Police
make 6 arrests in
prescription
drug sting
By LAURA
HAGAN
hagan@owentonnewsherald.com
It’s called “doctor-shopping”
and it’s something that has become a problem not only in
Owen County, but across the country.
Prescription drug abuse has taken the place of “street”
drugs as one of the biggest issues police officers deal with.
For the past three months, the Owen County Police Department has
worked to end prescription drug abuse in the county, resulting
in six arrests on Friday night.
Arrested were Anthony Hammond, Julie E. Hammond, Patsy Loucks,
James Dean, Thomas L. Dean Jr. and Dwaylon Tudor. All but Loucks
were held on $5,000 cash bonds. She was held on a $500 cash bond.
As of Monday morning, all were still incarcerated pending their
court date.
Officer Terry Gentry said in the past year there were more than
40 arrests for drugs. Of those, two-thirds involved prescription
drugs.
“It’s a legal drug,” Gentry said. “People
just aren’t obtaining it legally.”
Through the use of informants and investigation, the OPD was able
to “put together the puzzle” and make some arrests.
To obtain the prescriptions, many people “doctor-shop,”
going to doctors in and outside of the county, complaining of
symptoms that can’t necessarily be seen, like migraines.
“They know what to tell the doctor,” Gentry said.
“(But) I don’t believe one doctor knows what the other
is doing, even if they ran a check.”
Janet Wright is the director of Pharmacy at New Horizons Medical
Center in Owenton and she said the medical center has implemented
some security measures to try and lower the number of fraudulent
prescriptions being filled. For example, there is a specific color
of pad that narcotics prescriptions are written on. It is locked
up and only used when needed.
There are a number of ways people try and beat the system. Wright
said people will change the number of pills prescribed or even
call and say they’ve lost their prescription. Doctors now
write all prescriptions themselves and make a copy, so they can
tell if one has been tampered with.
“That has really helped with a lot of diversions,”
Wright said.
No chronic pain medications are prescribed at New Horizons Family
Practice and Wright said that has always been the case.
Wright said she gives the doctors credit, because the longer they
have been around, the better they know their patients.
“They don’t just hand out (medicine),” she said.
“People come and leave mad.”
The drugs of choice seem to be OxyContin and Hydrocodone, according
to Wright. Both are central nervous system depressants that tend
to make users drowsy. Many drug abusers mix them with alcohol.
OxyContin is a sustained release medication that when crushed
gives users an instant high. It also gives them an instant rush
of the medication, which Wright said could potentially lead to
an overdose.
“It creates an easy-going mood that people are hooked on,”
Wright said. “They feel that they need (it.)”
Overdoses frequently are the result of mixing drugs and alcohol,
for the combined effects are unpredictable. This is especially
true when a sedative is mixed with beer or whiskey, because alcohol
also sedates or surpresses respiration.
Gentry said many don’t believe they have a drug problem,
though some say they do. One who was arrested on Friday night
gave a written statement saying he sold them because he needed
money.
“People need something to help them wake up and something
to help them sleep,” Wright said. “It’s a psychological
dependence too.”
Gentry said he thinks there is a different stigma about prescription
drugs versus harder drugs.
“They don’t feel like a junkie,” he said. “(But
it’s still) killing people.”
“Accessibility is one thing,” Wright said, concerning
why this type of drug use has become so popular. “It’s
easy to get.”
She said she feels like New Horizons is doing everything it can
to keep this drug abuse from happening.
While prescription drug abuse was once seen as something just
done by “depressed housewives,” it is growing in popularity
with young adults. Gentry said he has seen a great increase in
the overall number of abusers in the past year.
“It’s sometimes more socially acceptable,” he
said, “and people are still getting the same high.”
Some that were arrested in Friday night’s operation could
face up to five years in prison if convicted. Obtaining prescription
drugs by fraudulent means can be classified as a Class “D”
felony.
Gentry said the department is planning to do another “round-up”
though he isn’t sure when, but he stresses that this problem
is one that the county needs to “get a handle on now.”
“We are heading down the wrong road and we have a lot of
work ahead of us,” he said. “But we’re up for
it.”
He wants community members to know that the OPD is dedicated to
solving this problem, has been working dilligently on it and will
continue to.
Gentry said Friday night went well for the department and that
the weather, time of day and luck all played a part in finding
everyone they were looking for.
“It went well,” he said, “I am at a loss for
words.”
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