NO ONLINE USE UNTIL MONDAY, DEC. 13 Houston remains at the dark heart of the Lone Star State's growing prescription drug abuse problem - accounting for a quarter of complaints about doctors' suspect prescriptions and one-sixth of the state's 1,900 annual accidental fatal overdoses, according to a review by the Houston Chronicle. But an examination of death data and interviews from around the state shows the pill-popping problem is growing exponentially across Texas. Deaths by accidental overdoses - including preventable deaths involving prescription drugs - more than doubled from 2000 to 2008, according to the latest statewide death certificates. In San Antonio, a string of military servicemen's accidental deaths have been blamed on lethal combinations of prescription pills. Overall, Bexar County reported 184 accidental overdoses in 2008 - almost three times as many as in 2000. The medical examiner's office in Corpus Christi has seen one of the biggest percentage increases in overdose deaths of any county in Texas. Nueces County reported 40 poisoning deaths in 2008 - compared to one in 2000. Some Corpus deaths appeared to be linked to a growing popularity of partying with prescription pills, including cocktails of drugs like Vicodin (hydrocodone) and Xanax (alprazolam), said Stefanie Wiser, who compiles statistics for the office. 'I know there's a huge increase,' she said. 'There are some cases where they buy them as recreational drugs, and they mix them. It's quite prevalent in the teenagers - it seems to be the cool thing to do.' 'No one noticed' In Dallas, two Southern Methodist University students are among those who died in recent years after reports indicate they mixed prescription drugs with alcohol or other drugs, though most victims of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe as a national prescription pill epidemic tend to be middle-aged. 'I still find it amazing that the problem escalated to epidemic proportions right under our noses and no one noticed or tried to address it - it took the unnecessary deaths of our children to open eyes,' said Anita Goodman, a Beaumont-based nurse who lost her own son Aaron, 31, to a prescription drug overdose and has spoken across the state to warn others. Houston has been identified by the U.S. drug czar as a major hub for prescription drug diversion with hundreds of so-called pill mills and more than 1,200 related overdose deaths reported here in the past three years alone. One Houston doctor saw his license suspended and his clinic closed last week over pending criminal allegations he oversaw a rogue pill mill operation in which fake doctors continued to dispense illegal prescriptions even after a drug raid. The latest statewide fatal overdose statistics, compiled by the health department from 2008 death certificates, show accidental drug poisonings also jumped in many other Texas communities - including Jefferson and Orange counties, among others in East Texas, San Antonio (Bexar County), Dallas-Fort Worth (Tarrant and Dallas counties), Austin (Travis County) and Corpus Christi (Nueces County). Fifteen Texas counties reported more than 100 such deaths in the past five years. Re-evaluating program Drug research expert Jane Maxwell, a nationally-known addiction expert based at the University of Texas School of Social Work, is among those calling for state legislators to fund a real-time prescription drug tracking system and to create a comprehensive monitoring system of overdose deaths to improve statewide response. 'We don't have the data we ought to have in order be able to really determine (the scope of) the problems,' she said. Army officials nationwide are re-examining so-called polypharmacy - the practice of prescribing multiple prescription drugs to soldiers - after 32 prescription drug-related deaths of service members undergoing care in Warrior Treatment Units in Texas and other states in the past three years, according to the Military Times. At least four servicemen treated in San Antonio have died of accidental prescription drug overdoses since 2008: Sgt. Robert Nichols, 32; Army Warrant Officer Judson Mount, 37; Army Sgt. Franklin Barnett, 29; and Army Specialist Erik George Vega, 29, according to nonprofit and press reports. Colleges across the state are working to improve awareness of risks of mixing medicines with alcohol or other drugs, including posting emergency OD information on the doors of dorms, offering substance abuse classes and even amnesty to students who might otherwise be afraid to summon medical help if criminal drug or alcohol possession charges could result. SMU formed a task force after one student died of a mixture of prescription pills and another drug in December 2005. John Sanger, SMU's director of alcohol and drug abuse prevention, said the university starts early by addressing incoming students at summer orientation. Urging strong response Prompted by increasing prescription drug fatalities in Texas and nationwide, the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance called last month for stepped up CDC response and emergency public education campaigns on how to prevent prescription pill overdoses as well as mass distribution of the overdose reversal drug naloxone. If administered in time, naloxone almost instantly halts potentially lethal side-effects of opiod pain pills. 'There's been a wave of overdoses and an explosion of pain killer prescriptions being written,' said Meghan Ralston, a Los Angeles-based researcher for the alliance. 'Many are people who are in pain or use these drugs recreationally ... and we fail to tell them that is a risk of overdose.' Many die from pills received from a legitimate physician for real medical problems, while others obtain them from street dealers or so-called doctor shoppers, according to national and local research. Still, complaints about potentially abusive or questionable prescriptions by physicians have skyrocketed statewide, according to the state medical board. Of 324 complaints filed so far this year, 80 involved doctors in Harris County compared to 19 in Bexar County; 32 in Dallas County and 20 in Tarrant County. Hydrocodone big Whatever the source of the prescription, pharmacies across Texas report sales continue to boom for the powerful opiate pain pill hydrocodone, the drug most often linked to cocktail drug overdose deaths in many communities. Prescriptions dispensed increased 24 percent for hydrocodone, often sold as Vicodin or Lorcet, for the first nine months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009, a Chronicle analysis of state Prescription Monitoring Program data shows. So far this year, enough hydrocodone pills have been dispensed - 734 million - that if divided equally, every man, woman and child in Texas could each consume 30 doses. lise.olsen@chron.com XXX - End of Story3D 