The number of deaths related to prescription drugs have increased dramatically in the last year. Some blame pain management clinics for making the problem worse. Prosecutors and law enforcement officers from Orange and surrounding counties testified in Austin in support of Senate Bill 1879, making it harder to prescribe the pain cocktail, a combination of Soma, Lorcet and Xanax.

Sheriff Mike White says the house will vote this coming Wednesday on Senate Bill 1879. If passed it would require schedule 3, 4 and 5 drugs, like Xanax, to be reported to the Department of Public Safety. It would also create a centralized database of prescription histories.

Here are some numbers Sheriff White and others reported to a senate committee.

Prescription Drug Overdoses

2005 2006 2007

Jefferson 5 58

Calcasieu Parish 55 70

Orange 33

Nearly 17 hundred people were treated at Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital in Orange and Beaumont for prescription drug overdoses. That doesn't include other area hospitals.

Sheriff Mike White believes many pain management doctors over-prescribe prescription medication making the drug problems worse.

"They're a doctor. Their sworn oath, in this case hypocritical oath, is to help people," said Sheriff White.

Sheriff White says last year more than seven million pills were prescribed in Orange. That's the same as giving out 93 pills per person in Orange County that year.

White says many of those pills are bought and resold on the street.

He says 170 dollars worth of pills at the pharmacy can be sold on the street for about $2,000.

If Senate Bill 1879 is passed, Sheriff White says the law most likely won't go into effect until September 2008.

If you or someone you know has been affected by prescription drug abuse or if you have information about pain management clinics call our station at 895-4692.

Or email Jessica Holloway at jholloway@kfdm.com