This weekend the New York Times reported on how prisons are working to care for inmates with dementia. It's a growing problem:

"Dementia in prison is an underreported but fast-growing phenomenon, one that many prisons are desperately unprepared to handle. It is an unforeseen consequence of get-tough-on-crime policies — long sentences that have created a large population of aging prisoners."

Different states providing services to those inmates in different ways. According to the article, New York state has

"…taken the top dollar route, establishing a separate unit for cognitively impaired inmates and using professional caregivers, at a cost of about $93,000 per bed annually, compared with $41,000 in the general prison population."

But California and Louisiana are trying something different–teaching prisoners to assist their disabled peers with daily tasks.

At the California Men's Colony, those prisoners are called Gold Coats. They get paid $50 a month to help prisoners with dementia do things like shower, put on deodorant, shave. It's not an easy task: “you get spit on, feces thrown on you, urine on you, you get cursed out," inmate Shawn Henderson told the NYT.

The Gold Coats are often the first to notice when a prisoner develops signs of dementia or Alzheimers. And even though the job isn't easy, it can be rewarding: "“Now when I come into an encounter like that on the street, I can be a lot more compassionate,” Henderson said.

When resources are stretched thin, how do you think prisons should care for inmates with dementia? And is a peer assistance program like Gold Coats the best approach?

Newspapers across the region are reacting to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's claim that prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic levels in the North Country region.  This from Brian Kelly at the Watertown Daily Times.

Mr. Schneiderman claims prescription drug abuse “has reached epidemic proportions” in the north country and across the state.

In a prepared statement, the attorney general, citing statistics from the state Department of Health Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, said the opiate hydrocodone was the most commonly prescribed controlled drug in Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Franklin counties from 2008 to 2010, followed by another opiate, oxycodone.

In the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Chris Knight reports that addiction drug abuse has sent rates of emergency admission to hospitals in Franklin County skyrocketing.

In the North Country, the attorney general's office said health care facilities have experienced a staggering increase in the percentage of non-crisis admissions for substance abuse involving prescription narcotics.

In Franklin County, the number of people who sought such drug treatment for such patients more than quadrupled, from 34 to 127, from 2007 to 2010.

The state Department of Health says the number of prescriptions given out in Franklin County for two of the most commonly abused narcotics, hydrocodone and oxycodone, increased 49 and 48 percent, respectively, from 2008 to 2010, according to the AG's report.

In late December, Chris Knight profiled one woman who had fallen into the trap of prescription drug abuse.   The report aired on North Country Public Radio.

"I'm very ashamed to say this, but it wasn't as important for me to see my family and children as it was to get my next hook," the woman, who was interviewed anonymously, said.

So what do you think?  Is this something that you're seeing in your town, your neighborhood, your family?  Comments welcome, but remember – be thoughtful, respectful.

More and more people across northern New York and Vermont are addicted to prescription drugs like OxyContin and Fentanyl. They're opiates,and abuse of these drugs is tied to a rise in crime. Saranac Lake village police chief Bruce Nelson told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that

"prescription drug abuse has been a factor in 27 percent of the arrests [by Saranac Lake village police] so far this year."

"'It’s grown so fast it’s like you’re in a tidal wave,' Shumlin aide Susan Bartlett told the Burlington Free Press.

Addicts often "doctor-shop," going to different medical care providers and feigning symptoms so they can get drugs to support their habit. Prescription drugs are also sold on the street.

In Vermont, Governor Peter Shumlin's administration is trying to come up with a plan to curb opiate abuse. One part of that plan may include giving police access to the state Health Department's prescription drug monitoring network, which is right now only available to medical providers and the Health Department. What do you think? Should patients' privacy be protected, or should the police be able to monitor and track controlled substances? And has prescription drug abuse had an effect on your community?