Police seeing prescription drug problem
In Green Oaks, wealthy parents are stunned to learn their 20-year-old son is arrested for dealing Valium and Xanax while on spring break.
Six middle-schoolers are busted with pills of Ritalin - a speed-like stimulant - in Arlington Heights.
A 73-year-old McHenry County doctor is charged with writing prescriptions to people she knew didn't need the painkillers.
The accounts of prescription drug abuse continue to pour out this year like pills spilling across a table. Children, teens and senior citizens -- no one is exempt from pill popping.
Suburban police and counselors alike are finding this out every day as busts mount and 12-step programs run out of folding chairs.
"This is a serious problem for all ages," says Sharyl Balkin, a Barrington psychiatrist on the staff of Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital.
In fact, an Associated Press analysis of Drug Enforcement Agency data shows the use of OxyContin climbed 828 percent in Illinois between 1997 and 2005 while the use of codeine skyrocketed in the Northwest suburbs.
Despite having the appearance of legality and safety, prescription drugs can be as dangerous as any smack peddled from a street corner.
OxyContin - an opiate pill of growing popularity - and codeine can kill if taken in the wrong doses or mixed with liquor. Xanax can spark seizures.
Balkin says she has even helped several patients in the medical field who became addicted to such drugs. And she says that while parents are eyeing their teens for abuse, they should do a double take on the elderly.
"A lot of the geriatric population is extraordinarily addicted to the pain medicines and tranquilizers," Balkin says.
On the law-and-order side, suburban officers are handcuffing more and more people for dealing and abusing pills.
"It is the kid stealing from Mom and Dad to the more sophisticated and larger operations," says Keith Frederick, deputy director of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group. "This is a growing and disturbing trend."
Teens and adults addicted to prescription drugs, or just trying them, are unfortunately finding it rather easy to score. Frederick says teens target the medicine chests at a friend's home while adults might play games with their doctors.
An adult pill popper will often refill prescriptions early, have multiple doctors and seek unscrupulous physicians far from home, said Balkin, who has heard many lies from pill-seeking patients.
"My favorite is, 'My prescription fell in the toilet," she said.