EDITORIAL: Predators prey on those with addictions

If the opioid addiction epidemic in the United States weren’t already bad enough, a new potent street drug designed to look like Percocet has reared its deadly head.

At least four deaths are believed to have been caused by the counterfeit drug, as well as dozens of hospitalizations from bad reactions to the drug. On Wednesday, authorities were still trying to determine what the compound is that has added a dangerous new chapter to an already frightening book.

While authorities are still trying to determine what is in the compound that is being sold as Percocet, it appears to be much stronger than the prescription. Medical officials say the individuals who they believe have ingested the potent drug have come to middle Georgia hospitals with symptoms such as slurred speech, sleepiness and difficulty breathing.

Percocet is a combination of oxycodone, an opioid, and acetaminophen, a pain reliever used in pain medications such as Tylenol. While opioids are effective at controlling pain, they also carry risks, not the least of which is addiction. Officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services note that when used properly, high-powered pain medications can be effective. When misused, they’re as dangerous as heroin and cocaine.

That, unfortunately, is what people overlook. Because a medication is prescribed — even if it’s for someone else — an individual may erroneously believe (or rationalize) it is safer than an illegal drug like heroin. It’s not.

In the past, society, unfortunately, gave a knowing wink to prescription medicine abuse, separating it from the “hard” abuse of illegal drugs sold on the streets. This was medicine, after all, prescribed by a doctor, not sold by some drug hustler in a parking lot or alley. It simply didn’t have the same stigma attached.

In recent years, however, more information has been made available on the dangers of abusing prescription medicines. Steps have been taken — doctors more cautious in prescribing the drugs, smaller quantities in the prescriptions, crackdowns on doctor- and pharmacy-shopping, tighter controls on inventory and, perhaps most importantly, education on why these powerful drugs must be handled and used properly.

According to the HHS, 91 Americans die each day from opioid overdose. Since 1999, the number of overdose deaths from prescription opioids has quadrupled, more than 500,000 dying from overdoses in the 15-year period ending in 2015. Three out of every five overdose deaths involve the abuse of opioids.

Those are numbers that are both staggering and sobering.

Those numbers certainly won’t be improved by the work of whoever the people are who are preying on individuals’ addiction as they produce and peddle this new deadly street drug. Hopefully, law enforcement investigators will quickly catch the criminals. No one should be allowed to profit from another person’s addiction, and these predators must account for the deaths and injuries they have caused.