Prescription drug abuse destroys lives with death and crime

Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland gauges the area's prescription drug abuse problem by how often he has to ask a family to identify the body of someone who overdosed.

As deputy coroner in 2003, Mr. Rowland recalls meeting families about once every three weeks. Now it's closer to once a week.

Lackawanna County had 48 deaths related to prescription medicine abuse in 2012. Since 2008, the county has had an average of 41 such deaths per year.

From Jan. 1 to Friday , Mr. Rowland said there have been three deaths in the county that can be linked to prescription drug overdoses, and one that was an overdose on heroin and prescription drugs. He is waiting for toxicology tests before declaring another five deaths in that time frame were caused by prescription drug overdoses.

Nationally, drug overdose death rates have more than tripled since 1990 and have never been higher, federal data show. Throughout the United States, 100 people die from drug overdoses each day. In 2008, more than 36,000 people died from drug overdoses, most resulting from prescription drugs.

David Withers, M.D., associate medical director at Marworth, an alcohol and chemical dependency treatment facility in Waverly, said he believes the increase in prescription medication abuse has many factors. He said some people have a genetic disposition toward drugs like hydrocodone and oxycodone, more commonly known as Vicodin and OxyContin.

Many who abuse the drugs started taking them for legitimate reasons, such as a back injury or other ailment, but become addicted. Some people were addicted after trying the pills for recreational use. Addiction can snatch control of abusers' lives, leading them to actions they'd never do otherwise.

Scranton Police Department Acting Chief Carl Graziano spent nine years of his law enforcement career in the department's special investigation unit, where he worked undercover and as a supervisor related to drug work. He said prescription drug abuse affects people across income and education levels. In recent years, doctors and police officers have been arrested for abusing pills.

"Just because you have a certain title doesn't mean you're immune to addiction," he said.

While the Scranton Police Department doesn't keep statistics on prescription medicine abuse, Chief Graziano and other law enforcement officials say the drugs have connections to many crimes in the area. From selling pills on the black market, burglarizing pharmacies, stealing prescription pads and robbing others to get money to buy the drugs, the community has felt effects of addicts looking for a fix.

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Prescription drug abuse destroys lives with death and crime