Prescription Drugs

As a practicing physician for over 40 years, I was saddened and disappointed to read that our own U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski lead the effort to successfully defeat a Senate amendment that would have made it easier for individuals to get prescription drugs from Canada for general use. She argued that "opening the borders to Canadian-made drugs could endanger American consumers. " "We could be importing death," she was quoted as saying. Shame on you, Senator Mikulski! Contrary to rumors from the pharmaceutical lobbyists, Canadians are not dying in the streets from poisoned medications.

University of Maryland women's basketball coach Brenda Frese said she was heartbroken that a chemotherapy drug used to treat her 3-year-old son, Tyler, for leukemia was in short supply and possibly unavailable. When she discovered that some companies have been accused of putting profit over production or distribution of cytarabine and other drugs, she was angry — and she began writing letters. "This is life or death, and the thought of some drugs being put out of reach made my stomach sick," she said in an interview.

Mention the war on drugs, and most people conjure up images of poor inner-city neighborhoods terrorized by desperate addicts and violent drug gangs. But addiction isn't just big-city problem. Across the country, rural and suburban communities are waging their own quiet struggle against the scourge of drug abuse. And as Harford County officials have recently been forced to acknowledge, it's becoming an increasingly uphill battle. At a bail hearing this month for a 42-year-old Aberdeen man accused of distributing illegal prescription drugs, Assistant State's Attorney Diane Adkins-Topin told the judge that "the number one problem drug in Harford County is now Oxycontin.

In the scramble to cut the nation's debt burden, President Obama, congressional Democrats and even some Republicans have proposed squeezing money out of Medicare by changing the way it pays forprescription drugs. They claim this would save $112 billion over 10 years. But if passed it would be a disaster, costing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the biopharmaceutical industry - an important contributor to the Maryland economy - driving up drug prices and discouraging drug innovation.

The number of people abusing painkillers and other prescription medications in Maryland has risen sharply in recent years, and officials are looking to a new monitoring system, as well as increased awareness, to stem the tide. Similar steps are being taken across the nation as prescription painkillers, stimulants and depressants have become the most widely abused drugs behind marijuana. More than 6,000 Americans a day now abuse a pain reliever for the first time. In Maryland, the number of people seeking treatment for addiction to prescription drugs jumped from more than 3,400 in 2007 to more than 7,000 in 2010.

Baltimore police officers got what they described as a stunning note accompanying their biweekly paychecks Friday — a memo from City Hall informing them that their pay will be cut by nearly 2 percent over the next six months. That means the average officer will see about $205 less in monthly pay starting Jan. 21. "Baltimore City will never be safe as long as the mayor continues to show her disrespect to the police," said Robert F. Cherry, president of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Underneath the mattress isn't going to cut it. Neither will tucking it behind the stack of "Twilight" books. Not even pushing it deep into the toe of a smelly gym shoe. The dog will find it. And he'll know it's not oregano. A new service in Maryland is promising parents peace of mind by allowing them to essentially rent a drug-sniffing dog, a highly trained canine that will come to their house and within seconds, detect even the tiniest whiff of narcotics. The program allows ordinary moms and dads access to a search tool typically reserved for law enforcement — and typically aimed at suspected criminals.

In a second sex-related sanction by the state's highest court, an Arnold lawyer was ordered suspended from practice for two months for swapping Vicodin for sex. But three of the seven judges wanted at least a six-month suspension for Jeffrey S. Marcalus, with Judge Glenn T. Harrell Jr. writing for the minority that "Marcalus has some judgment shortcomings when it comes to acting out as his libido moves him." Marcalus was suspended briefly in 2007 for sexting and touching a client in a suggestive way, Harrell noted.

There isn't much attention paid to prescription drug abuse, except perhaps when a Hollywood star dies from an overdose. However, it is estimated that nearly one in five Americans has used prescription drugs for nonmedicinal reasons, and 15 percent may be abusing prescription drugs. This silent epidemic has become the leading cause of addiction. This week, the Maryland Chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the University of Maryland Medical Center sponsored the annual Tuerk Conference, a gathering of 1,200 health professionals working in the field of addictions to focus on treatment and prevention of prescription drug abuse.

Prescription drug abuse has grabbed recent headlines with the high profile deaths of celebrities like Corey Haim, Heath Ledger, Anna Nichol Smith and Michael Jackson. But the epidemic of prescription drug abuse is not limited to Hollywood. Prescription drugs are the now the No. 1 cause of overdose death in the U.S., and they are the second most abused drug behind marijuana. One of the most popular for addicts to get their prescription drugs is the practice of "doctor shopping."