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| Losing a valuable life so young and innocent |
Listen, these young people committing theses crimes are not strangers to our community! They are somebody's son, brother, nephew, uncle, dad and friend.Are you not tired of attending funerals? Are you not tired of the RIP shirts and teddy bears on the ground? Well I'M gonna tell you what I'm tired of:.. SEEING people crying over their relatives and friends at their funerals like you didn't know what was going on and that this could be the end result! ARE YOU SERIOUS! and you think you don't have a hand in their DEATH! You may not have pulled the trigger but you DID NOTHING TO STOP IT OR GET HELP! Now you are without a friend, his son is without a father, his mom without her son, his siblings without their brother and you think you tears matter....WITH YOUR SILENCE AND LACK OF ACTION YOU ARE JUST AS MUCH FAULT AS IF YOU PULLED THE TRIGGER! NOW THINK ABOUT THAT!
Pharm parties ... in Plainview
Richard Porter/Plainview HeraldWhile it still lingers behind marijuana, cocaine, meth and alcohol, the abuse of prescription and over- the-counter drugs is a growing problem in Plainview, according to law enforcement personnel. Plainview narcotics detective Ramiro Sanchez said the warning signs are much the same as with other drug abuse — mood swings, change in behavior and withdrawal from family.
Posted: Sunday, January 30, 2011 12:00 pm | Updated: 4:14 pm, Mon Jan 31, 2011.
Pharm parties . . .
Depending on who you talk to or what source you read, they either are a growing wave of possible destruction or a figment of the imagination of people who have too much time on their hands.
In Plainview, while prescription drug abuse is on the radar of local law enforcement personnel, it still doesn't compare with other forms of drug abuse, according to Plainview Police Department Investigator Ramiro Sanchez.
Allegedly, a pharm party is when people get together and deposit whatever pharmaceuticals they can get their hands on in a communal bowl and party-goers then scoop out handfuls and ingest them.
The issue of prescription drug abuse came to the attention of the Herald when a couple of police incident reports cited cases of Plainview school students being caught on various campuses with prescription drugs that were not their own. The incidents occurred in December, and in the most recent the junior high-aged student was caught with a 500 mg hydrocodone pill and three 1mg clonazepam pills.
According to a Web site sponsored by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, "Clonazepam is used alone or in combination with other medications to control certain types of seizures. It is also used to relieve panic attacks (sudden, unexpected attacks of extreme fear and worry about these attacks)."
The same Web site explained that hydrocodone is used to treat pain and coughs: "Hydrocodone relieves pain by changing the way the brain and nervous system respond to pain. Hydrocodone relieves cough by decreasing activity in the part of the brain that causes coughing."
Ironically, the first of the two incidents occurred at about the same time that PISD Director of Operations Rick Garcia attended a safety seminar on drug abuse.
When asked about the subject of prescription drug abuse, Garcia acknowledged that there is heightened awareness.
"Just coming back from this safety seminar, they said it is becoming more of an issue," he said. However, Garcia added that, "District-wide, we haven't seen it very much."
In a presentation from the seminar, presented by Rick Torres, school safety specialist with the Texas School Safety Center at Texas State University in San Marcos, the concept of a pharm party was described. He said the concoction often contains drugs such as "Xanax, a strong tranquilizer, and powerful painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin."
In providing statistics from the Web site drugfree.org, Torres said that:
•Every day, 2,500 teenagers use a prescription drug to get high for the first time.
•Sixty percent of teens who have abused prescription painkillers did so before age 15.
•An estimated 2.1 million teens are abusing them - a figure that has hardly changed since the government's national Survey on Drug Use and Health started tracking it in 2002.
At the other end of the spectrum, in a Jan. 21, 2010, online article published on the Web site Slate, the writer argued that the notion of pharm parties is the product of "a police officer or a drug counselor who asserts that the soirees take place or have heard young drug-heads talking about them. Given such stringent evidentiary standards, it's a wonder that preschool teachers aren't claiming that unicorns are real, too."
Regardless of which end of the spectrum one leans toward, Sanchez said it is an issue in Plainview.
"I've seen a rise in the abuse of prescription drugs," he said. "We're finding a lot of the younger crowd where they're calling them "Skittle Parties" (after the brightly-covered candy)."
Sanchez said in one instance a youth had a daily organizer that detailed some of the pills.
"He was able to explain what each pill was and if you took them together, you get this kind of high," Sanchez said.
One common problem police are seeing is children drinking cough syrup.
"They call them syrup heads," he said.
Traditionally, Sanchez said, prescription drug abuse has been associated with adults who have gotten addicted to strong painkillers after being injured or having surgery. Eventually, the patient starts forging prescriptions or moving from one doctor to another to another to keep getting prescriptions.
As the issue evolves, people begin selling their own prescriptions, Sanchez said.
"A 7.5 milligram hydrocodone is going for $5 a pill on the street," he continued.
Sanchez said children get involved when they begin stealing drugs from the family's medicine cabinet. He said stealing drugs from a medicine cabinet is a lot less expensive than buying them on the street.
"It's a growing problem," he said. "We're hearing more and more, and I'm seeing more and more where the kids are getting the pain pills."
Sanchez said the youth he's talked to say they do prescription drugs because "it mellows them out."
While prescription drug abuse is a growing problem, Sanchez said it still pales in comparison to other forms of drug abuse.
"Marijuana still is No. 1. We have a bad marijuana problem in Plainview," he said, adding that cocaine, methamphetamine and alcohol follow, in that order. He place prescription drugs fifth on the list.
From the school's perspective, Garcia said PISD has a policy governing when and how medications of any kind may be brought onto a campus.
According to that policy, only authorized employees may administer:
•Prescription medication, in the original, properly-labeled container, provided by the parent, along with a written request
•Prescription medication from a properly-labeled unit dosage container filled by a registered nurse or another qualified district employee from the original, properly-labeled container
•Nonprescription medication, in the original, properly-labeled container, provided by the parent along with a written request
•Herbal or dietary supplements provided by the parent only if required by the student's individualized education program or section 504 plan for a student with disabilities.
Garcia said the district treats illegally-obtained prescription drugs the same as any other type of illegal drug. He added that the drug dogs used by the district are trained to detect them.
"We've had several hits from the dogs and the students have had to prove that they have the prescriptions (for the drugs in question)," he said.
One thing the district is beginning to keep a closer eye on is legal energy drinks which can have varying effects.
"We try to be very proactive," Garcia said.
In the meantime, he continued, parents need to be aware of what their children are doing when it comes to addressing the possible use of any kind of illegal drug.
Sanchez said key things to look for are the same as in other instances of abuse - mood swings, behavioral changes and withdrawing from the family.
"If you know your kid, you'll start to notice the behavioral change," he said.
In regard to storing prescription drugs in the home, Sanchez took a hard line.
"You're going to have to start treating that stuff like a gun," he suggested. "Lock it up."
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