Community Resource Guide
www.dyercountyantidrug.org
Al Anon Meetings of West TN
Support for friends and family members of problem drinkers.
http://aspellrecovery.com/id4.html
American Red Cross
(731) 286-4740
Doctor Shopping is a CRIME!
Doctor shopping is the practice of a patient requesting simultaneous care from multiple physicians without making efforts to coordinate care or informing the physicians of the multiple caregivers. For example, it can happen when a person visits one doctor and obtains a prescription. Then, the person visits another doctor and obtains another prescription for the same drug. Many people commit the crime due to an addiction to or reliance on certain prescription drugs.
It is an offense for a person to obtain or attempt to obtain a controlled substance by using this type of fraud. Tennessee has specific laws regulation these actions. Tennessee is one of fifteen states that have both “specific” and “general doctor shopping laws. Punishment can results in costly fines, loss of insurance coverage and/or imprisonment.
- Tennesseans’ utilization of prescriptions is 1.5 times the national average, ranking Tennessee as the highest state per capita in utilization of prescription drugs in the United States.
- Tennessee ranks 2nd in prescription drug abuse in the U.S.
- Hydrocodone is the number one prescribed drug in Tennessee, making up 2.8% of total prescriptions written in our state.
Commonly abused classes of prescription drugs include opioids (for pain), central nervous system (CNS) depressants (for anxiety and sleep disorders), and stimulants (for ADHD and narcolepsy).
Holding hosts responsible
Where a personal sense of responsibility fails, legal accountability can step in. Through social host liability laws adults can be held responsible for underage drinking parties, regardless of who furnishes the alcohol.
Specifically, “social host” refers to adults who knowingly or unknowingly host underage drinking parties on property that they own, lease, or otherwise control. This includes:
- Parents away from home when their teens host a party
- Parents who are present but deny knowledge of drinking on their property
- Owners and/or tenants of rural property
- Owners of vacant property
In other words, if it’s your property, it’s your problem.
