Fighting the epidemic of opioid abuse, which has gripped the U.S. in recent years, comes at a heavy price.
Bowie County joined a growing number of states, counties and cities last week when it filed a civil lawsuit in a Texarkana federal court.
The lawsuit accused Big Pharma of creating the crisis by misleading the public and physicians into believing long-term use of opiate-based painkillers is safe in order to reap billions in profits with no regard to the consequences.
"The escalating number of opioid prescriptions written by doctors who were deceived by defendants' deceptive marketing scheme is the cause of a correspondingly dramatic increase in opioid addiction, overdose and death throughout the U.S. and Bowie County," the complaint states. "The costs and consequences of opioid addiction are staggering. For example, in 2007, the cost of health care due to opioid abuse, dependence and misuse was estimated at $25 billion, the cost of criminal justice was estimated at $5.1 billion, and the cost of lost workplace productivity was estimated at $25.6 billion."
An addiction can drive criminal behavior. Officials with the Bowie County Community Supervision and Correction Department estimate that roughly 42 percent of the women participating in residential treatment through the county's women's center report having abused prescription opioids.
Bowie County Judge James Carlow said the county has seen an increase locally in indigent, mental health and jail populations of individuals for whom opioid abuse is a serious problem. Bowie County Auditor William Tye said the county budgets more than $1 million per year for indigent healthcare. That figure includes all expenses related to the medical care of inmates and others deemed indigent in the county, not just for opioid addiction, but officials say there is no denying the impact the epidemic of prescription drug abuse has had.
Community Supervision and Correction Department Supervisor Carvel Good said probation officers are tasked with supervising many who have been convicted of prescription fraud, the act of falsifying orders that allows a pharmacy to sell a controlled substance, typically opioids.
"It can start with a car wreck," Good said. "They think because it's a prescription, it's OK."
Bowie County operates multiple drug courts and caseloads meant to help addicts achieve and maintain sobriety. Good said the department is seeing more and more young people using opioids because they are easy to find in a parent's or grandparent's medicine cabinet and the availability of the drugs on the street has increased dramatically. Prescription drug use has exploded among high school students, with 1 in 5 high school seniors admitting to having abused prescription drugs.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Sept. 19 that Texas and a coalition of 40 other states served investigative subpoenas and additional requests on eight companies that manufacture or distribute highly addictive painkillers. Many of the companies served are named as defendants in the suit Bowie County filed a week ago in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
"Nationwide and in Texas, prescription and illegal opioids are the main driver of drug overdose deaths," states a Sept. 19 press release from the state's Attorney General. "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths in 2015, including 2,588 in Texas. Opioid overdoses in the U.S. have quadrupled since 1999."
Paxton's office released an opinion Oct. 4 that clears the way for law enforcement officers to carry naloxone, a drug which can save the life of someone who has overdosed on prescription painkillers or heroin, for example, as well as treat officers accidentally exposed to opioids like Car-Fentanyl, which can prove fatal in tiny amounts.
The Bowie County Sheriff's Office, in concert with its Arkansas-side counterpart, recently hosted a training presented by local offices of the U.S. Attorney held at Texarkana College, titled "From Pills to Needles," meant to educate local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, first responders and educators.
Texarkana, Texas, Police Department spokesman Shawn Vaughn said educating parents and young people is a critical component to fighting the opioid crisis and suggested viewing of a video sponsored by the FBI and DEA which provides a realistic look at the problem. To see the video "Chasing the Dragon," visit fbi.gov/video-repository/newss-chasing-the-dragon-the-life-of-an-opiate-addict/view.