Regional law enforcement officials have two opportunities to explore the epidemic of prescription drug abuse during the coming month, with officials from both Seabrook and Salisbury taking leading roles in both events.
On Friday, Seabrook Lt. Michael Gallagher will appear in Rochester, N.H., at a regional meeting involving the police departments from 20 southeastern New Hampshire communities. Gallagher will discuss Seabrook's "drug take-back program" that allows residents to get rid of unwanted and potentially hazardous prescription drugs in a secure drop box in the lobby of the police station.
Begun in the fall, Seabrook was the first department in the state to begin the take-back program, which within its first month collected nearly 500 controlled/narcotic drugs, including the most abused drugs: Percocet, Percodan, OxyContin, Lorazepam and methadone.
Seabrook police believe 90 percent of drug abuse in town is not from illegal drugs like heroin or cocaine, but from prescription drugs. Nationally, more teens abuse prescription drugs than any other illicit drug, except marijuana. Most first-time prescription drug abusers don't buy from dealers but take from medicine chests at homes of relatives and friends, police say.
Hearing of the effectiveness of Seabrook's drug take-back program, other police departments, such as Newburyport's, have instituted it.
Gallagher said he will be on hand Friday to answer any questions law enforcement officials have about the program.
Seabrook resident and Wal-Mart pharmacist David Kelly volunteered to help with the program as soon as he heard about it. Kelly said as a pharmacist he considers Seabrook's program an important step in the struggle against drug abuse and accidental poisoning.
"I absolutely think this is a terrific program," Kelly said. "It gets these drugs away from children and teenagers who can use them incorrectly. It can save lives. Anything that can get these drugs out of the house is a plus. Even Tylenol can be toxic to a toddler who gets into it by accident."
On March 30, New Hampshire will host a Prescription Drug Summit, hosted by the state's Department of Safety, attorney general and Chiefs of Police Association. Opening the daylong program of workshops will be Seabrook resident and Salisbury police Chief David L'Esperance. A former Essex County Drug Task Force member, L'Esperance lost his son, Christopher, to a prescription drug overdose.
"Chief L'Esperance has a unique perspective on this problem," N.H. Assistant Attorney General Philip Bradley said yesterday. "His combined experience makes a compelling story."
L'Esperance will be one of a dozen presenters at the Concord, N.H., summit, which is meant to inform the law enforcement community, Bradley said.
"Unfortunately, I've been on both sides of this issue," L'Esperance said. "I hope I can offer some perspective on how bad the problem is and help people at the summit realize the significance of this issue."
Other presenters include members of the New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory, Connecticut's prescription drug monitoring program, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and two members of the medical profession, including N.H.'s chief medical examiner, Dr. Thomas Andrew.
Andrew has been a constant warrior against drug abuse, releasing a study in 2008 that indicated that drug deaths had surpassed lives lost to traffic accidents in New Hampshire, calling it not a fluke but a sad trend.
New Hampshire is the only state in New England without a formal prescription drug monitoring program in place for pharmacies to detect drug shoppers, forged and stolen prescriptions or members of the medical profession who prescribe drugs inappropriately.
Law enforcement, Andrew and the drug abuse prevention communities have fought for a drug monitoring law for years, but it has repeatedly failed to gain approval of the Legislature because of opposition mounted by the New Hampshire's Board of Pharmacy and other privacy advocates.
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