WV Number 2 in U.S. ...... in pills

Author	Message
Martin Saffer Nov 7, 2011 6:46 pm	WV Number 2 in U.S. ...... in pills Posted: Nov 07, 2011 3:21 PM EST Updated: Nov 07, 2011 3:21 PM EST By Leigh Ann Towne, Digital Journalist - email The Centers for Disease Control has ranked West Virginia as second highest on a list of prescription drug overdoses in the nation. The Mountain State is just behind New Mexico. U.S. Attorney for the Northern District, William Ilhenfeld, II, says prescription pill trafficking is the number one problem facing law enforcement in the Northern Panhandle because of the crimes that stem from the illegal sale of painkillers. He said people are using pills for non-medical purposes, although there are some legitimate reasons to have them for some people. Part of the blame lies with doctors who over prescribe, pharmacists and states like Florida that make it easy for pills to be obtained and then brought back, Ilhenfeld added. This also leads to a crime problem, he added. West Virginia is now considered a source state for these pills. Per 10,000 people, Ilhenfeld said West Virginia has the highest rate of pills being prescribed. Ilhenfeld claims law enforcement on the federal and local level is uniting to fight this trend. However, he doesn't feel it's close to reaching the peak of being a problem.
egad Nov 16, 2011 8:18 am	Re: WV Number 2 in U.S. ...... in pills Drugs and alcohol are the answer. They are the logical answer: they are reliable, they deliver comfort and joy, they always love us. They only demand loyalty. Like a family. Some Americans wring their hands and self-righteously lament drug abuse in America as if it is ‘other’ Americans and the fault of ‘somebody else’ that has wasted lives and wasted money and precious time on the search for nirvana in some chemical change in the brain. Thanksgiving is a family holiday. Or it used to be—remember all those cards with pictures of families around the table, maybe candles, hot rolls, a turkey? Beloved and sometimes mysterious Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents gather at one home, sometimes distant, to celebrate each other, to eat too much, to watch football and suffer the harshness of tryptophan or for others maybe a football game on the lawn. Not today. Grandma is working at Target and can’t come to daughters because she has to be at work by 5 pm. Mommy doesn’t make a big meal or invite people because she wants to be rested when the doors of Toys R Us open at 9 pm. And as much as Mommy thinks she is taking care of the kids, shopping for them, she, we are denying them what they need most. Our culture is denying them their caretakers, their family, tradition, boring afternoons with Uncles snoring, getting acquainted with cousins, women sharing family stories around the kitchen table after clean up: warm, cuddly and, these days, more and more rare. So those kids can get it all. They can fill up the emptiness they can’t even name by raiding the medicine cabinet, by hanging out at the street corner. Meanwhile, American shops its children away.

Author

Message

Martin Saffer

Nov 7, 2011

6:46 pm

WV Number 2 in U.S. ...... in pills

Posted: Nov 07, 2011 3:21 PM EST Updated: Nov 07, 2011 3:21 PM EST
By Leigh Ann Towne, Digital Journalist - email

The Centers for Disease Control has ranked West Virginia as second highest on a list of prescription drug overdoses in the nation. The Mountain State is just behind New Mexico.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District, William Ilhenfeld, II, says prescription pill trafficking is the number one problem facing law enforcement in the Northern Panhandle because of the crimes that stem from the illegal sale of painkillers.

He said people are using pills for non-medical purposes, although there are some legitimate reasons to have them for some people.

Part of the blame lies with doctors who over prescribe, pharmacists and states like Florida that make it easy for pills to be obtained and then brought back, Ilhenfeld added.

This also leads to a crime problem, he added. West Virginia is now considered a source state for these pills. Per 10,000 people, Ilhenfeld said West Virginia has the highest rate of pills being prescribed.

Ilhenfeld claims law enforcement on the federal and local level is uniting to fight this trend. However, he doesn't feel it's close to reaching the peak of being a problem.

egad

Nov 16, 2011

8:18 am

Re: WV Number 2 in U.S. ...... in pills

Drugs and alcohol are the answer. They are the logical answer: they are reliable, they deliver comfort and joy, they always love us. They only demand loyalty. Like a family.

Some Americans wring their hands and self-righteously lament drug abuse in America as if it is ‘other’ Americans and the fault of ‘somebody else’ that has wasted lives and wasted money and precious time on the search for nirvana in some chemical change in the brain.

Thanksgiving is a family holiday. Or it used to be—remember all those cards with pictures of families around the table, maybe candles, hot rolls, a turkey? Beloved and sometimes mysterious Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents gather at one home, sometimes distant, to celebrate each other, to eat too much, to watch football and suffer the harshness of tryptophan or for others maybe a football game on the lawn.

Not today. Grandma is working at Target and can’t come to daughters because she has to be at work by 5 pm. Mommy doesn’t make a big meal or invite people because she wants to be rested when the doors of Toys R Us open at 9 pm.

And as much as Mommy thinks she is taking care of the kids, shopping for them, she, we are denying them what they need most. Our culture is denying them their caretakers, their family, tradition, boring afternoons with Uncles snoring, getting acquainted with cousins, women sharing family stories around the kitchen table after clean up: warm, cuddly and, these days, more and more rare.

So those kids can get it all. They can fill up the emptiness they can’t even name by raiding the medicine cabinet, by hanging out at the street corner. Meanwhile, American shops its children away.

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