Oklahomans Increasingly Fighting Addictions to Painkillers
Posted on February 19, 2010Thousands of Oklahomans are fighting an addiction to prescription pain killers. According to a report in News on 6, former Oklahoma State University basketball coach is just one of these individuals.
To add to the embarrassment, the assistant police chief of Catoosa was arrested recently and preachers, teachers and lawyers have been caught with pills. Police say the problem has escalated to epidemic proportions.
Last year alone, 125 million pain pills were dispensed in Oklahoma. This number is significant given that the population of the entire state is only 3.5 million. Current dispensing rates are enough for 35 pills per every man, woman and child in the state.
The three most abused prescriptions in the Tulsa area include hydrocone, oxycodone and Xanax. Addicts are known to take as many as dozens of pills a day.
In a related story, Officer Joe Gho of the Tulsa Police Deparment said, "I’ve actually interviewed several people who take 100 a day, which is incredible.The first time I heard that, it shocked me. Not anymore. I interview people constantly who tell me the same thing."
The use of painkillers often starts as a very legitimate need, but the tolerance that can build over the course of taking the medication can develop into a full blown addiction. As Gho noted, these are basically good people who get caught up in an addiction and don’t know how to stop it.
What causes the most trouble for addicts is when legal problems start. The addiction begins and they can no longer get their pills legitimately from doctors, hospitals or pharmacies. At that point, they will look for illegal ways to get the pills they need. These individuals risk 20 years in prison because the pull of the addiction is so strong.
