Prescription Drug Abuse and Diversion: The Hidden Crisis

• NCJ Number: 239532
• Author(s): Douglas L. Yearwood
• Date Published: August 2012
• Length: 12 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2010-BJ-CX-K006
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Corporate Author: North Carolina Governor's Crime Cmssn
• Sale Source: North Carolina Governor's Crime Cmssn
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey; Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: SystemStats, No. 2, Volume 29, August 2012

Annotation

Ninety-one survey questionnaires (31-percent return rate) completed by North Carolina law enforcement agencies (n = 57), sheriff's offices (n = 31), and hospitals (n = 3) produced data for 2010 on the nature and extent of prescription drug abuse and diversion, types of prescription drugs diverted, illegal prescription drug sources, offender attributes, and geographic patterns of prescription drug abuse in the State.

Abstract

The survey indicates that prescription drug abuse and diversion is a prominent issue facing North Carolina's medical and law enforcement organizations and personnel. Ninety percent of the law-enforcement representatives reported an increase in prescription drug abuse and diversion over the past 5 years. One in three drug-related investigations involved the abuse of prescription medications. Simple possession and possession with intent to sell and deliver were typical for prescription drug cases, with far fewer trafficking and large-scale drug theft cases being reported by local law enforcement agencies; the latter cases are generally referred to and investigated by State and Federal law enforcement agencies. Local cases usually involved individuals with legitimate prescriptions selling them illegally, persons obtaining drugs through stolen and forged scripts, obtaining multiple prescriptions from multiple physicians, and thefts from home medicine cabinets. The top three prescription drugs reported in abuse cases were oxycodone (59.3 percent of respondents), hydrocodone (54 percent of respondents), and Xanax (50.5 percent of respondents). Twenty percent of reported cases of prescription drug abuse involved persons 22 years old or younger, and 46 percent involved offenders between the ages of 23 and 39. Regarding geographic patterns of prescription drug abuse and diversion, respondents across the entire State reported sizeable increases in prescription drug abuse over the past 5 years or even the last year (2010). 2 tables, 2 figures, and 18 references