When Jake Noe started using prescription painkillers freshman year, his friends recommended Hudson Health Center, a source he thought safer than going to a dealer.
I can't tell you how many friends I've made since freshman and sophomore year - I can think of probably three people off the top of my head - that didn't use prescription painkillers until they got to OU
and the majority of what they got came from Hudson said Noe, a former OU student.
Many commonly abused, dependency-forming painkillers fall under the Drug Enforcement Administration's schedule III classification. Data from other Ohio schools show Hudson overprescribes in this area.
Between 2005 and 2008, Hudson Health Center dispersed about three times as many schedule III prescription drugs yearly on average than Miami University's health center, about 10 times as many on average as the University of Toledo, and about five times as many as Kent State University.
Hudson had about 24,000 visits a year over the same period. Miami and Kent State had between 22,000 and 25,000 visits a year between 2005 and 2008. Toledo saw about 9,500 people each year.
Hudson pharmacist Dan Hudson said the health center doesn't distribute drugs without a purpose and when he suspects something is amiss he follows up with the doctor who wrote the prescription.
Most of the students who come in here either have a broken arm or migraine headache or kidney stones or they've had a bike wreck he said.
In the 2007-08 school year Hudson issued 726 prescriptions of Vicodin, a schedule III drug. It also handed out 230 prescriptions of another schedule III drug, Tylenol with codeine and 60 prescriptions of Percocet.
Percocet is more potent and is listed as a schedule II narcotic drug.
In the same school year, Miami issued nine prescriptions for Percocet and Toledo gave out two. The Kent State pharmacy does not carry schedule II medications.
Toledo dispensed 38 prescriptions of Vicodin last year. Miami counts Vicodin and Tylenol with Codeine together, and issued 257 prescriptions last year. Kent State gave out about 125 prescriptions of Vicodin each year since 2005.
Toledo also serves 70 percent of its schedule II and III drugs to university employees. Kent State also fills prescriptions for employees, while OU and Miami services only students.
We have a couple of doctors who are very easy to get Vicodin from. They feel that nobody should have to endure pain unnecessarily
Dan Hudson said, adding that other Hudson doctors and nurse practitioners prescribe those drugs very cautiously.
Noe never received refills for painkillers he obtained through the health center, and by the time he entered rehab junior year, he said he had begun to seek out other dealers.
But whenever I got in a bind
Hudson was definitely a last resort
he said, adding that he would invent new injuries.
Although OU's pharmacists fill prescriptions for these medications, they can only guess at the reason behind the prescription. But unlike independent pharmacies such as CVS or Walgreens, they can call the doctor whose signature is on the prescription with concerns.
Dan Hudson said the pharmacy's close proximity makes it easier to deal with allergies or to double check that students are getting the appropriate medications, just to be on the safe side.
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Jessica Blakely
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