Prescription drug abuse has increased in Harford County, according to Joe Strovel, director of addiction services for the Harford County Health Department.
In the past year, he said, he has noticed an increase in the use of painkiller OxyContin and other prevalent prescription drugs such as the cough-suppressant hydrocodone. It has become a big problem, he said.
Many younger people abuse prescription drugs thinking they won't become addicted, he said, but they develop a physical dependency to the drug.
"In three years, our census went from 120 clients to 480 clients," Strovel said. To combat the increasing number of addicts, the county has created more programs.
Vickie Walters, a licensed clinical social worker and program director of the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, said the majority of people with prescription-abuse problems are now coming from the suburbs.
"There have been nine pregnant women in the last six months from Harford County" at the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy, Walters said.
The problem begins within the counties, she said.
"Often a woman will go to a physician and complain and [is] prescribed medication for pain, and there is not a lot of follow-up," Walters said.
`It's that easy'
This was the case for Miriam Landa, 30, of Havre de Grace, who was prescribed pain medication for a fractured back from a car accident. She continued to take Lortab, a pain medication. Her struggles with addiction date back 18 years.
"It's as easy as buying a pack of cigarettes," she added. "It's that easy."
She started by taking friends' pills and then stealing doctors' pads. She learned it was safer and easier to call in her prescriptions. She would call in the prescription and then call back during a shift change and pick it up.
"The thing that got me busted was using the same name and same doctor over and over again," Landa said.
Her strategies have changed but most of the time, she said, she looked for a busy pharmacy.
"Do you think they are going to stop and call to verify the prescription? They are so busy" they don't have the time to verify, she said.
Her daily routine stayed constant for years. Each morning, she would take the prescription drug and be good for 10 hours and then go to sleep. She said she would get enough pills for two days and repeat the cycle a couple of days later.
