear from this epidemic.

   Pretty Pills, and Deadly

   Adults think of prescription drugs purely as medicine, but kids have come up with ways to create effects similar to what they'd experience from street dope -- from crushing pills to circumvent timed-release controls to doubling or tripling dosages or simply downing handfuls. What's more, if parents are in the dark regarding these drugs' potential for abuse, they're also often blind to how deadly they can be.

   "As a mother, I was worried about cocaine, crystal meth, and drinking and driving -- but I had no idea prescription drugs were an issue," says Francine Haight, an R.N. who lives near Laguna Beach, CA. In the winter of 2001, her son Ryan, an A student and star tennis player, was looking forward to starting college later that year. So she suspected nothing that February evening when he arrived home from his job in the plant nursery of a big-box store. He spent some time in their Jacuzzi, then went upstairs to bed. The next afternoon, when Ryan still hadn't gotten up, his mother went into his bedroom to check on him. He was dead, from an accidental overdose of Vicodin, Valium, and a trace of morphine. He'd been prescribed these drugs over the Internet by a doctor he'd never met; the prescriptions had been filled online by a pharmacist he'd never seen. "He didn't understand the dangers," Haight says. "He knew everyone had pills like these, so he figured they couldn't be dangerous. The doctor wouldn't prescribe them for you, and the pharmacist wouldn't give them to you, if they could kill you, right?"

   Accidental-poisoning deaths among youths ages 15 to 24 increased 113 percent between 1999 and 2004, mostly due to prescription- and illegal-drug abuse, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Upping overdose risks: Four out of 10 teens believe that prescription meds are much safer to use than illegal drugs -- even when they are not prescribed by a doctor. What's more, nearly three out of 10 teens think these drugs are not addictive, according to the Partnership study. Kids trust prescription drugs because they're mass-produced, FDA-approved, familiar medicines. Even the nicknames teens give them -- "jif," "Z-bar," "cotton" -- suggest childhood treats and comfort food.

   "I've heard many kids say, 'I'm not doing hard drugs. I wouldn't use heroin,'" says Troy Faddis, a licensed marriage and family therapist and the clinical director of the Aspen Achievement Academy, a wilderness recovery program in Loa, UT. "But opiates like OxyContin are the pharmaceutical equivalent of heroin."

   "Your brain doesn't know if the high came from heroin or an opiate pill,"

agrees Roger Weiss, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at Harvard and the clinical director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA. "Some teens who experiment with these drugs never use them again. Some try them and don't start using heroin but do get addicted to the prescription opiate. And some get physically dependent and progress to heroin. You don't know how you'll react." Like adults, kids can build up a tolerance to these drugs, and crave them in ever-greater quantities. And teens' common practice of mixing prescription pills together, or with alcohol, street drugs, or OTC products like cough syrup, increases the risk exponentially. "Combining creates a greater chance of accident or overdose," explains Dr. Weiss. "Kids are more likely to fall out of a window or to walk in front of a car because they're more intoxicated."

   Easy Access

   Teens often don't even have to leave home to get their first taste of prescription drug highs, points out Joshua Lyon, 33, author of the forthcoming book Pill Head, a chronicle of several teens' and young adults' struggle with prescription-painkiller addiction, as well as his own. "It's not like most parents are keeping unused marijuana or cocaine in the medicine cabinet," he says, but they often have old pills they don't keep track of. More than three in five teens say prescription pain relievers are easy to get from their parents' medicine chests; half say they're a snap to obtain through other people's prescriptions; and more than half say pain relievers are available everywhere, according to the Partnership study.

   Case in point: Sara Swanson, who grew up in suburban St. Paul, MN, the daughter of two recovering alcoholics. "My parents always warned me about alcohol abuse," explains Swanson, "but my mom had back problems and never dreamed I'd take her muscle relaxants." Swanson moved on from her mother's pills to other drugs, trading cigarettes to her friends for their Adderall. "I loved the pills, and they were so easy to get," she says.

"I'd look at the recommended dose and then double it."

   Swanson, 18, has just graduated from Sobriety High School, a charter school in Edina, MN, attended by 60 students recovering from addiction through 12-step programs. But it took a failed suicide attempt -- waking up to find friends asking her why she'd purposely tried to overdose -- to make her realize she needed help.

   In addition to "borrowing" from relatives and bartering with friends, hooked kids often get their fix by buying from dealers -- both teens like Rokoszak and career criminals with a history of distribution. Those dealers, as well as more enterprising kids, may fill their supplies by using falsified prescriptions on- or off-line, by visiting multiple doctors and going to pharmacies with legal prescriptions, or by out-and-out theft from drugstores or homes.

   Thanks to Francine Haight, however, Internet drug dealers should soon have a tougher time selling to kids. "For three years after Ryan died, I was in shock and could hardly function," she says. Despite her grief, she made the effort to speak out at colleges around the country and at a drug-awareness symposium for the DEA, and she founded the drug-awareness organization Ryan's Cause: Reaching Youths Abusing Narcotics (ryanscause.org). In April, the Senate passed the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008, which forbids U.S. online pharmacies to supply controlled substances to anyone without a valid prescription from a doctor he's met with at least once. "Unfortunately, Ryan's story is just one of many. We know of at least 18 people who have died due to overdoses from drugs purchased on the Internet through rogue pharmacies, and even more who have entered rehabilitation or suffered injuries due to these drugs," says Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, a sponsor of the bill, which was working its way through the House of Representatives at press time.

   Everyday Abuse

   Easy availability, combined with kids' misperceptions of prescription drug safety, may explain why pill popping has become so accepted as part of the weed-and-alcohol culture of high school parties. "I don't think it's bad.

There's no particular reason I didn't do [prescription drugs]," says one recent Whippany Park graduate who was friends with several of the arrested kids. "It's not any worse than drinking or smoking pot. Yes, it's illegal, but taking pills doesn't make you a bad person by any means." The Partnership study found nearly one-third of teens (7.3 million) agree that there's "nothing wrong" with using prescription drugs without a prescription once in a while.

   The ways kids are taking the drugs now underscores this relaxed attitude.

"We're finding that teens are no longer holding exclusive 'pharm parties,'

where they'd get together and bring all the pills they could find, the way they did in years past," says the Aspen Achievement Academy's Faddis.

Instead, they take them throughout the day, as a routine part of life.

"School was really stressful, so kids would pop pills or snort Adderall during class to make it go faster," explains Anders Torgersen, 17, of Huntington Beach, CA. Torgersen asserts that when he was an athlete and top student at a strict private middle school, pressure to excel led him to start taking prescription drugs. "I loved Vicodin because it made me feel like God," he says. "If I punched a wall, I couldn't feel it. I had more power and confidence on the pills." He began dealing the meds in his freshman year of high school. He estimates that 70 percent of his schoolmates used drugs.

   As Ryan Haight's and Torgersen's experiences suggest, any kid -- even bright, motivated high achievers -- can be lured by prescription drugs.

But experts do see some common threads. "Many of our students have self-esteem issues. They start using the pills as a way of self-medicating for school or family problems and underlying depression and anxiety," says Faddis, who in 2007 performed a small but suggestive analysis of 37 kids in his program. He found that 34 of them had been evaluated to have parent-child relationship problems, such as serious breakdowns in communication and mutual respect. Other research indicates that using drugs can make kids feel more independent and grown-up. Teens who take alcohol or any kind of illegal drugs report feeling older than their real age, found a 2007 study from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. "One

explanation: Kids are using drugs because they think of drug-taking as an adult behavior," says Kelly Arbeau, Ph.D., coauthor of the study.

Torgersen, who just started his senior year this September at the Oakley School in Oakley, UT, an addiction-recovery high school, echoes Arbeau's analysis. "I was trying so hard to be independent. I thought I was mature," he says. "I wasn't."

   Preventive Parenting

   In September 2006, a few months after the Operation Painkiller bust and with a newfound awareness of their drug problem, the townspeople stationed police officers at Whippany Park and its sister school full-time to get to know the kids and keep an eye on their activities. A year later, the school district instituted a random-drug-screening policy, whereby kids are tested and, if the results are positive, parents are notified. The policy has been controversial among parents concerned for their kids'

privacy, but anecdotal evidence suggests a reduction in abuse. "These measures have been a deterrent," says Sibila Dubac, guidance coordinator and substance-awareness coordinator for Whippany Park High School.

"They've increased awareness and decreased incidents." She adds that kids are afraid of getting caught, and don't want to lose on-campus parking or extracurricular privileges.

   Regardless of what measures schools take, however, primary responsibility for keeping kids drug-free remains with parents -- and there are steps you can take to reduce your child's risks. "Parents need to talk about drugs with their kids, not just to them," says Haight. "You learn so much when you let them talk, and once they know you're receptive, they're not afraid to come to you." As for when and how to approach the topic, "there's no easy answer that will apply to all families," says Faddis. You know your child and what she responds to best. "But your attitude is important," he adds. "If you seem to be disciplining, rather than nurturing, she may just get defensive." You want your child to be safe -- that's what you need to communicate to her. He recommends starting with something like, "I'm worried, because drugs are a big problem and anyone can be sucked in, especially if they have bad information. I don't want you to get hurt." Be brief (experts say that the effectiveness of the discussion falls off after the first few minutes); have this conversation more than once; and be honest -- it's your conviction, as much as the facts, that will carry weight with your child. If you want a supplement to fill her in on the details, the DEA has an educational Website for teens on the topic of drug

abuse: justthinktwice.com. In accessible language, the site covers all kinds of drugs, including controlled-substance prescription meds, and offers advice from peers, as well as links to where kids can find help.

   Another critical step, says Pill Head author Lyon, is to remove temptation from your house. Though it may sound obvious, few parents take the precaution of locking up their prescriptions, noting on the bottles how many pills should be left in each -- and checking them every two weeks.

"If you buy a gun, you don't just keep it lying around," he points out.

"You lock it up in a safety box." If your child takes a daily prescription, like Ritalin, keep the bottle yourself and give him only a day's worth of pills at a time. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America's Not in My House campaign suggests further that you dispose of any leftover pills by mixing them with kitty litter or coffee grounds to make them unpalatable, putting the mixture into an empty can or bag, and throwing it in the trash. (Flushing pills down the toilet can cause them to leach into the water supply.)

   Finally, parents should watch for behavior change. "Signs could be alterations in your son's or daughter's sleep/wake cycle or mood patterns

-- or you might observe a new level of secretiveness and sneaking around,"

says Dr. Weiss. The specific indications can be as seemingly minor as your child copying song lyrics about drugs in her notebooks. "Granted, all of these things can occur normally during adolescence, and every kid is different," Dr. Weiss adds, "but parents tend to know their kids well -- and when they are really changing."

   Like Torgersen, whose grades barely dipped, many kids become functioning addicts, and even observant parents may miss or misinterpret what symptoms there are. When Francine Haight looks back on the last months of Ryan's life, she realizes that there were small clues: He was more quiet than usual, slept more, and started hanging out with friends she didn't like.

At the time she rationalized that he was reacting to her divorce from his father, the death of their dog, school pressures, or his sister's leaving for college -- anything but drugs. "I just didn't pick up on the signs,"

she says.

   If you do suspect a problem, it's essential to address it with your child, say experts. Admittedly, this is easiest to do when you already have a strong, communicative relationship; if you don't, Faddis counsels bringing in outside help, like a therapist, right away. While parents may feel conflicted and worry about antagonizing their child with accusations, Sara Swanson's mother, Michelle Swanson, can testify that discovering the truth and following through should take precedence. "I was scared to death that Sara would hate me for confronting her and accusing her of using drugs,"

she says, "but I was more afraid of finding out one day that she was dead.

I wanted to be my daughter's best friend, but at that critical time in her life, I had to be the parent."

   "They were willing to listen to what I had to say and decide on the right consequence," remembers Sara, who says she benefited much more from the counseling and treatment her parents got her than she might have from stern lectures and grounding: "If they had shut me in my room, I'd have been so much more depressed than I was."

   Several months into Evan Rokoszak's jail sentence, his Facebook page, strewn with postings, was a virtual memorial to him and his former life.

"[Everything] is so different without you, we all miss you so much," reads one post. And, apparently without irony, "What doesn't kill you, will only make you stronger."

   Drugs didn't kill Sara Swanson -- but she has a different take on what's helped her grow stronger. "When my parents intervened, I hated them for ruining my fun, but I respect them 20 times more now that I can think clearly," she says. "They were there for me when I needed them. If they hadn't figured out what was going on with me and spoken up, or if they just turned their heads, I would probably be dead right now."

   What Kids Are Taking

   Depressant: Xanax

Nicknames: Z-bar, bricks, Benzos Generic: alprazolam Legitimate uses:

Treats anxiety and sleeplessness; is an anticonvulsant Kids take: Orally, or occasionally by crushing and snorting Effects: Wooziness, floating feelings, mind-and-body numbness

   Depressant: Valium

Nickname: blues Generic: diazepam Legitimate uses: Treats anxiety and sleeplessness; is an anticonvulsant Kids take: Orally, or occasionally by crushing and snorting Effects: Euphoria and sleepiness

   Stimulants: Ritalin, Concerta

Nicknames: Rid, vitamin R, jif, R-ball, Ritty, Rits Generic:

methylphenidate Legitimate use: Treats attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adults Kids take: Orally, or by crushing and snorting Effects: Intense feeling of energy and increased concentration

   Stimulant: Adderall

Nicknames: beans, black beauties, Christmas trees, double trouble Generic:

amphetamine and dextroamphetamine Legitimate use: Treats ADHD Kids take:

Orally; crushing/snorting Effects: Intense feeling of energy and increased concentration

   Painkillers: Vicodin, Vicoprofen, Tussionex, Lortab, Norco

Nicknames: Vike, Watson-387, Tuss Generic: hydrocodone Legitimate use:

Treats pain Kids take: Orally; crushing/snorting Effect: Intense euphoria

   Painkillers: OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet

Nicknames: OC, cotton, Percs Generic: oxycodone Legitimate use: Treats pain Kids take: Orally; crushing/snorting Effect: Intense euphoria

   Painkillers: Avinza, Kadian, MS Contin, MSIR, Oramorph SR, Rescudose, Roxanol

Nickname: Morph Generic: morphine Legitimate use: Treats pain Kids take:

Orally; crushing/snorting Effects: Euphoria and hallucinations

   Real-Life Rescue Advice

   Michelle and Rick Swanson went to hell and back with their daughter Sara, now 18. Here's what they want you to know about talking to your kid when you think there's a problem -- and after you know there's one.

   Act quickly. Kids change fast, so when something feels wrong -- your child writes poems about drug trips; she stays out late -- don't wait to address her behavior. Sara went from being an honor student who'd never smoked to a pothead who engaged in completely outrageous behavior (like lighting up a cigarette in her seventh grade classroom) within months.

   Create a behavior contract with your kid. At the first sign of trouble, sit down and draw up a written contract with consequences that you both understand and agree upon. "The first time curfew's broken, you're grounded for a week; the second time, for a month. The third time, we go in for a drug test." That way, your kid knows what your expectations are.

   Don't be afraid of getting blood tests. After Sara had been out all night without explanation, we finally told her that although she'd denied using drugs, we felt her actions spoke louder than her words, and we'd arranged for a chemical evaluation. A urine test costs about $25; a hair test, $80; and a blood draw is $130 or more -- but since it tests for more drugs than a urinalysis, it's worth it. Don't tell your child till you're en route:

We let Sara know in advance, and she drank bleach and took niacin pills to beat the urine test.

   Bring in the big guns. That means professional drug counselors, therapy groups, treatment programs -- whatever best fits your family's needs and budget. The greater the degree of expertise you call in, the better your chances of success. Contact your insurance company to find out what it covers. A 28-day inpatient program keeps your child away from everyday

triggers: We swear by Hazelden (the 59-year-old private, not-for-profit addiction-treatment center Sara attended) because we've seen the miracles performed there.

   Look into sober high schools. They can provide structure and support.

Many

in-patient treatment programs are related to or can recommend a sober high school in your state. Boarding schools may charge; many others, like charter schools, are free.

   Go to Al-Anon meetings. Designed for loved ones of an addict, they'll give you the skills to avoid being codependent with your child and help you figure out your role in her recovery. You didn't cause this, but you can help solve it.

   Help Pass the Ryan Haight Bill

   In June, the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 was introduced in the House of Representatives with bipartisan sponsors; it's now in committee. "These rogue pharmacies must be stopped," says Senator Dianne Feinstein (D, Calif.), a sponsor of the bill in the Senate.

"I encourage people to call their representatives in Congress and urge them to support and pass this important bill, H.R. 6353." For more information on how to help, go to Help Fight Prescription Drug Abuse: Pass the Ryan Haight Bill.

Reprinted with Permission of Hearst Communications, Inc. Originally

Published: Prescription Pills: The New Drug of Choice for Teens

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2009 SF Gate

Prescription drug abuse by teens is a serious issue for families

Posted by Wayne Smith/Star-Ledger guest columnist September 14, 2009 6:30AM

Editor's note: Jane Velez-Mitchell hosts "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell," a topical event-driven show with a wide range of viewpoints that airs every night on HLN at 7 p.m. ET. Velez-Mitchell takes readers on a journey to recovery in her new addiction memoir, "iWant," available now.

Jane Velez-Mitchell says prescription drugs have replaced heroin and cocaine as leading cause of deadly overdoses.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Addiction in America has a new face: prescription drugs. Last year, prescription drugs replaced heroin and cocaine as the leading cause of deadly overdoses.

And celebrities are showing us that mixing prescription pills -- the pills you may have in your home right now -- could be just as deadly as shooting up heroin or snorting cocaine.

Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM, seems to be the latest well-known victim of a deadly dose of drugs.

The celebrity DJ was found dead in his New York apartment on August 28. A law enforcement source tells People magazine that Goldstein was found with eight undigested OxyContin pills in his stomach plus a ninth in his mouth. (The medical examiner's office told HLN it would not release any information on the case until further testing is completed.)

Sound familiar? Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith -- all victims of deadly prescription drug overdoses.

But this is not only happening to rich and famous "stars," it's also happening right now, as we speak, to average Joes and Janes in homes all across America.

According to statistics from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, there are some 20,000 drug-related deaths a year in the United States. Even more shocking than the deaths of all of our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children is that drugs prescribed by a doctor -- not bought off the streets -- were the leading cause of fatal overdoses.

America, we need to wake up! A prescription written on a pad by a doctor does not equal safe. When prescribed responsibly, taken as directed and kept out of reach of children, painkillers, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety meds -- any pill -- can be a godsend to the people who need those drugs to live day-to-day. But all too often, those tablets intended for one particular patient get into the hands, the mouths, the bloodstreams of those just looking to get high.

In my new book, "iWant," I talk about my addiction to alcohol. Before I got sober, I would occasionally take a Valium with a glass of wine. Alcohol was my main vice. I wasn't a pill addict, but I did pop a few. Want to know how I got them? Well it wasn't from a doctor. I got them from friends. That's how it works.

In the book, I write about just how common that kind of prescription abuse was. We used to say that if someone at a stadium in Los Angeles asked if anyone had a valium, everyone in the stands could immediately produce one.

So how do we even start to cure this epidemic? First and foremost we need to stop expecting to get a pill for every ache and pain we complain to our doctors about. Addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky pointed out recently on my show, "Issues," that, "The medicines we have today are miraculous. They are spectacularly effective. Thank goodness we have these substances. Only because there's a dark side to this, we have to become less dependent on them and seek them less."

What we're really jonesing for, what we're really addicted to, is the quick fix. Dr. Gail Saltz, a clinical psychiatrist, was on "Issues" a few weeks ago. She says many people, especially celebrities, "don't want to take the long road. They want the quick fix. They want the 'give me something so I can feel better in an hour.' And they're not willing to do the work."

Doctors know when to prescribe medicine to heal us. What we have to do is stop expecting a Percocet for a toothache or a Valium for a breakup. If a drug is the proper therapy for what is hurting us, then we should take it, and take it as directed, but remember you can also ask your doctor about nonpharmaceutical remedies. Oftentimes there are alternative therapies we can choose that may not be the easy way out, but are effective and drug free.

Doctors have some responsibility in all this, too. As we learned through the investigation into Michael Jackson's death, there are allegations of unscrupulous practices by some of his doctors and pharmacists. Yes, someone has to ask for the drugs, but it takes someone with access to these pharmaceuticals to get them into an addict's hands. Better tracking, better oversight and stricter controls over controlled substances are all desperately needed.

But no matter how self disciplined we are or how controlled medicines are, there will be those who become addicted. It's vital that we're able to reach out for help when we need it.

We had all looked to Goldstein as a great example of recovery. He said he'd been clean and sober for more than a decade. Sadly, according to the Los Angeles Times, just a day before his death, DJ AM met with his sponsor to admit he'd relapsed and wanted to go back to rehab.

As a recovering alcoholic, I know how strong the draw of drugs and alcohol can be and I know where to turn for help when the urges come. However, far too many of our families, our friends and neighbors do not. Effective and affordable treatment has to be available to all.

We've heard from so many viewers of "Issues" over the months who are struggling with addiction -- and even more who are living in recovery. Not one of those e-mails or Facebook comments came from someone famous.

It's heartbreaking that I can't reach out to each and every one of you, but through reporting on the struggles of the people whose names or faces we can all recognize, we hope that "Issues" is providing a light and a hope and a reason for you to stay clean, get healthy and think about your choices. Or reach out to someone who needs help.

September is National Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Month. Isn't this a great time for America to say, "Hey, we have an epidemic on our hands and we need to do something about it?"

Editor's note: James L. Walker, Jr., author of the book, "This Business of Urban Music," is a sports and entertainment lawyer whose firm, Walker & Associates, is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

James L. Walker Jr. says the evidence shows Michael Jackson was addicted to drugs.

(CNN) -- Michael Jackson died of an overdose, according to the preliminary finding of the Los Angeles coroner described in court documents. The King of Pop apparently was given a variety of drugs that included the powerful sedative propofol, according to authorities.

The news came as a shock to some. But the reality it pointed to was this: Michael Jackson was an addict.

A drug addict is a person who has become physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance or drug.

I operate a halfway house and we deal with this struggle regularly with our men, who have become addicts, and they continually tell me how hard it is to overcome. They also tell me that people are vulnerable to addiction whether white or black, rich or poor: Drugs don't discriminate.

I am also an entertainment lawyer who understands the pressures of working in the music industry and the experience of insomnia that Jackson apparently complained about over the years.

And, of course, like millions of others, I am a huge Jackson fan and I own all the records and CDs and had THE jacket (from the "Beat It" video). And, I can sympathize with his sad life, legal problems, personal struggles, family issues and financial meltdown.

But, while I sing his songs regularly and imitate his dance moves, when the laughter and joy stops, it hurts me to admit the reality: Michael Jackson was a drug addict who didn't need to be the center of another musical tour, but needed to be the star patient at a treatment center.

For years, we have heard reports of Michael Jackson being addicted to painkillers and other things.

However, in our society, we tend to overlook that when it's a big name celebrity or someone we love in our circle of family and friends. Celebrities drop in and out of rehabilitation centers and drug abuse facilities nationwide. And, their lives go on and it's merely a passing footnote on the TV ticker running across the bottom of the screen.

With Jackson's tragic death at the young age of 50, hopefully some folks will wake up.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that in the year prior to being surveyed in 2006, 560,000 Americans age 12 and older abused heroin at least once; more than 16 million Americans took prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant, or sedative for nonmedical purposes; 6 million abused cocaine in any form; and 1.5 million abused crack.

In the case of Jackson, there is a lot of finger pointing at Dr. Conrad Murray and several other doctors, who may or may not be charged.

But, while we mourn the Motown legend and the tragedy of his life and death, it is important to note that this sad story sheds light on a much bigger problem in America: drug abuse.

Author Deepak Chopra, a friend of Jackson, has been telling us for weeks now on national TV outlets that Jackson had a drug problem.

"Dr. Murray is the one who is going to be blamed because he injected the drug, but from what I've learned he did not prescribe the drug," Chopra told CNN in reminding investigators to look deeper and further than Dr. Murray.

Like Chopra, I hope investigators will go deeper, but I hope we will go deeper as a society.

Jackson sold hundreds of millions of records, including the top selling album of all time, "Thriller." With his death, we can reach and teach billions of the dangers of drug use. Unfortunately, he joins a long list of major artists who have seen superstar careers end by the mortal reality that drug addiction can kill you.

It hurts us to talk about Jackson's drug addiction or drug problems, as it hurts us to look at a near-century of great artists struggling with drug issues and in some cases dying at the hands of drugs -- from jazz legend Billie Holiday's drug problem to Marilyn Monroe's overdose to singer Dorothy Dandridge's death from anti-depressants.

Elvis Presley's death brought to public light his prescription drug addiction. And, we saw in recent years Kurt Cobain's heroin-induced suicide death, and the 2004 death of Rick James, who wrote "Superfreak," from a drug-related heart attack.

Too often these stories don't prompt substantial national outrage and we fail to break the stereotypical picture of what we think of when we hear the words "drug addict."

Police and prosecutors are still mum on whether Jackson's death will result in criminal charges. It is not clear who is at fault. But no one is disputing that Jackson asked for these drugs repeatedly over the years, like most drug addicts, and had a sickness that afflicts millions of other Americans.

So, let the legal system play out, but let's stop avoiding what hurts the most, so we can save millions of other drug addicts from this horrible nightmare and other families from the pain the Jackson family will now live with forever.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of James L. Walker, Jr.

The release of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight, brings back to the public consciousness the untimely death of Heath Ledger from a deadly combination of prescription medications.  While for many The Dark Knight is a summer blockbuster, to parents who have teenagers, it presents a unique and important opportunity to use the death of Heath Ledger as a reason to communicate with their children about the dangers of substance abuse, and the very real risks of abusing and misusing prescription drugs.

Partnership research shows that 1 in 5 teens has abused a prescription painkiller to get high. In fact, today’s teenagers are more likely to have abused prescription medications than illicit drugslike Ecstasy, cocaine, crack, meth, and heroin.  When these medicines are abused and not used as intended, they can be every bit as dangerous, every bit as addictive, and even as deadly as street drugs.  More troubling still is the fact that a majority of teens access these medications in their home or the home of a friend.

The Partnership encourages parents to use the tragic death of Heath Ledger as an opportunity to start—or continue—conversations with their teens about prescription drug abuse. Tips and tools on talking to kids about drugs and alcohol are available from the Partnership at www.TimeToTalk.org

Parents can also take proactive action in their own homes to prevent teenage prescription drug abuse. The Partnership recommends a three-step approach: Educate, Communicate, Safeguard. Parents can:

Educate themselves about which medications can be abused and learn about the very real dangers and risks of this behavior

Communicate these risks to their kids, dispelling the notion that medicines can be safely abused

Safeguard medications by limiting access to those that can be abused, keeping track of quantities and safely disposing of medications that are no longer needed. Parents should also enlist the support of fellow parents to ensure they do the same.

Learn how to safely dispose of medications here.  www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/factsht/proper_disposal.html

To honor the life of a loved one lost to drugs or alcohol, visit the Partnership’s Memorial site at www.drugfree.org/memorials

To post or read inspiring stories of hope and recovery, visit the Partnership’s Life After site at www.drugfree.org/lifeafter

About the Partnership for a Drug-Free America

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is a nonprofit organization that unites parents, renowned scientists and communications professionals to help families raise healthy children. Best known for its research-based national public education programs, the Partnership motivates and equips parents to prevent their children from using drugs and alcohol, and to find help and treatment for family and friends in trouble. The centerpiece of this effort is an online resource center at drugfree.org, featuring interactive tools that translate the latest science and research on teenage behavior, addiction and treatment into easy to understand tips and tools. Research conducted by AP and MTV recently showed that kids see their parents as heroes — at drugfree.org, parents can connect with each other, tap into expert advice for children of all ages, and find the support they want and need in their role as hero to their kids. The Partnership depends on donations from individuals, corporations, foundations and other contributors. The Partnership thanks SAG/AFTRA, the advertising industry and our media partners for their ongoing generosity in helping to prevent drug abuse in America.