Pill abuse should be a priority for police, pols

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February 4, 2012

Anonymous Daily Star The Daily Star Sat Feb 04, 2012, 02:25 AM EST

Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Mark Pryor of Arkansas proposed a bill this week to help police combat a disturbing trend of increasing prescription drug abuse.

The bill would fund research to develop a test for detecting drugged drivers.

"Cops need a breathalyzer-like technology that works to identify drug-impaired drivers on-the-spot -- before they cause irreparable harm," Schumer said after announcing the legislation.

The proposal comes just days after two Long Island residents were indicted for drugged driving. The first crashed a pickup truck into a family purchasing a Christmas tree Dec. 10, killing a 5-year-old boy and injuring both parents. The second killed a 40-year-old woman, struck while helping her mother load laundry into the trunk of her car.

According to Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota, the first driver had five prescriptions by one doctor for a total of 480 Oxycodone pills just days before the accident, and tested positive for Oxycodone, Xanax and Carisoprodol at the time of the wreck.

"It's no exaggeration to say that this rising scourge of driving under the influence of drugs is the biggest public safety emergency on our roads today," Spota said.

Indeed, prescription drug abuse is a growing problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control, painkiller overdose deaths more than doubled from 2000 to 2007, and prescription drug overdose is now the No. 1 cause of accidental death in 17 states.

A 2007 report from the Florida Medical Examiners Association showed they can be surprisingly lethal. Of the 168,900 statewide deaths studied that year, 2,328 were caused by legal painkillers, compared to 989 from cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.

The drugs are also difficult to combat. They're concealable, and abusers lack the tell-tale signs of impaired driving associated with other drugs. They're also profitable, as shown by the cache of Oxycodone seized in Oneonta by state troopers Dec. 21, which had an estimated value of $117,000.

They're also powerfully addictive, as shown by the horrifying Medford incident in September, when addict David Laffer killed four people during a botched pharmacy robbery, including 17-year-old Jennifer Mejia, who was due to graduate from high school days later. Laffer and his wife were prescribed nearly 12,000 pills in four years before the incident.

Such addictions should never be allowed to reach that point. Lawmakers and police need to work together on this, because the problem requires a comprehensive solution.

"You have health care providers involved, you have doctor shoppers, and then there are crimes like robbing drug shipments," said Jeff Beasley of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement when interviewed by The New York Times. "That's what makes things complicated."