LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- Every 25 minutes a person dies in Indiana because of a prescription drug overdose. That alarming statistic has become the cornerstone of the Attorney General's new mission to do something about what he's calling an epidemic.
Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin, Xanax -- those are the drugs where overdoses that have killed 1,350 Hoosiers in the past two years. Greg Zoeller, Indiana Attorney General, points out, "Since last year just in Scott County there have been more than 30 deaths."
The statistics don't end there -- a survey conducted last year found one out of every five high schoolers in Indiana admitted to abusing pain pills.
Zoeller says, "A lot of youth of today think that somehow the prescription drugs are not as dangerous as illegal drugs." In fact, more people are dying from prescription drug overdoses than from heroin, cocaine, and other illegal drugs combined.
The problem is so bad Zoeller has created the first-ever Prescription Drug Abuse task force to craft the next move. He says changes are needed including targeting so called "pain clinics."
The Indiana General Assembly is getting involved because the problems are mounting. Indiana Senator Ron Grooms says, "Our jails are starting to fill up with more and more case of abuse -- it's a serious problem."
It's a serious problem, but the state is trying to tackle it. New billboards will soon line the state's highways. The first goal is making people more aware of the epidemic Indiana is facing.
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