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Hernando Today

Cause For Concern

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: December 31, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Most of what legislators heard Tuesday was a chorus of desperate pleas from community groups to keep their state funding intact.

But Sheriff Richard Nugent wants a cutback.

Not in dollars, but in the number of deaths attributed to prescription drug overdoses. The statistics he brought with him to the legislative delegation meeting provide a hard look at the direction this county is headed.

Consider that accidental overdoses accounted for 43 percent of the 68 unnatural deaths reported here last year. Out of the 119 attempted suicides, 90 were overdoses.

A major tool in curbing this trend would be the type of prescription drug monitoring program found in other states, said sheriff's Capt. Jim Walker.

One of the first things Walker noticed when he took command of the Major Case Division in June was the number of death investigations his detectives were working.

A death investigation occurs when a death is unattended and/or there is no doctor to sign a death certificate. Most of the time the medical examiner will determine there is nothing suspicious about the death.

But Walker discovered there is still cause for alarm. Hernando County is one part of a bigger picture, both on the state and federal level. On the national scene, research shows that the abuse of prescription drugs among 12- and 13-year-olds now exceeds marijuana use. In the first six months of 2008, the medical examiner found that prescription drugs were present in 73 percent of investigated deaths, when excluding alcohol.

First and foremost, Walker said, the deaths and consequent suffering felt by families needs to stop.

"I told my guys (that) for (every prescription drug death) I want someone responsible, I want a drug dealer," Walker said.

But having a system in place that restricts illegal access to prescription drugs would also cut back on hours spent in investigation and, ultimately, taxpayer dollars, Walker said.

His proposal is for a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP), which would provide a network between doctors and pharmacies. This is designed to cut down on patients going from doctor to doctor for drugs - a practice called "doctor shopping." It would also put the spotlight on which doctors are doling out large quantities of prescription painkillers.

In 2006, there were 20 Hernando County arrests for obtaining a controlled substance by forgery-fraud. By the next year, that number had jumped to 59.

Walker's suggestion for a PDMP is hardly new. Similar bills have been dying in the Florida Legislature for at least six years. But now Florida is the most populous state without a PDMP, and pressure is growing for more accountability.

Hernando Today published a series in August on prescription drug abuse that highlighted the growing prescription drug addiction in the county and the benefits of a PDMP.

In response to Walker's presentation, Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, called prescription drug abuse an "epidemic" and a "crisis."

He was positive, though.

"I truly believe this will be the year we get this done," he said.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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