BOISE -- It starts with something small, just a pill, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling it the biggest growing drug problem in the United States.
Millions have admitted to using prescription drugs to get high and that is something Alison Terrill knows about firsthand. Terrill is a drug prevention counselor at Meridian High School and deals with students experimenting with the meds. “It's just so easy to get a hold of,” she said.
“The majority of people who get these medications, in my mind, need them,” said Dr. Kenny Bramwell an emergency room physician for St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise.
He knows there is a struggle between keeping the public healthy and keeping the public safe.
The Centers for Disease Control report sales of prescription drugs were 4 times higher in 2009 than sales in 1999. The number of deaths is higher as well.
This increase in pill abuse is now giving law enforcement agencies an added responsibility.
“For me, the biggest epidemic here in the United States overall is people abusing those types of medications and operating a motor vehicle,” said Meridian Police officer Adnan Rudan.
Officer Rudan is trained as a drug recognition expert. Officers like him are finding drivers being tested for DUI may also have one or more unprescribed pain medications in their system.
“Not only do I feel like my job is to go out there and take these people off the streets to prevent them from injuring themselves or others, but I also think it's to educate the public in the abuse of those types of drugs,” said Officer Rudan.
The halls of Idaho’s schools are no different than the roads our police patrol. School resource officer Darren Hurst finds himself walking the halls of Meridian High School looking out for more than just alcohol or pot.
“These kids will do whatever they want to do to get high. They will do it to get high, and they don’t care if they mix, match, and whatever else,” Officer Hurst said. “They are no different than heroin in the wrong hands.”
Prescription drug abuse starts young - at the high school level or even as early as middle school. Kids are experimenting with the high they will get from pain killers early in life.
Jon Gaan started to experiment with meds at the age of 12.
“It’s not as hard as I guess some people might think,” said Gaan. “You know, they can't x-ray for pain, you know what I mean? It’s all kind of just lies, and then that becomes a game too, right?”
The game to find those prescription drugs further fed Jon’s addiction.
“When I was on them,I was on top of the world, or so I thought. And when I didn't have them, I was a recluse,” said Gaan “and I deviated so far off course, you know, that I was just lost.”
After nearly 20 years of addiction, Gaan finally found his path to recovery at the Walker Center of Boise.
Jeremy Blades is a treatment specialist at the Walker Center and helps people overcome their addiction to a drug that seems like it’s widely accepted by society.
“Because it's prescribed by a doctor, it's something I should be allowed to take,” said Blades. “Those triggers are always in their face whereas something like meth you usually have to seek out. You can just go home and see a pill bottle sitting on the counter, and it's in your face.”
It's that kind of temptation that leads to this deadly trend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports every day 100 people die from drug overdose in the United States.
A frightening statistic Boise resident Kevin Jamison is familiar with it.
“The pain and just the sadness was overwhelming, and it still is,” said Jamison.
His oldest daughter, 26 year-old-Tasha was given a prescription of Oxycodone after she received a neck injury. Soon, Jamison was seeing signs of misuse of the medication his daughter was taking.
“She did admit, she said, you know, I am a little concerned as well,” said Jamison.
Tasha worked to get off the drugs, but then one night in October, she started not feeling well and reached for the medication.
“She was in some pain. She had not been taking her medication and went back to taking her medication. It just overwhelmed her system, and she passed away in the middle of the night,” said Jamison.
Since the death of his daughter, Jamison has been pushing local lawmakers for reform and trying to rally other families touched by the impacts of prescription drug abuse to band together for change.
Jamison said he won’t stop until something is done.
“I ask everybody to do something in their life to kind of honor Tasha because Tasha isn’t going to be here to do those things, and this is something I feel strongly about,” said Jamison. “And I want to do it because I don’t want another family to go through what we did.”
Jamison has set up an email address to get the conversation started. He wants anybody touched by prescription drug abuse, no matter in what way, to write in to stoppmoid@hotmail.com.
While law enforcement sees the abuse of prescription drugs as an ever increasing epidemic, its doctors that get cornered on this issue. That’s because they are the ones handing out pills to patients that need them.
Dr. Bramwell says there has been a big push in the last ten years to track a patient's medical history is in an effort to prevent doctor shopping. He also says doctors are not obligated to write prescriptions.
If you or anyone you know need help with prescription drugs here are some places that can help:
