LIHU‘E — Prescribed medications are killing more people than illegal drugs, according to a Hawai‘i-based drug educator. Whether it’s elderly people mistakenly taking more than the prescribed dosages or addicts intentionally taking too many pain-killers, the numbers of prescription-drug deaths are
LIHU‘E — Prescribed medications are killing more people than illegal drugs, according to a Hawai‘i-based drug educator.
Whether it’s elderly people mistakenly taking more than the prescribed dosages or addicts intentionally taking too many pain-killers, the numbers of prescription-drug deaths are staggering, said Gary Shimabukuro.
Shimabukuro, who has been lecturing about the dangers of drugs for 30 years, most of them as head of his company, Laulima Hawai‘i, is back on Kaua‘i again this week speaking to school and community groups across the island.
Some of his stops included the War Memorial Convention Hall and the Waimea Canyon Middle School cafeteria, where he spoke to around 60 people between the two venues, telling tales of doctors offering prescription medications for sex, illegal drugs and money.
“I got ‘em all,” he said, telling one story about organized-crime figures offering one doctor $50,000 for prescriptions for pain-killers, depressants and anti-depressants.
There is even the ongoing case of Dr. Harold C. Spear III, formerly of Hanapepe, who is facing federal and state charges of allegedly prescribing controlled substances (certain potentially habit-forming drugs) to patients without actually conducting face-to-face examinations.
Last year, the state Legislature passed what Shimabukuro called the “Spear bill,” which makes it a felony to pre-sign prescription paperwork for controlled substances or to write such prescriptions without conducting face-to-face exams first.
Vicodin, which contains hydrocodone (an anti-cough and pain medication) and acetaminophen (pain-killer), is the most abused prescription medication in Hawai‘i and the United States, he said.
To those to whom it is prescribed for pain, it provides relief. To those not in pain, it produces euphoria, he said.
“Watch the Vicodin,” Shimabukuro said, adding that it is a popular drug of choice especially among high school girls, as it contains no calories. One Vicodin and two beers are enough to heavily intoxicate most people, he warned.
Ambien, a medication to help people sleep, is another prescription drug which if mixed with alcohol or other drugs can be an abused drug of choice, he said.
“They mix all drugs with alcohol.”
Ambien is a date-rape drug of choice among perpetrators who favor it because it makes victims pass out, he said.
Pain-killers, including pain-killing patches designed to be applied directly to the skin, are among newer prescription medications that are abused, he said.
The active ingredient in the patches is sometimes smoked or ingested in teas, or pilfered patches are applied directly to the skin, in dosages way beyond prescribed amounts, Shimabukuro said.
The anti-anxiety drug Xanax, Oxycontin (a pain-killer), methadone and other prescribed medications are among abusers’ drugs of choice as well, he noted.
Only marijuana is abused more than prescription drugs, said Shimabukuro, who recommends adults move such medications out of medicine cabinets, which are located in the one place in the house where total privacy is virtually guaranteed — the bathroom.
“Move the pills,” he said, further suggesting adults crush and toss in the garbage old pills.
He said he knows of a surefire way to “score” prescription drugs on Kaua‘i without a prescription, and without any money — by attending open houses at for-sale properties and checking out the medicine cabinets.
Finally, he said addicts know where to go online to find good, real prescription drugs.
• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
