Bill Macfadyen

<p>For someone who has been addicted to prescription drugs for years, a way out may seem impossible. That’s what Lisa W. thought before entering treatment at the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission’s Bethel House.</p>

<p>Pain is by no means a simple issue. As such, addressing and properly diagnosing pain can be a highly intricate and complex process involving the specialties of several trained professionals.</p>

<p>While prescription drug abuse and addiction can start with a legitimate prescription or self-medication, many South Coast college students end up in emergency rooms or treatment programs as the result of chasing a high.</p>

<p>Why would a physician prescribe the medication knowing that 95 percent of the people don’t need it? It’s an issue that is plaguing the pharmaceutical industry and affecting the way Americans deal with and use prescription medications.</p>

<p>Despite the walls put up by regulators to limit prescription drug abuse, those barriers are often just porous enough for a steady supply of opiates to end up on the street.</p>

<p>Santa Barbara County law-enforcement officers have seen firsthand what prescription drug misuse and abuse can do to a person — physically, mentally and legally — since they not only investigate drug-related crimes but are often the first responders to the many medical emergencies involving ov

<p>Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown sees substance abuse as a growing problem among the citizens he’s sworn to protect as well as those he’s put away.</p>

<p>After being addicted to heroin and alcohol for 26 years, Kevin Smith has spent the last 19 years of his life sober, and helping those in Santa Barbara County battle the same demons he faced two decades before.</p>

<p>It was once perceived as a rite of passage of sorts, but adolescence and substance use are now considered a toxic combination. More and more research is revealing that choices made at an early age — generally in the early teenage years — can have lasting effects, few of them positive.</p>

<p>Shereen Khatapoush chose her career path when she was 15 years old, after a friend died in a drunk driving-related car accident.</p>