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Several dozen residents were encouraged to “be compassionate, get pissed off and do something” to combat prescription drug abuse during an informational forum Monday night. Hosted by the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse, Overdosed America included a health expo and a variety of speakers who provided information on abuse, pain management and prescription drugs.
“Many of us live in a sense of denial,” San Ramon Mayor Bill Clarkson said during his opening remarks. “Get involved, get plugged in, ask how you can spread the word. Share with people the message you hear tonight: that this is something we can’t put our heads in the sand for.”
Part of a series of events held to educate the community during prescription drug abuse awareness month, Overdosed America highlighted the issues inherent within our “pill for every ill” society.
“The information we’ll provide throughout prescription drug awareness month will be what I wish I had known as a parent before my 21-year old son, Joey, died of an accidental prescription drug overdose,” said NCAPDA President April Rovero.
Although the event featured presentations on abuse and treatment by a panel of local experts, the real highlight of the evening was keynote speaker Gwen Olsen, a 2007 Human Rights Award recipient, author, activist and 15-year veteran of the pharmaceutical sales world. Olsen assured attendees that there is no such thing as a “safe drug.”
“By the time a drug is approved and hits the general population, we don’t even know 50 percent of the side effects…. We are trained to deceive people,” Olsen said of her tenure as a pharmaceutical sales representative. “Prescription drugs are designed to pass the blood brain barrier…the thing that is supposed to prevent our bodies from some of the toxic effects of them. That means they’re also designed to be addicting.”
Olsen said she was compelled to speak the truth after her niece, who was put on a variety of anti-psychotic and painkiller medications, committed suicide in December 2004. The over-prescribing of medications to children and young adults such as her niece is epidemic in the United States and a major market for drug companies.
“I was harming people unintentionally, and I was responsible, and I carry that burden now,” Olsen said of selling psychotropic drugs that act as a chemical straitjacket. “It was a promise I made to her that I would not let her memory be sullied…. I realized that there are thousands and thousands of those people out there, and they need a voice. I want to be that voice.”
Along with several other presenters, Olsen reminded the audience that, in the United States, one person dies from a prescription drug overdose every 19 minutes. Signs of an overdose include abnormal pupil size, tremors, drowsiness and convulsions. Often times, the children that abuse prescription drugs are the ones parents do not suspect.
“Very frequently they are students that are trying to stay up and study or take them recreationally to get high, and one dose can be their last dose,” Olsen said. “It’s very frequently the last person you would think it would be — the Joey Roveros of the world… good students, popular, those that haven’t participated in regular drug use.”
In fact, 22.3 million people, or 9.1 percent of all people over the age of 12, have substance dependence or abuse. The Center for Disease Control reported that, in 2007, approximately 27,000 unintentional drug overdose deaths occurred nationwide; every day 2,500 people in the U.S. use a painkiller non-medically for the first time. One doctor estimated that the overall cost of drug addition is more than $500 billion a year.
Locally, Teen Esteem Director Linda Turnbull said school administrators were concerned about the issue of drug abuse, but even more concerned about the profile of students engaging in that behavior. San Ramon Valley High grad Derek Philbert died on Feb. 6 from an overdose, Turnbull said, adding, “But I could add at least six others.”
While Turnbull encouraged attendees to talk to their children about the issues and dangers of prescription drugs, NCAPDA has partnered with local agencies to host awareness days at middle and high schools, at San Ramon Regional Medical Center for physicians, as well as special training days for law enforcement officers.
Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark Peterson said his office has made the prosecution of drugs a big priority and has four attorneys specifically dedicated to drug cases.
“The amount of drug abuse in our county is really staggering in a number of ways,” he said. “My assessment of this community’s need is for prescription drug abuse (education). We’re here as partners with you…to go into your schools, educate your kids and share information with them.”
Although attendees were given a plethora of information on identifying prescription drug abuse, all of which can be found on NCAPDA’s website, Olsen encouraged people to do their due diligence and seek out additional resources.
“We have to be proactive in seeking our own information…. We have become complacent, we have become lazy, we’ve stopped asking critically intelligent questions,” Olsen said. “The good news is if we created this problem together, then we can change it together by changing our minds, by shifting our paradigm, just like we did when we decided it was no longer socially acceptable to smoke in public.
“We must make that paradigm shift in order to protect ourselves, to protect our families and to protect our children,” she concluded.
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