DELPHI — Prescription drug abuse and synthetic marijuana use is on the rise in Carroll County, law enforcement and community leaders say, but they’re encouraging locals to combat it.
Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Ives said the most common illegal drug found in the area is synthetic marijuana, also known as spice. Abusing prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety pills is also popular, he said.
Ives, along with law enforcement members and a local drug free awareness organization joined citizens this week for a conversation about illegal drug use in the county.
Drugs being abused are usually brought in from outside the county, Jennifer Noonkester, a Carroll County pharmacist, said. Some people go to bigger cities and collect prescriptions from doctors, whether to use or sell the drugs.
“We don’t see a lot of that from our local doctors,” Jennifer Noonkester said. “It’s not Carroll County that we’re having an issue with, it’s outside of our county. The people live here and they’re bringing those prescriptions here.”
A former county doctor, however, did over-prescribe drugs to dozens of people at his Burlington and Kokomo clinics. Don Wagoner, 78, pleaded guilty to dealing narcotics for many years, along with several others at his two clinics.
For many, Wagoner’s charges were too late — including for the Noonkester family.
Jennifer Noonkester’s and her husband Dustin Noonkester’s son Brady died in June 2012 from a prescription drug overdose. More than a year later, the Noonkesters created the organization Brady’s Hope as a way to promote awareness about prescription drugs for students and adults.
The couple said the drugs Brady consumed which led to his death traced back to a Wagoner patient.
Dustin Noonkester said a Drug Enforcement Agency special agent told him that Wagoner’s clinic has the second highest death toll in the country stemming from medicine linked back to a clinic, proving more than 50 deaths connected.
He said Brady isn’t even counted in that total.
“But his point was,” he said about the DEA agent, “if you have a doctor like that in your community and you think there’s not a pill problem, you’re wrong. It doesn’t work that way.”
The Indiana Prevention Resource Center’s yearly survey states 6.1 percent of 12th grade students in the state’s west region, which includes Carroll County, reported using prescription drugs each month. In addition, 2.7 percent of seniors used spice and 16.1 percent used marijuana.
The Noonkesters and Ives said teenagers usually find the prescription drugs from friends or family members. Dustin Noonkester emphasized the importance of minding one’s drug supply and keeping track of the amount daily.
Ives also said marijuana is now popular among teenagers in high school, just as illegally drinking alcohol is.
Delphi Police Chief Steve Mullin said a week doesn’t go by when officers discover two or three reports of drug use. People using marijuana and spice tend to have odd behaviors that stand out to officers, he said.
Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby agreed with Mullin. His deputies stop cars every other day or sometimes daily to find synthetics or marijuana, he said.
Many of the charges in the country do stem from substance abuse, according to Ives. In addition to possession drug charges and drunken driving, he said most battery and burglary charges arise from taking drugs and alcohol.
In a small populated area like Carroll County, Dustin Noonkester said there’s a stigma that if someone has an addiction, it’s equivalent to a plague — people don’t want others to know for fear of embarrassment or gossip.
He said that needs to stop.
“It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. We may not hear about it,” he said. “A lot of times, it could be your neighbor, could be your co-worker, could be a family member, and you don’t even know there’s an issue until it’s a really bad issue.
“And in some cases, you don’t find out about it until it’s too late.”
Some citizens asked about any rehabs in the area or narcotic anonymous groups to fight through the addiction. Dustin Noonkester said there aren’t any Narcotics Anonymous classes, even though some have attempted launching them. He attributed their failure to launch to the stigma he described.
But, he said, people can go to the Brady’s Hope website to look up rehab facilities and addiction services in the state and area without anyone having to know.
Dustin Noonkester said for parents, education starts with them letting their children know about the dangers of drugs and setting an example of how to live a drug-free life.
“We rely so much on teachers to teach to our kids, preachers to preach to our kids, law enforcement to do so much, but we have a responsibility as well,” he said. “And that’s why it’s so important to talk to our kids about the dangers of what’s going on.”