Pubdate: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 Source: Kentucky Post (KY) Copyright: 2003 Kentucky Post Contact: http://www.kypost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/661 Author: Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) 'PILLHEADS' ADD TO DUI PROBLEM Drugs Rival Alcohol In Some Counties PIKEVILLE -- Law enforcement officials say eastern Kentucky's raging prescription-drug problem is changing the face of a DUI. "Everybody you're looking at now is a pillhead," said former Martin County Sheriff Darriel Young, who left office last month. "In the last couple of years, it's gotten a whole lot worse. Everybody's pilling." County after county has seen explosive growth in "drugged" driving, a signal that the abuse of narcotics rivals or surpasses the abuse of alcohol. "The day of the old-fashioned drunks on the road is about over," said Flatwoods Police Chief Buddy Gallion, who said more than half of his DUI arrests now involve drugs. Last June, 24 of 27 DUI cases in Martin District Court involved drugs, not alcohol, court records show. In 2000, Martin, Laurel and Clay became the first Kentucky counties in which drug-related DUI charges outnumbered alcohol-related DUIs, state records show. In the last several years, eastern Kentucky has become a posterboard for the abuse of legal prescription painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin. Nearly half a ton of narcotics reached six small mountain counties from 1998 to 2001 -- the equivalent of three-quarters of a pound for every adult who lives there. In an analysis of federal data, the Lexington Herald-Leader found that, on a per capita basis, eastern Kentucky drugstores, hospitals and other legal outlets received more prescription painkillers than anywhere else in the nation. The abuse reflects in the number of people seeking residential treatment for painkiller addiction -- it nearly tripled from 1998 through 2001, according to Scott Walker, the substance abuse program director for Mountain Comprehensive Care in Prestonsburg. Prescription-drug abuse has been "slow and insidious over the years; the last three or four years, it's been overwhelming," Walker said. Law enforcement says the increase of abusers has created problems with DUI arrests. Quick, easy Breathalyzer tests, routine in drunken-driving arrests, will not work in drug cases. Instead, drivers' blood samples must go to the state crime lab, where a nine-month backlog jeopardizes prosecutions in some counties. Clay County Attorney Clay Bishop Jr. said that more than a few drug-related DUIs have been dismissed because of delayed test results. Though state records show significant growth in drug-related DUIs across Kentucky during the late '90s, the problem was particularly acute in eastern Kentucky. In 2000, one out of every three motorists stopped on a first-offense DUI in eastern Kentucky was alleged to be impaired by drugs. In the rest of the state, the figure was one out of every 10. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager