Kentucky Tackles Illegal Prescription Drug Trade

18 February 2011

Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, center, and Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler, right, participate in a news conference July 2, 2010, in Baltimore to raise awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs. Kerlikowske will be visiting Kentucky next week to evaluate the progress of officials there in combating illegal prescription drug use.
                                                                                          Photo by Maryland Attorney General's Office

By Raymond Billy
ResonateNews.com

When a team of federal drug-control officials visits Kentucky next week, what it will find is a state under duress, some residents there say.

The officials will tour Kentucky to gauge the progress being made there on tackling what many are calling a debilitating drug trade — which includes the illegal sell of prescription medications. The team, led by Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, will be making a three-day visit to the state, a spokesperson for the offices told ResonateNews.com on Tuesday.

Kentuckians say a high rate of depression — fueled by what census data shows to be one of the highest levels of poverty in the nation — has many residents there eager consumers of narcotics.

Leigh Ann Parker-Greathouse, 44, of Lexington, said she fell victim to prescription-drug addiction in the early 1990s. She said she started taking painkillers to cope with migraine headaches and later started taking pills impulsively. Parker-Greathouse said she already was struggling with chemical dependency and that prescription drugs became a new crutch.

“It's called the disease of addiction — you either have it or you don't,” Parker-Greathouse said Monday from the barbershop she manages in Lexington. “It's mischievous and cunning.”

Parker-Greathouse said she has been sober for 2 1/2 years. She said were it not for a rehabilitation program she participated in through the Fayette County Drug Court, she'd still be addicted today — if not dead. Indeed, nearly 1,000 people died in 2009 — the last year for which data is available — in Kentucky from prescription-drug overdoses.

Parker-Greathouse said depression — largely the consequence of Kentucky's 10.3 jobless rate, seventh-highest in the United States — was causing many residents there to seek solace in drugs. But, another resident said drug addiction is part of the reason so many people in the Bluegrass State are unemployed.

“I've made a bunch of bad hires lately but I'm not making any more,” said Don, 64, who declined to give his last name because of safety concerns. “I'm tired of being a job-training program for druggies.”

Don runs an automobile repair shop in Richmond. He said that in the past eight years, he has had to fire four of his best mechanics because of drug-related problems.

“I just hired a guy recently who withheld information about a previous drug arrest on his application,” Don said. “I should have fired him, but I'm a forgiving person.”

He suggested that what he called an intolerable rate of thefts in Richmond can be traced to drug use. He said residents he's spoken to have reported their vehicles being stripped of parts such as catalytic converters — which he believes are being sold for money used to buy drugs.

Don also said he's had $10,000 worth of merchandise stolen from his shop.

“Police told me that the best thing I could do to protect myself is leave town,” Don said. “I have a gun now and I let everyone know I have a gun.”

Don said the problems of unemployment and drug addiction in Kentucky were self-perpetuating. He said he's doubtful the state will experience a turnaround any time soon. But, Steve Collett, of Manchester, said there's a spiritual solution to the problem.

“Until people find Christ and allow him to be their crutch, there's not much hope,” Collett, a former drug addict and drug dealer, said.

Collett was released from jail for drug-related offenses in 2004. He had heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ while behind bars. The night he was released, he had nowhere to live or friends willing to take him in. Amid what he says was 19-degree weather, the only refuge he could find was a Porta-Potty. He said he pledged that he would give his life to Christ if only he could survive the night's freezing temperature.

“When morning came, God said 'Do you see what I've done,'” Collett said.

Collett said his wife, Leslie, also served jail time in 2004 for drug offenses. While there, Leslie also accepted Christ as her savior. Collett said when he and his wife reunited after each serving their sentences, they had to renew acquaintances.

“When she got out, she was a different person than I had known and I was a different person than she had known,” Collett said. He said his wife is “the most powerful Christian” he knows and called her transformation “mind-boggling.”

Collett — who assists with addiction-recovery groups at Community Church of Manchester — said in order for Kentucky's drug problem to be eradicated, churches there will have to reach people with the Gospel.

“If you look at any community in America, if drug dealers are reaching out more than the church, they will win. If the church reaches out, it wins,” Collett said, later adding “God is bigger than the enemy. But, he wants to work through his people to bring victory.”