Drug Addicts Target Dentists
Posted on 05. Oct, 2009 by admin in Blog
Dentist's A Target?
Dentists, doctors and veterinarians all become targets of addicts. Drug addicts often contact these professionals under false pretenses, hoping to find a dishonest doctor or one who will simply fall for their story. Many learn the various symptoms and ailments that warrant pain management and will feign the symptoms.
The numbers of pain killer addicts have doubled since 2000. At that time 3.8 million Americans were addicted to the drugs, now nearly 7 million people are hooked. These numbers from the DEA illustrate the rapidly increasing problem.
Prescription drug abuse has now eclipsed illegal drug abuse with our youth and quite often the abuse is happening right under the nose of unsuspecting family members. All too often children are raiding the family medicine cabinet or buying drugs in the school yard from other children.
In a recent CNN report Dr. Jay Grossman, a dentist in L.A., reports that he receives many suspicious calls from drug addicts seeking pain medication.
“The moment somebody hangs up the phone on me, I know that they’re literally going down the book. They’re calling the next one in the Yellow Pages, hoping that someone will write them a prescription,” said Dr. Grossman. “If you’re an addict, one of your resources would certainly be a dentist.”