Rx drug abuse: Prosecutions top meth, marijuana crimes

Editors Note: This article is part of a series produced by the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith. The entire series will be published online at http://www.jacksonvillepatriot.com. Next: Fighting abuse a passion for Fort Smith detective.

FORT SMITH Prescription drug prosecutions are now more frequent than prosecutions for methamphetamine and marijuana in both Crawford and Sebastian counties, according to prosecutors.

Theres always a flux. One comes in, one disappears; another comes in, one disappears. But right now that would be the No. 1 issue with regard to narcotics, said Sebastian County Prosecutor Dan Shue. And in my perspective, theyre (prescription drugs) every bit as dangerous, and maybe more dangerous (than illicit drugs) because its like theres almost a social acceptance because it was prescribed.

Crawford County Prosecutor Marc McCune said the danger of prescription drugs is also magnified because pills are so easy to get whether someone is doctor shopping or, in the case of juveniles, taking them from their parents or grandparents medicine cabinets.

McCune said youths who take drugs prescribed for someone else will still rationalize theyre not as bad as illicit drugs because they were prescribed by a doctor.

Minors in the juvenile system who abuse prescription drugs almost always get them from a relative, said Shue and Erin Mata, Crawford County juvenile intake officer.

From minors in the juvenile system, Shue said, its common to learn a parent was prescribed a month supply of painkillers more than they needed and after the parent put the drugs away and forgot them, the juvenile took them.

Mata said its also not unusual for young people to steal prescription drugs from the medicine cabinet of a friends parents or grandparents, and shes aware of a case where a juvenile stole a prescription pad from a parent who was a physician.

While juveniles primarily rely on a secondary market stealing them or purchasing them from a friend or acquaintance for prescription drugs, McCune said, adults usually only resort to the secondary market after they cant get them anymore from a physician.

Addicts Crimes

Read this article:
Rx drug abuse: Prosecutions top meth, marijuana crimes