CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina is suffering from an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, and it can often be hard for teenagers to find treatment.
There's a new push in the state for doctors to use a controversial drug to wean teen opioid addicts.
[ Document: Doctors approved to prescribe buprenorphine by county ]
However, anchor Allison Latos learned that it might be hard to come by in the Charlotte area.
When the American Academy of Pediatrics announced last week that doctors should start treating teen drug addicts with prescription buprenorphine like suboxone,
Latos investigated how available the treatment is to teen addicts in our area and she contacted the Drug Enforcement Agency to learn what it takes for physicians to prescribe it.
Hollis Crittendon spent five years of his life addicted to prescription drugs and heroin.
He was 19 years old when it started, and he went to treatment two dozen times, trying to get his life on track.
"While everyone around me is telling me that substance is killing me, you know, in my brain, that's what's keeping me alive," Crittendon said.
He said another drug being used in Charlotte helped save his life. The drug, buprenorphine, also known by the brand name Suboxone helped him get clean.
"It calms them down enough to allow the (treatment) work to take place,” Crittendon said. “To be able to do that work, that internal work."
The American Academy of Pediatrics just recommended doctors use buprenorphine to treat teens battling opioid addictions.
“I have a patient who started who started using heroin at 11 years old,” Carolinas Healthcare Behavioral Heath Dr. Stephen Wyatt said.
Treating adolescents with buprenorphine is almost non-existent in the Charlotte area, Wyatt said.
Doctors have to get special DEA permission to prescribe it.
There are 85 physicians in Mecklenburg County are qualified but in neighboring counties less than 10 doctors can prescribe buprenorphine, according to the DEA.
“If more physicians were educated on using buprenorphine more effectively, then more treatment spots would be available,” Wyatt said.
Crittendon hopes the medication could help teen addicts turn their lives around like it helped him.
Some states have battled buprenorphine smuggled into prisons and sold on the street like any other prescription drug.
Carolinas Healthcare System doesn't have clear plans yet to start treating teen addicts with buprenorphine. Wyatt hopes a community donor could help create a state-of-the-art substance abuse center in Charlotte.
A report on nationwide opioid abuse released earlier this year found four of the top 25 worst cites were in North Carolina.
Castlight Health ranked Wilmington the highest in opioid abuse, Hickory came in at fifth and Jacksonville and Fayetteville were also on the list.
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