The path to pill addiction
Prescription pills are a significant drug problem throughout Anderson County.
When legal drugs are sold illegally they are said to be “diverted.”
These drugs typically are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, sold by pharmacists and at least originally prescribed by physicians.
Diverted prescription pills most frequently involve pain pills containing oxycodone (Roxycodone) or sedatives containing Alprazolam (Xanax). Of course, there are many medicines that are abused, but these are the most common.
Diverted prescription pill addicts may have a different profile from that associated with other illegal-drug addicts.
Diverted prescription pill addicts may view these pills as safe, clean or legal because they are made in a lab, sold by pharmacists and prescribed by doctors.
These views may attract people to prescription pill addiction that would never consider taking another illegal narcotic.
Of course, some diverted prescription pill addicts develop their addiction as the result of a legitimate need and prescription for the medicine as the result of a real medical problem.
Tennessee has a history of prescribing a large number of narcotics relative to our state population. Clearly, we see some patients developing an addiction that they then supply with illegally obtained pills. It appears that those becoming addicted as the result of a legitimate medical prescription are the rare exception, but it does happen.
More often, people illegally using prescription pills are seeking a high or are self-medicating. People with various forms of anxiety or mental illness sometimes turn to the illegal pill market. In other instances, use of pills of this type can lead to mental illness.
It is common to see addicts with mental health problems. It is more difficult to determine whether the mental health problems or the prescription pill addiction came first.
Dave Clark is the district attorney general of the 7th District of Tennessee – serving Anderson County.