“I can tell you based on my observation that way more than half have had some type of substance abuse problem,” he said. “Out of that group, prescription drug abuse is pretty high. You will find that about 40 percent of those people also have problems with prescription drugs. They are poly-drug users; they use whatever they can get a hold of.”

Adair described prescription drug abuse as a shared problem and a growing problem. He pointed out one way emergency rooms are trying to deal with it; they will just give a patient five or six pills to get them by until their physician writes a regular prescription.

“I’ve seen lots of people intentionally hurt themselves so they can go to the emergency room and get a pain reliever,” he said. “I’ve seen people drop heavy objects on their feet or cut themselves pretty badly, just so they could go to the ER and get a pain reliever. One fellow put his hand in a vise and crushed one of his little fingers. It’s the kind of thing that if you didn’t deal with these people, you wouldn’t believe it. It’s addictive behavior.”

One partial solution is the adult drug court in which Adair presides. It tries to keep substance abusers out of prison by directing them to rehabilitation and other community programs.

“We’ve had a 10-year track record with the adult drug court, and virtually everyone who has come through there has had a problem with prescription drugs,” he said. “However, we’re pretty happy with the adult drug court; it has a success rate of 60 percent. Normally, these people have a 90 percent failure rate.”