Prescription Drug Abuse

One of the areas of drug abuse the Weber Morgan Narcotic Strike Force investigates is the abuse of prescription drugs. This area of drug abuse is on the rise in all age groups. This type of abuse may be one person using another's prescription to forging a prescription. In our area the drugs of choice include but are not limited to hydrocodone also known as Lortab, oxycontin, and percocet. There are many other prescription drugs that are abused along with these three.

In prescription drug abuse we find teenagers, mothers, fathers, young adults, grand parents, medical providers, construction workers and the list goes on. No one is immune to this type of drug abuse. It will start with an injury and a valid prescription and if not controlled it can progress into an addiction. Teenagers will obtain pills from family member's legal prescription and experiment with them. Oxycontin is a time release pill the teenagers will break down into powder. Because it is time release, the crushing of the pill negates the time release and the drug is taken at its full strength. This can result in an overdoes and death.

Our investigations center around, but are not limited to prescription fraud. This can include uttering a false prescription, forging a stolen prescription, and altering a valid prescription and doctor shopping. There are also those who deal stolen or illegally obtained prescription drugs as there is a very lucrative market for them.

The most common violation of the law is doctor shopping. What is doctor shopping? This type of prescription fraud is covered in the Utah criminal code under section 58-37-3 (3) ii, which prohibits the failure by a person to disclose his or her receiving a controlled substance. A common example of this type of crime is a person being treated by several medical providers in a short period of time. The patient is failing to disclose his or her previous prescriptions for controlled substances to the medical providers.

We are also investigating cases of prescriptions being altered. The patient will change the dosage or the number of refills he or she is to receive. A friend or family member may call the doctor and request a refill of a controlled substance that is not needed. This person will then obtain the medication from the pharmacy and divert it to his or her own use.