The Conference Determined Ways To Help Put A Stop To Illegal Prescription Drug Use
GAYLORD, MI -- Federal, state, local and tribal officers met in Gaylord Thursday. They brain-stormed ways to gain an upper hand on illegal drug use.
A majority of law enforcement agents at Thursday's meeting were undercover, and because of the risk of compromising their identities, there's a shot of 165 empty seats. The seats were filled to discuss prescription drugs, the illegal usage of these drugs, and the serious problems associated with misusage.
"About half of the country's drug abuse is caused by legally manufactured drugs which somehow find their way into the illegal market or are abused,” said Abraham Azzam, Executive Director of HIDTA, or The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas.
Azzam was just one of the many special speakers at the conference.
"We're finding across the state of Michigan and across the county that this is a growing percentage of drug abuse. The other problems that are associated are physical injury," said speaker and Assistant United States Attorney in Western Michigan Ray Beckering.
Emergency room data from 2004 to 2008 shows an increase of 97 percent--that's emergency room visits attributable to pharmaceuticals.
Here's another fact. Prescription drug overdoses now kill more people each year than all illegal drug overdoses combined. The conference helps officials get up to date with the problems, learn new techniques, share stories, and share phone numbers to help minimize the illegal trafficking and usage of prescription drugs.
“What we're here to do is bring them some expertise and some tools that they can avail themselves to fight drug trafficking in their communities," said Detroit D.E.A. Robert Corso.
And it's not just the users that add to the problem - but doctor's who mis-prescribe drugs. By working to cut down on that, and by educating people, the group that filed these chairs hopes to bring an end to prescription drug abuse.
Speakers also brought up another concern about prescription drug abuse. They say it often opens a gateway to harder drugs, like cocaine and heroine.
