As requested back in August, the Calvert County Commissioners received an update on the recent abuse of prescription drugs by residents. While community leaders are mobilized, members of the county’s Prescription Drug Abuse Abatement Committee (PDAAC) presented a sobering depiction of how challenging the battle will be going forward.
Calvert County Health Officer Dr. Laurence Polsky noted “a disproportionate use of prescription drugs in rural areas.”
The committee reported that during the past five years Calvert’s substance abuse services have seen a 350 percent increase in requests for treatment for prescription drug abuse. Maryland’s statewide average is 103 percent.
Treatment services in Calvert report 33 percent of its client base has opiate abuse problems and 21 percent of its clients list opiates as their primary drug of choice, with the most common being Oxycontin.
Local law enforcement and the county’s court system have had their workloads ramped up by the rise of prescription drug abuse. According to Lt. Dave McDowell of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, recent arrest data shows an “alarming” trend upward. The local sheriff’s office’s arrest figures for adult felony and misdemeanor drugs, juvenile misdemeanor drugs and adult prescription drug-related arrests in 2012 are keeping pace with the 2011 totals. The Maryland State Police (MSP) Prince Frederick Barrack has similar figures to report and also presented data showing juvenile prescription drug-related arrests in 2012 have already exceeded the past two years’ combined totals.
The totals for overdoses for the sheriff’s office and MSP combined indicate eight such cases so far in 2012, 14 for all of 2011 and 12 in 2010.
“I think these are way underreported,” Commissioner Susan Shaw [R] opined. “I’m basing that on just talking to people in the community. People are dying from this and it’s happening way too often.”
Calvert County State’s Attorney Laura Martin [R] reported the number of “pure pill cases” her office is handling in both District Court and Circuit Court has risen significantly.
“The pure pill cases really don’t give you the real picture,” said Martin, who explained the resulting drug problems have prompted users to commit robberies, thefts and assaults.
–>
