CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (AP) — Southern Indiana officials say prescription drugs are playing an increasing role in the drug-related crimes that are filling up Indiana's prisons.
While drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine receive the harshest sentences, the federal government says the nation's fastest-growing drug problem is prescription drug abuse.
Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Jake Elder tells the News and Tribune of Jeffersonville that more than three-quarters of the drug cases he handles also have some sort of prescription drug abuse involved.
The Henryville Correctional Facility's substance abuse coordinator, Anne Terwilliger, says more than 90 percent of the minimum-security prison's inmates are drug addicts.
