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Prescription Pain Killers Kill

1,500 views · Published 22 June 2012 · 3:40 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: WTVC NewsChannel 9 · 2012 · News & Politics

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by Alyssa Spirato We're taking a look inside a growing problem with a body count that's increasing by the day. This week we've told you about raids involving state and federal agents of one pill mill and a doctor's office in Chattanooga.. One on Airpark Drive and the other on Holtzclaw Avenue."It's the idea that this is safe because it's a prescribed medication. Nothing can be further from the truth," says Administrator for the Bradley County Medical Examiner's Office, Erich Blach. In Bradley County, the medical examiner's office says there have 180 deaths since the year began. 12 of those, about 6 and a half percent, are prescription pain pill overdoses. 11 are being called accidental."The lesson to be learned is take these medications as prescribed and no more than what is prescribed," says Blach.One big problem officials say is  mixing pills that should never be mixed. Blach's also a critical care paramedic who says he sees about 5 to 6 overdoses just in a typical day on the job.Local pharmacies are doing their part, making sure you're getting only what you need and nothing more."We can go on the web base and how many that patient has gotten in the State of Tennessee. Are they seeing multiple physicians or not. And if we see a potential problem, we pick up the phone and call the doctor," says Brad Standefer, owner and Pharmacist of Access Family Pharmacy.And as the pain pill epidemic continues to climb,  the deaths are expected to rise."The illicit use being sold to teenagers, adults traveling from town to town getting it from doctor to doctor, doctor shopping, it's a bad situation and it really needs to be addressed," says Standefer.The CDC found in 2010, one in 20 people ages 12 and older used pain killers without a prescription. And in 2009, nearly half a million people visited the emergency room due to misusing or abusing drugs.

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