KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com | Drug abusers work the system

Drug abusers work the system

By: Michelle Langowski
NewsChannel 10

Amarillo, TX - More and more patients are asking for narcotics prescriptions causing concern among local doctors and pharmacists.

NewsChannel Ten's Michelle Langowski tells us the difficulty lies in determining who is in need and who is working the system.

When you see around twenty patients a day, chances are you will come across someone is search of that high.

Dr. John Turner at High Plains Clinic says, "it's something that on a daily basis you have to be in tune with, you have to be aware that it exists and not be naive to it."

"Hydrocodone is what we see the most of this area and it's definitely a problem. They are manipulating systems, they're manipulating doctors to get hydrocodone," added Pharmacist and owner of Gary's Compounding Pharmacy Robin Johnson.

Johnson says there is a lot of drug abuse going on in Amarillo.

She deals with patients who come in with prescriptions for an antibiotic and a pain pill or a muscle relaxer and a pain pill...and will say they only need the pain pills.

"We have a policy here, if the doctor writes for two prescriptions, then you get two prescriptions and we notify the doctor if the patient requests getting just one prescription and it's always the pain pill."

"But eventually, if you're one of those abusers, we're going to catch you. You're going to get caught because you're going to slip up. You're going to get several other clinics and get prescriptions, you're going to show up at multiple pharmacies that somehow will communicate with each other," said Turner.

HIPPA laws make it illegal for doctors and pharmacists to make a patient's records public, so a red flag isn't immediately raised when someone is abusing the system.

So doctors must get to know their patients, and look for symptoms.