Stillwater Living Magazine Volume 10 Issue 12 June 2014 | Page 9

living well
box near their community by visiting our web site at www.ok.gov/
obndd. This statewide drug disposal
program is the only one of its kind
in the nation. Since OBN started
collecting unwanted medication in
2011, nearly 80 tons have been turned
in. OBN has a wonderful partnership with Covanta Energy in Tulsa.
They destroy the drugs at no charge
to OBN or the state, and they convert
the waste material into clean energy.
It is a win-win for Oklahoma.
Methamphetamine continues
to be another grave concern for our
state. Over the past decade, OBN
has passed several bills at the capitol
to limit access to the key ingredient,
pseudoephedrine, which has dramatically reduced meth labs in our
state. But while meth production is
down, meth use and abuse remains
steadily rising as Mexican drug
cartels continue to flood the streets
of the United States with crystal meth
or “ice”.
There has been a lot of news
articles written over the past
six months regarding a rise
in heroin in the United States.
Oklahoma is no exception. We
are seeing a rise in Mexican tar
or black tar heroin use in our
state. This is due to cheaper
prices for heroin verse the
higher cost of pain pills sought
by opiate addicts. However, it
is important to note that heroin
is not nearly as big of a problem
in our state compared to the
rampant abuse currently seen
on the east coast. Heroin use in
Oklahoma still ranks far below
marijuana, prescription drugs,
methamphetamine, and crack
cocaine abuse in our state.
Another troubling threat in
our state is the abuse of “synthetic drugs”. This includes
man-made products that are
smoked to mimic marijuana and
are sold in gas stations or on the
internet as potpourri or incense
known as “K2” or “Spice”. And
while they produce a similar
euphoria to marijuana, these

chemicals have many other adverse
side effects that have landed several
people in the hospital. There have
also been at least three documented deaths from smoking synthetic
marijuana. Oklahoma has passed
several laws since 2008 to outlaw
these chemicals. However, they are
quickly replaced with different but
similar, legal chemicals. There are
also synthetics that mimic cocaine
or meth that are sold as “bath salts”.
It’s a white powder that is typically
snorted or injected. Most are made
by amateur chemists who purchased
the raw materials on the internet and
manufacture their own unique synthetic drugs. As a result, the product
and dangers can vary from person
to person and state to state. Users
have no idea what they are actually
ingesting and how they will react.
This brings up the next important question, “What can we do
about the current drug issues in
Oklahoma?” As stated at the begin-

ning, we have an attitude problem.
We MUST change this attitude. We’ve
got to work together with parents,
schools, physicians and community leaders to educate our youth
about these dangers and encourage
them to stay off this path. OBN has
an entire division dedicated to providing free school and community
drug awareness programs. Kids who
abuse drugs are much more likely to
abuse drugs as adults. When they
have kids, their children will likely
follow this same pattern. We are arresting second and third generation
drug users and dealers. However,
if we can get kids to stay away from
drugs, they are more likely to become
adults who stay drug-free. When
they have children of their own, they
are more likely to share this drugfree attitude with their kids. Then,
and only then, will we break this
cycle of addiction.

JUNE 2014 | STILLWATER LIVING MAGAZINE

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