John Potter
Channel 2 News
A Centers for Disease Control report released Tuesday reveals more people die from prescription painkiller overdoses than those from heroin and cocaine combined. Around 15,000 Americans died from pill overdoses in 2008, a death rate of 11.9 per 100,000.
Here in Nevada, the rate is higher: 19.6.
Death rates from prescription painkillers, per 100,000:
1- New Mexico: 27.0
2- West Virginia: 25.8
3- Nevada: 19.6
U.S. Average: 11.9
At Reno's drug education non-profit "Join Together Northern Nevada," Executive Director Kevin Quint told us "Washoe County has a higher per capita prescription rate for methadone, which is one of the longer term painkillers, than even Clark county and the rest of the state."
Nevada ranked third in the nation for fatal drug overdoses in 2008, the most recent year numbers were taken. Alcohol used to be why most people went into rehab in Reno. Now, prescription drugs are the top culprit. As Jackie Aust-Giray at the Life Change Center in Sparks told us, "What we see here is the tip of the iceberg."
Jackie is executive director at the non-profit drug counseling center. She says our third highest ranking is really no surprise: "That freedom of alcohol, drugs, lifestyle…that's kind of traditional here."
In an office next door to Jackie's, counselor John Firestone says when it comes to prescription drug abuse and deaths, he sees two names in particular: "The brand names would be Vicodin and Oxycontin," - Reno's most abused prescription drugs.
The C.D.C. says middle-aged men have the highest prescription fatality rates. John can see why. One client of his suffered from back pain and took pills to function at work, becoming addicted. "And this got to the point where he was seeking more medications from his doctor, and then turned to illegal outlets to get more and more medication."
Sadly, back at Join Together Northern Nevada, Kevin Quint says pill addicts here are also getting younger. "We've seen them as young as 14, 15 years old. And that was rare a few years ago. It's common now."
All three say patients, and doctors too, have to be more educated on the risks of these powerful drugs.
To see the CDC's full report, and the prevention resources available in northern Nevada, just click these links:
CDC REPORT: http://1.usa.gov/s9nv0O
JOIN TOGETHER NORTHERN NEVADA: http://www.jtnn.org/
NEVADA DATA: http://www.jtnn.org/nationaldata.html
