Prescription Thugs Page #5

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with these prescriptions,

Walgreen's with

these prescriptions,

Rite Aid with

these prescriptions,

a mom & pop's pharmacy

with these prescriptions,

you know what I mean?

I was driving around all day

getting pills filled,

you know what I mean?

I had one that was 78 doctors

in the last 12 months.

Really?

78 different physicians

ordered controlled substances

for this person.

So, they're just dri...

I mean, they're putting on

hundreds of miles a day

going to clinics.

The circle just keeps getting

bigger and bigger and bigger.

I got a bad knee right now.

I know what it feels like

every day, and I see him

prancing in here like...

You know, but they're on...

But yet the doctor's ordered

240 oxycodone tablets for him.

I mean, okay, you're either

really well-pain-managed,

or you have little or no pain,

and you're just getting

a prescription.

Well, I mean, you know,

I think a hydrocodone-Tylenol

combinations, you know,

in whatever strength you want,

all the different

Vicodin strengths, you know,

that's probably the one that's

the most, and then the oxy,

oxycodone, OxyContin.

Just that whole group

of medication prescribing,

I mean, in my 25 years

of practicing

it's gone up dramatically.

It's amazing.

I mean, if we did

a handful a day years ago,

and now it's a handful an hour.

When they stopped

making the OxyContin

in the crushable form,

where you could shoot it

and snort it and smoke it,

when they got rid of that,

there OxyContin

lost 80% of its revenue.

80%, so what does that

tell you right there?

It tells you that people

are over-prescribing OxyContin

and overusing it.

By how much?

By 80%.

Thank you.

- This is Richard Taite.

- He runs Cliffside Malibu,

one of the most successful

rehab facilities in California.

There could not be

a more clear statistic.

80% of the people using

that drug are using it

in a way that

it is not intended.

So, now the question is, is...

Are 80% of the doctors in on it?

- So, it's like Shakedown Street.

- You go see your doctor.

You talk to him

about the football game,

about everything else that

happened during the month

you didn't see him,

except for your health.

He writes you the script

and charges you $120,

and you're on your way

to Costco or Sam's Club.

You have something called

addictionologists, or doctors.

You don't even know...

the average lay person

doesn't even know.

What happens is they get

literally about 1,000 people

at a time paying $500 a pop

to come in and fill out

their prescriptions

once a month,

and the doctors keep them sick.

Well, you do the math.

1,000 times 500

is $500,000 a month.

That's $6 million a year.

These doctors are profiting

by keeping you sick.

I've got the answer right here,

ladies and gentlemen,

to everything that ails you.

Now step right up.

Despite taking an oath

to preserve our health,

these doctors seem

to be more concerned

with profit than healing.

I think that there's a small

number of bad actors

that just have

no conscience whatsoever,

but some of these people

just don't know better.

They just don't have

the education.

I think a whole generation

of doctors grew up

really not recognizing

how dangerous these drugs are.

I can tell you that

when I went to medical school,

we had one lecture on pain,

and in that one lecture

we were told

if a patient has pain,

and you give them an opiate,

they will not get addicted.

Totally wrong,

and yet that's what I learned

when I became a doctor.

That's what a whole generation

of doctors learned.

It's a fine line because

I can't say what your pain is.

Who am I to sit here and

tell you, "No, you don't."

We're gonna go

back and forth on that one.

Again, there's the rub.

Should we do away

with pain medicines?

That's ridiculous!

No, 'cause it's very valuable

to not have to suffer

through pain.

How do I know that your lumbar

spine isn't out of whack,

and that's why you're always

having this chronic pain?

Yeah.

And what do we do about it?

I mean, I think you're probably

going to find there aren't

a lot of easy answers.

They say the hardest part

of addiction

is admitting you have a problem,

so maybe it's about time

to come clean

about my own addictions.

You see, the truth was

Mad Dog wasn't

the only Bell brother

that was popping too many pills.

This is my Dodge Durango.

I've had this since 2006, I think.

You can see here,

I had a little fender bender.

This was from Vicodin.

I pulled into a spot.

I wasn't paying attention

'cause I was all out of my mind.

This is the worst over here.

You see, like, the headlight

will even come out.

This whole dent right here,

I was taking Klonopin

and I was taking hydrocodone,

and a lot of them, and Percocet.

I fell asleep, and I smashed

my car into three other cars.

And then this is real fun

when you try to go on a date.

And the date opens the door,

and that's what she hears.

Um, insurance doesn't

like to pay for things

when you're f***ed up either.

Like, it's hard to tell them,

you know, "Hey, I was on

a bunch of prescription drugs,

and I went off the road."

It's embarrassing, you know?

I had a nice car.

It was a brand-new car,

and it was nice,

and now it's a piece of sh*t.

For me, I had the hip

replacement surgery,

and they gave me, you know,

a bunch of pills to get better,

and then it got

to a point where I probably

didn't need them,

but I was still in pain

because they did both hips

at the same time.

One hip failed,

but they didn't know it.

It just got to a point

where I was spending

probably $500 a week

on prescription drugs.

You know, like just

buying them off

of people on the street

because I needed it,

because I was so...

I got to the point where

I was so highly addicted.

How do I tell my parents

that just lost their first son

that, like,

"Hey, I'm addicted to drugs,

and I can't get off

of them?"

You could've told me

because, to me,

I wouldn't have thought,

oh, here we just lost Mike.

Now we're gonna lose Chris.

Okay, there's a big difference

in being addicted

because you have pain,

and you're trying

to overcome the pain,

and the difference in Mike,

where he was, like,

always trying to get high.

But I think it starts with pain,

and then it turns

into like an addiction,

where you sort of just like

the feeling of being loopy.

I didn't know that...

I'm so sorry

that you had that trouble,

but, um, I'm not sure if...

But you guys are also

the reason I stopped

doing it,

so you can't be sorry.

In the back of my mind,

I'm like, I've got

to do this for my family.

Well, really, you have

to do it for yourself.

Until you're ready in here,

you're not going

to accomplish anything.

When we were young,

did you ever think

that any of your kids

would grow up and have

a drug problem

or become a drug addict

like Mike and I did?

A drug addict?

And I'm just...

You know, I guess

this is what you call it now

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