MANSFIELD -- A terminally ill woman's son stole pain reliever from her.
"She was on fentanyl patches," METRICH Detective Dawn Brown said. "He would take the patch off her, extract as much of the drug as he could and then tape it back on her.
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"His excuse was he was just an addict and the health care agency would be there in a short amount of time, so it didn't matter."
Such is the power of prescription drug addiction.
"In my opinion, it's one of the most serious drug-abuse problems we're facing," Brown said.
Statistics bear out Brown's opinion. Of the 20 most abused drugs, 14 are pharmaceuticals. Brown has specialized in pharmaceutical diversion since 1995.
Pharmaceutical diversion includes doctor shopping and prescription fraud.
"It has always been a serious problem, but with the resurgence of heroin, we've seen a concurrent explosion in illicit trafficking," METRICH Commander Lt. Dino Sgambellone said. "A lot of people start out on pharmaceuticals -- many times for valid reasons -- and they end up becoming addicted. Heroin is generally cheaper and easier to find."
Abusers often use OxyContin or Percocet as a substitute for heroin.
"Any type of street drug, you can find a prescription drug that mirrors the effects," Brown said.
She said prescription drug abuse has gotten worse in recent years.
"The problem's always been there," Brown said. "It just wasn't as open as it is now."
Sgambellone offered some reasons for the increase.
"With younger people, there's less of a stigma with pharmaceuticals," he said. "It's not looked at like heroin or cocaine. They experiment with these drugs and become quickly addicted."
Sgambellone said abusers often crush and snort pharmaceuticals, which also can be injected.
"Addicts can develop a tremendous tolerance," the METRICH commander said. "Using 10 to 15 or more pills a day is not uncommon."
According to the Richland County coroner's office, most of the 19 overdoses that occurred in 2006 were a mixture that included pharmaceuticals.
"People think because it's legal to obtain that it can't hurt you," Brown said.
Prescription drug abuse affects even the elderly.
"The elderly population is an emerging trend in divergent pharmaceuticals," Sgambellone said. "They're victims of theft many times. In some cases, they'll sell their own prescriptions for additional income."
Or for other reasons. The oldest person convicted of trafficking in the county was a man in his 80s who sold drugs for sex. | 
