Pubdate: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2005 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author: Jamie Malernee, staff writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) DEATHS FROM PRESCRIPTION DRUG OVERDOSES ON THE RISE, FLORIDA STUDY CITES Doctors diagnosed Sean Cass with attention deficit disorder in first grade. By middle school, he said, he was selling his Ritalin for $4 a pill to friends who wanted to get high and, by 17, he was mourning a friend who branched out to other prescription drugs and overdosed on OxyContin and Xanax. "Kids take prescription drugs because they are easy to get," said Cass, 19, of Boca Raton, who no longer uses or sells pills and works at the Galleria mall in Fort Lauderdale. "The way the kids see [overdoses], they say, `Oh, he just didn't know what he was doing.' But it only takes one time when you're not thinking clearly." A report released Wednesday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirms Cass' warning: In Florida, more people die each year from prescription drugs than illegal drugs, and the number keeps growing. In 2004, Florida medical examiners reported 1,850 deaths from doses of seven types of prescription medications, up nearly a quarter from the year before. Of those, 30 fatalities occurred in people younger than 18, and 263 were 18 to 25 years old. Overall, deaths by oxycodone and hydrocodone were up 14 percent and 27 percent, respectively, from the year before. Deaths of those under 18 were down slightly; they rose 14 percent for ages 18 to 25. Youth deaths caused by methadone, a painkiller increasingly used as an alternative to oxycodone, almost doubled since 2002. Such information is particularly timely, said Doris Carroll, community coordinator for the Palm Beach County Substance Abuse Coalition. She warns parents that summer is often a season of drug use "initiation" for many young people, who find themselves out of school and home alone with time on their hands. "There is a big denial problem," Carroll said, referring to parents who don't suspect their children are pilfering pills. "One of the kids I've talked to was 14 years old. Her mother had been in a car accident and she had been taking her pain pills. Another was taking her grandmother's [cancer] medicine." In direct contrast to death statistics, most students who report experimenting with prescription drugs don't consider them a "great risk," according to another study released in April by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The national report found that a growing number of teenagers -- one in five -- have tried prescription painkillers. Local teens agree that prescription drug use is on the rise. Mandy Loren, 16, who attends Cardinal Gibbons High in Fort Lauderdale, said she doesn't use them, but has friends who pop prescription pills and don't think they are dangerous. "They do it, but it's not like it's addictive," Loren said. "They get it from their parents' [medicine cabinets]. It's whatever is there: painkillers, muscle relaxants." Dustin Smith, 23, of Fort Lauderdale said he occasionally takes Adderall, a prescription drug for people with attention deficit disorder, to stay up all night either to study or party. He is a junior at Florida Atlantic University, but recently transferred from Florida State University, where he said the drug is commonly used. "It was big in Tallahassee. You do it before you drink and you don't get sick. You can drink a lot longer," he said, adding that students get the pills either from friends who have valid prescriptions or from doctors, by faking symptoms. "I know a lot of guys that had to go to rehab," Smith said. "You start feeling your heart pounding. It's like drinking two pots of coffee." To combat the problem, Carroll's organization is hosting a prescription drug abuse forum on Tuesday at the Palm Beach Gardens Marriott. Carroll advises parents to talk to their children about the dangers of prescription drugs and to keep track of their own medications, as well as the prescriptions of other siblings or older family members living in the home. "We're not locking our medicine cabinets," she said. "It's access. It's readily available. The number one thing they take is a prescription." One bit of good news: The 2004 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey shows Broward and Palm Beach County teens are less likely than the average Florida teen to have used prescription drugs. Carol Kifner, a Hollywood mother whose daughter died in 2002 from an overdose of alprazolam, the generic name for Xanax, wants to wipe out the use entirely. She will be visiting Broward schools in the fall to spread her message of warning and prevention. "Kids say, `Oh, it's not going to happen to me. One little pill won't hurt me.' But you do one thing and then move on. They are looking for a different kind of high, a better high," Kifner said. "The parents are usually oblivious to everything. Nobody wants to admit it. I was the same". - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin