Some drug addicts are using Hurricane Katrina to score prescription drug fixes

“The tell-tale abdominal cramps and fidgeting, the vague complaints of aches, the gotta-have-something attitude — doctors report seeing it all among a small but persistent population determined to cop sample painkillers or prescriptions for commonly abused drugs.

‘When they act nervous, that’s your first clue,’ said Lori Fitzgibbons, a physician’s assistant in Gautier who was actually surprised she has only seen a handful of people looking for questionable prescriptions.

Physicians say it’s no surprise that the drug seekers would capitalize on the string of ad hoc medical facilities popping up in parking lots and school playgrounds in the pummeled swath left by Katrina.

Withdrawal can send the most severely addicted into painful fits of sweating, cramping, vomiting that leave them ‘dopesick,’ a state that under normal circumstance can produce wily behavior.

Katrina most likely left their usual supply lines — a series of doctors writing prescriptions for a single, dubious ailment or traffic in illegal supplies of heroin or cocaine — severed. It also gives an addict an easy opening to approach a new doctor, and one who might be sympathetic to pain complaints from a displaced hurricane casualty.

‘When a guy jumps out of his car, runs over and gives you a strong handshake, doesn’t limp a bit and then complains about his back, it puts you on guard,’ said Ron Kellum, a Diamondhead, Miss., physician.” (via Medpundit)