The arrest of a Mount Airy man and the seizure of pills from his residence reflects a major problem surrounding the illegal distribution of prescription medications, police say.

Members of the city Police Department arrested Barry Donnell Shuff, 39, about 6:30 a.m. Friday after executing a search warrant at Shuff’s 360 Parker Road home. Prescription pills and more than $4,000 in cash were seized as a result.

“In the last couple of years, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of prescription-pill cases,” narcotics detective Tim Hodges said afterward.

At the time of Friday’s search, police held warrants on Shuff for allegedly trafficking in opium. Additional charges stemming from the search warrant could be filed against him pending further investigation, according to Hodges. Shuff was confined in the Surry County Detention Center Friday under a $10,000 secured bond.

City police said that “numerous complaints” about the alleged sale of prescription narcotics from Shuff’s residence had been received since Mount Airy’s annexation of the Parker Road area last June.

A two-month investigation led to his arrested Friday, during which a number of controlled purchases of prescription drugs allegedly were made at Shuff’s home by narcotics officers.

Hodges added that the arrest of Shuff reflects a concern that has arisen with the larceny and subsequent illegal sale of prescription medication. Investigations of those crimes have increased significantly in recent years.

The detective explained that prescription pills have become as much of a problem for law enforcement as crystal methamphetamine and crack-cocaine.

While those substances are dangerous to users, so are prescription medications, said Hodges, citing a trend of more overdoses and deaths from them in recent years in Surry County.

Over a recent five-year period, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an 84 percent increase in unintentional poisoning deaths from prescription drugs, sleeping bills, antidepressants and tranquilizers. In pointing to 20,950 deaths from those substances during the five years, the CDC said they had passed heroin and cocaine combined as the leading cause of lethal overdose.

Hodges said that in light of the problem, officers have placed more emphasis on getting those substances off the streets, as evidenced by Friday’s arrest of Shuff.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.