Officials fighting drug crisis--heroin in a heartbeat

Here we go again talking about the prescription pills in your cabinet. Anyone who gets pain meds and decides they really like it--when the prescription is cut off, what does the patient look for? They usually look for more meds in the same category--people who really like oxycodone will go for heroin in a heartbeat. Over prescribing is a real problem--but so is leaving them in your medicine cabinet. If kids want drugs, they go after what they can find at home first--then often try to get a prescription for "pain." Girls get cramps, boys pull muscles--depending on who your doctor is, doctors can be the next best medicine cabinet around. Read the story below and stay aware of what your kid takes!

Officials fighting drug crisis - Watertown Daily Times Online : News: ""We are looking at this as a heroin problem, but it really is an opioid problem. They all cause the same withdrawal. They can all be used to stop the withdrawal," Klomberg said. "They will use oxycodone for a long time, but then can't get it and then they switch to whatever they can get their hands on. They are really interchangeable and we shouldn't focus exclusively on heroin."
Overprescribing pain medication is something that doctors across the area struggle with, Meade said. He added it is incredibly hard for a doctor to look a patient in the eye and tell them they are lying when they say they are in pain."

'via Blog this'