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Illegal Prescriptions Rise Not Seen Locally: Authorities Say Cases Do Not Necessarily Involve The Elderly.

Posted on: Monday, 19 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Anne Thrower, The Paducah Sun, Ky., The Paducah Sun, Ky.

Dec. 19--Instances of senior citizens reselling their painkillers and other medications for money appears to be on the rise in other parts of Kentucky, but not in western Kentucky, officials said.

"We are not seeing an increase at this time, although we could," said Cheyenne Albro, director of the Hopkinsville-based Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force. His agency provides drug enforcement in most western counties, though not in McCracken County.

Albro said illegal prescription drug use is rising and generally involves younger people, but where they get the drugs is not always known.

Some people "doctor shop" or go from doctor to doctor to obtain drugs, while others steal from elderly relatives or people under their care. Still others call in their own prescriptions from doctors' offices.

McCracken Commonwealth Attorney Tim Kaltenbach says there are now more illegal prescription drug cases, but not in cases involving the elderly, or at least not directly.

Often when people are charged with having illegal prescriptions, especially if caught in an undercover operation, investigators don't know the source of the prescriptions unless the people confess, Kaltenbach said.

He attributes some of the increase in cases here to the work of John Tolliver, a Paducah police detective.

"As with most drug cases, you control your own statistics by how hard you work," Kaltenbach said. "In the past it has not been as high a priority as illegal (nonprescription) drugs." Attempts to reach Tolliver were unsuccessful.

Investigating prescription cases became easier for police in recent years because of KASPER -- Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system, in operation since 1999. It helps police and doctors track the prescription history of a patient.

Also, passage this year of federal legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Ed Whitfield of Hopkinsville allows states to share data on patients going from one doctor to another. Rather than setting up a national database, the federal law requires states to set up their own monitoring systems and share with one another.

Kaltenbach said he has seen doctor-shopping cases and cases where workers within a medical office were calling in prescriptions for themselves. He said he has also had cases of family members stealing prescriptions from elderly relatives.

In most instances, the person is addicted to the drug and is not reselling it, Kaltenbach said. But one sign of a seller is obtaining more pills than a person could possibly take, he said.

Regardless of the source, the No. 1 abused prescription drug last year in western Kentucky was the painkiller hydrocodone, Albro said.

An 81-year-old Mayfield man was charged this month with five counts of obtaining a controlled substance by deception. Detectives believe the 10 prescriptions he had for hydrocodone were being given to other people.

A 39-year-old Clinton woman was charged in October with theft of a controlled substance after police say she took medications from an elderly person for whom she was caring. The victim's hospice group reported the situation.

Kaltenbach said prescription drug cases are sometimes hard to prosecute because jurors are not quick to convict people who are legally taking similar types of medications.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Paducah Sun, Ky.

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Source: The Paducah Sun

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