The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.
Robert Green Ingersoll
New Hampshire ranks fourth in the country for deadly methadone overdoses, and health professionals and law enforcement officials are fighting to keep it and other prescription drugs out of the wrong hands.
“Fifty million Americans have admitted to misusing prescription opiates – one in five,” said Dr. P.K. Suchdev of Pain Solutions in Seabrook, New Hampshire.
In 2007, 168 people in New Hampshire died from drug overdoses, most of them from prescription drugs. For the first time in years, that figure was higher than fatal car accidents.
“I’m starting to hear about what’s called ‘pharm parties’ as in pharmacy or skittle parties, where the young kids will take whatever is in their medicine cabinet and dump these pills into a big bowl, and kids will take turns taking handfuls and taking pills, having no idea what they’re taking,” said Seabrook Lt. Michael Gallagher.
Dr. Suchdev said that in most cases the prescription medications provide pain relief for people. The challenge for physicians is deciding whose pain is legitimate, who has the chance to become addicted and who’s coming to the doctor just for the next fix.
“One of the hardest things to do as a doctor is to say ‘No’,” Suchdev said. “Sometimes that is tough medicine, but sometimes it’s the right medicine.”
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