Editor's note: This is the third and final part in a series on prescription drug abuse in the Greater Newburyport area.
With prescription drug trafficking, addiction, overdoses and deaths on the rise, experts on local and state fronts say they need more tools as they wage this new battle in the decades-old drug war.
Across the board, those interviewed said catching and prosecuting prescription drug abuse dealers is more difficult than those who traffic in illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and crack.
The reason: Those who have illegal drugs can be arrested simply for possessing them. But those with prescriptions for the drugs they sell illegally have to be caught in the act of selling them before police can make an arrest.
On the prosecution front, officials from the Attorney General's Office in New Hampshire say they need legislative help to crack down on prescription drug abusers.
For years, the attorney general has sought but failed to get a law passed that would develop a prescription drug database that could aid in the creation of a statewide prescription monitoring system similar to the one in Massachusetts. The database - fed by prescription drug records of all pharmacies - would call attention to the "doctor shoppers" who get and fill more prescriptions than they can use personally for drugs like methadone, oxycodone, Valium, and fentanyl. The four drugs have led to the deaths of at least five young men in the region since March 2005.
On the enforcement front, police say money is needed to beef up state and local police budgets to give them more resources and manpower if they're to take on this new threat. With barely enough money to chase and catch heroin and other illegal-drug traffickers, state police drug units have little if anything left over to pursue those who sell their prescribed drugs to others.
Acknowledging the problem of drug abuse in his community, former Seabrook police Chief David Currier repeatedly attempted to add a detective to the department just to investigate drug abuse. After voters repeatedly turned down town budgets, Currier stopped trying to get the additional manpower, he said.
Police and other officials agree that law enforcement cannot remedy the drug problems that continue to addict and kill users. More is needed in community education, court sentencing options and treatment programs, or law enforcement will continue to fight a losing battle with illegal prescription drug use, police say, and people will continue to die.
With prescription drug trafficking, addiction, overdoses and deaths on the rise, experts on local and state fronts say they need more tools as they wage this new battle in the decades-old drug war.
Across the board, those interviewed said catching and prosecuting prescription drug abuse dealers is more difficult than those who traffic in illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and crack.
The reason: Those who have illegal drugs can be arrested simply for possessing them. But those with prescriptions for the drugs they sell illegally have to be caught in the act of selling them before police can make an arrest.
On the prosecution front, officials from the Attorney General's Office in New Hampshire say they need legislative help to crack down on prescription drug abusers.
For years, the attorney general has sought but failed to get a law passed that would develop a prescription drug database that could aid in the creation of a statewide prescription monitoring system similar to the one in Massachusetts. The database - fed by prescription drug records of all pharmacies - would call attention to the "doctor shoppers" who get and fill more prescriptions than they can use personally for drugs like methadone, oxycodone, Valium, and fentanyl. The four drugs have led to the deaths of at least five young men in the region since March 2005.
On the enforcement front, police say money is needed to beef up state and local police budgets to give them more resources and manpower if they're to take on this new threat. With barely enough money to chase and catch heroin and other illegal-drug traffickers, state police drug units have little if anything left over to pursue those who sell their prescribed drugs to others.
Acknowledging the problem of drug abuse in his community, former Seabrook police Chief David Currier repeatedly attempted to add a detective to the department just to investigate drug abuse. After voters repeatedly turned down town budgets, Currier stopped trying to get the additional manpower, he said.
Police and other officials agree that law enforcement cannot remedy the drug problems that continue to addict and kill users. More is needed in community education, court sentencing options and treatment programs, or law enforcement will continue to fight a losing battle with illegal prescription drug use, police say, and people will continue to die.
Monitoring prescriptions
New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Philip Bradley said legislation can help catch prescription drug dealers, but first the laws must be passed to do so.
In Massachusetts, pharmacies must see a picture ID of anyone filling prescriptions of Schedule 2 drugs, such as methadone and oxycodone. The information is put into pharmacy computer systems and regularly transmitted to the state Department of Public Health.
Only those whose prescription filling patterns indicate an unhealthy number of prescription drugs are flagged for review.
There is no such system in New Hampshire, making it much more difficult to catch those who go from doctor to doctor amassing multiple prescriptions. Even those who pay cash and fill prescriptions at different pharmacies could be detected if pharmacies in New Hampshire reported the information they have to a drug monitoring system similar to the one in Massachusetts and other states.
"If you try to investigate a doctor-shopping case without a prescription database, it's impossible," Bradley said.
The bill for the database, HB630, is before the Health and Human Services Committee of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. One of the bill's sponsors is state Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, whose district includes Seabrook.
After a recent hearing on the bill, Bradley is hoping the bill can get a favorable report this time around. Given that there has been a 150 percent increase in deaths from prescription opiates like methadone and oxycodone in New Hampshire in the past eight years, Bradley's office will again try to persuade legislators to make the bill a law.
In the past, legislators were under the impression the primary addiction or deaths from prescription drugs were by those who used them because they were chronically sick.
On top of that, Bradley said, some legislators would go to hearings and say there isn't enough of a problem to risk invading people's privacy by requiring a statewide prescription database.
State Rep. Mark Preston, D-Seabrook, a police sergeant in his hometown, also would like to see the bill passed. Preston said he is willing to speak to the committee chairman about the problem and deaths caused by prescription drug abuse in Seabrook.
"I think this bill would really help police acquire the information we need to find and prosecute prescription drug dealers," said Preston, who worked for two years on the state Drug Task Force in the 1990s. "This is a real problem, and we need all the help possible to fight it."
Seabrook's chief investigative officer, Detective Sgt. Michael Gallagher, also praised the bill's potential, admitting he doesn't have the manpower or money for the 24-hour surveillance needed to catch prescription drug dealers in the act of selling pills.
After losing his son to a methadone overdose in May, Seabrook resident and Salisbury police Chief David L'Esperance believes the prescription drug database could alert officials to those making the drugs available to those who abuse them. As a New Hampshire resident, L'Esperance is willing to testify in favor of the bill if called upon to do so.
Bradley said the New Hampshire bill is patterned after laws in other states. "Triggers" are built into the bill to alert state regulators only when abuse is suspected, he said.
Lt. Terry Kineen of the New Hampshire State Police drug unit praised the work of the New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy, whose investigators have stepped up their review of drug dispensers in an effort to help catch prescription drug abusers who go to different pharmacies to have their prescriptions filled. But his officers often have to focus on illegal drug traffickers.
Education, communication key
Officials in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts interviewed agree, law enforcement cannot win the war on drug abuse alone, prescription or otherwise. Communitywide education on the dangers of the improper use of prescription drugs, as well as more accessible substance abuse treatment opportunities for those addicted, are vital parts of addressing the problem.
Those familiar with Seabrook's particular problems say the code of silence that inhibits the ability of police to get evidence against suspected prescription drug dealers must be broken. Although L'Esperance does not blame Seabrook for his son's death, he believes local residents with knowledge of prescription drug dealers should come forward to help police.
Preston and Gallagher said local residents must be educated to understand coming forward about a loved one's prescription drug problem and who the suppliers are is not being disloyal.
"It's saving their lives in many cases," Gallagher said. "Some people are selling their prescriptions to get the money to support their own prescription drug addiction. These people need help."
Preston said turning in a family member or friend using dangerous drugs - prescription or illegal - "isn't ratting them out." And it doesn't necessarily mean going to prison.
"People have to understand they can work with us," Preston said. "There are alternatives to going to prison. Sentences can be suspended if these people agree to go into treatment."
For those found guilty of felony drug crimes, at Superior Court in Rockingham County there is a sentencing option to the Rockingham County Academy Program, which has substance abuse treatment opportunities. Through the juvenile court system, there is the Rockingham County Diversion Program.
A movement led by Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau would create a "drug court" in the county similar to the successful program in Strafford County to treat those whose crimes relate to drug addiction and abuse.
But all involved know more substance abuse programs and more beds at treatment centers are needed with financial options for those without health insurance to address the growing and deadly trend of prescription drug abuse.
READER BOX
Drug- related emergency medical response calls answered by the Seabrook Fire Department
Year Overdose incidents Drug-related deaths
2005 12 4
2006 13 3
As of July 2007 12 1
* Statistics provided by the Seabrook Fire Department. No names, dates or addresses were disclose.
