Officials Say that Prescription Drugs like Opioid Painkillers May Lead to Heroin Addiction

Federal regulators said that prescription drug abuse is a larger problem in the United States than heroin abuse, but because of chemical similarities between painkillers and the street drug, prescription abuse could lead to heroin addiction.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we’ve seen roughly a 20 percent increase in overdose deaths involving prescription painkillers since 2006,” the White House Office of National Drug control policy wrote in a blog post. “In 2010, there were over 16,000 drug poisoning deaths involving prescription painkillers. There were about 3,000 drug poisoning death involving heroin that same year.”

Prescription drug abuse has been on the rise in the US for several years, and regulators have consistently attempted to stem the tide by regulating how often opioid painkillers can be refilled, and how much of those types of drugs a patient can have at one time. However, with so many people prescribed painkillers for chronic pain, addicts can steal the drugs from a legitimate patient, or fake chronic pain with many doctors to receive multiple prescriptions.

“Often it’s a legitimate prescription, but next thing they know, they’re obtaining the pills illicitly,” said Dr. Jason Jerry, an addiction specialist at the Cleveland Clinic’s Alcohol and Drug Recovery Center. “So people eventually say, ‘Why am I paying $1 per milligram for oxy when for a tenth of the price I can get an equivalent dose of heroin?’ ”

Most prescription drug painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone are opioids, like heroin. In the US, heroin is one of the cheapest and easiest to find street drugs, making the transition from prescription drug addiction to heroin addiction easy.

“The old-school user, pre-1990s, mostly used just heroin, and if there was none around, went through withdrawal,” said Stephen E. Lankenau, a sociologist at Drexel University who has surveyed young addicts. Today, he said, “users switch back and forth, to pills then back to heroin when it’s available, and back again. The two have become integrated.”

Unlike highly-regulated prescription medications, street drugs like heroin can often be cut with more dangerous substances. The recent rash of heroin overdoses centered in Pennsylvania, which has since spread across the northeast, was caused by heroin laced with fentanyl, a drug that can enhance the effects of the opioid compound.

Currently, just 4% of people addicted to prescription drugs move to heroin; however, according to the White House Office of National Drug Policy, the trend is increasing among young adults. Additionally, 80% of people who recently started using heroin, according to a U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report issued last April, abused prescription drugs before turning to street drugs.

On Tuesday, February 11th, White House officials called for first responders in all states across the US to carry an anti-overdose drug called naxolene, to help prevent overdose deaths from any kind of opioid.

“Naloxone immediately restores breathing to a victim of overdose,” ONDCP director Gil Kerlikowske told reporters. “Because police are often the first on the scene of an overdose, the Administration strongly encourages local law enforcement agencies to train and equip their personnel with this lifesaving drug.”

The Strom Law Firm Protects Against Drug Charges

Being arrested for prescription drug abuse, marijuana possession, heroin possession, or other drug charges, is something that can be devastating financially and emotionally, and can have long-lasting personal and professional consequences. We understand what you are going through, and we are here to help. Contact the prescription fraud attorneys at the Strom Law Firm, LLC today for a free consultation to discuss the facts of your case. 803.252.4800