New Jersey Brothers' Drug Charges Reflect Social Dangers of Oxycodone, Hydrocodone-Prescription Narcotics

COMMENTARY | An article about two Hillsborough, N.J., brothers getting arrested and then charged with drug offenses caught my eye. Why? Well give me a minute to properly develop the story.

Michael Deak, a staff writer for myCentralJersey.com has posted an article titled "Hillsborough brothers charged with drug offenses.

And that is the story, pretty much. Daniel Struble, 27, and his younger brother Kevin Struble, 23, were charged with "illegal possession of oxycodone and Alpazolam among other things. They also had a tiny bit of marijuana."

What is of interest to me is the street value of everything, especially the oxycodone. The 50 grams of marijuana is worth $450; the Alprazolam (15 pills) is worth $300 and the oxycodone (10 tablets) is worth $200.

The reason that I am interested in this story is that most of us are unaware of how dangerous prescription drugs are. There is a reason that the tablets these brothers had were able to bring $20 per tablet.

I take oxycodone for fibromyalgia. I'm waiting for the day when the condition abruptly leaves which it can do, however, I really want to get off of the oxycodone. Make no mistake about it, it is addicting. When I take my dosage I know that while for the most part the pain is fibromyalgia, there is an element of physical dependency on the pain medication.

Tom Valeo has written an article in the magazine Neurology Now titled "This Way In: How to Use Pain Meds Safely." In his article he talks about some sobering issues and the Struble brothers in a minor way bear them out.

Hydrocodone and oxycodone, opoids, have become so common they follow only marijuana as the drug of choice. In addition to the opoid part of the medication the contain acetaminophen which is Tylenol.

Part of the problem with these medications is that people take Tylenol for other things and the human body can only take so much acetaminophen per day. They may have severe kidney damage and also die.

The "news" in this story about the Struble brothers being arrested and charged isn't so much what they did as what it represents on a small scale.

As Tom Valeo writes, "In Washington, deaths from accidental overdose of opoid pain medications have surpassed automobile accidents as the leading cause of death among people 35 to 54 years of age."

That is sobering news. We need to be aware of the threat to us from a health standpoint and a crime standpoint.

References:

Neurology Now Website, Tom Valeo, "This Way In: How to Use Pain Meds Safely"

MyCentralJersey.com, Michael Deak, "Hillsborough brothers charged with drug offense"