WILKESBORO — Law enforcement officials — many of whom work undercover and including those from Surry and Yadkin countie — filled the lecture hall in the Alumni Building at Wilkes Community College last week.

They were there for a day-long seminar to learn new tactics to combat prescription drug abuse.

Among those who would be making presentations included two retired law enforcement officials — P. Ritch Wagner and Landon Gibbs; Ernie Kirchin, with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department; plus Wilkes County Sheriff Dane Mastin.

The seminar was, in part, a follow-up to a week-long seminar Mastin had attended in 2008.

“I went to the National Drug Diversion Investigation conference in Nashville, Tenn. last fall,” Mastin said. “I didn’t recognize what was going on until after attending the conference in Nashville.”

Upon his return, Mastin got in contact with Darrell Miller, the director of law enforcement training at Wilkes Community College, to put together last week’s training seminar, along with Wagner and Gibbs.

The program, according to Gibbs and Wagner, with Purdue Pharma, regards the use of legal drugs, primarily prescription drugs, for illegal or illicity purposes.

“In a number of situations, the drugs are legally obtained, but are used illegally, or are abused,” Wagner said.

Gibbs and Wagner both now work with Purdue Pharma. They are part of a four-person division of the pharmaceutical company that participates in nationwide seminars on the situation to educate law enforcement personnel, not only on the extent of the situation, but also how to recognize indicators.

“One of the purposes is to keep those drugs out of the hands of drug traffickers and drug abusers, but not to those people who legitimately need them,” said Gibbs.

Part of the seminar was to focus on what the laws in North Carolina are.

“There’s a new trend of pharmaceuticals (abuse),” said Kirchin, “Laws dealing with pharmaceuticals were established in the 1970s and can be a little outdated.”

Kirchin heads the vice and narcotics bureau, pharmaceutical drug diversion investigations, for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and has been in that division more than 15 years.

“We’re seeing a rise in the use of Schedule II drugs,” he said.

Of particular concern, Krichin said, was the age in which this type of drug abuse is introduced.

“One out of 10 in middle school is experimenting with drugs,” Kirchin said.”These drugs have supplanted marijuana.”

This is not a situation that is restricted to city populations or areas with dense population bases. Many are prevelant in rural areas.

Mastin said that at the week-long conference, a map of the United States that used the color red to detail the most heavy abuse of prescription drugs was troubling.

“Western North Carolina was red,” he said. He added that within that zone, on a per capita basis, Wilkes County, with a population of less than 70,000, was ranked No. 2 nationwide behind San Francisco in prescription drug abuse deaths; the other area of known drug deaths is eastern Kentucky.

“We've averaged one death per week in Wilkes County,” he said. “This is causing us a great deal of pain.”

The problem also exists in other counties in the region, including Yadking and Surry.

“We having a rise in prescription fraud,” said Major Danny Wagoner with the Yadkin County Sheriff's Office. “Probably triple from last year.”

In Wilkes, the range of those who have died from overdose, which Mastin said he believes are mostly unintentional, has been as young as 13 and as old as in the 60s. The average victim, he added, was a white male in the 40-year-old age range.

Mastin said he believed several key factors are playing a role: hard times, desperation and depression.

Regardless, the toll it takes is steep, said Mastin. He was not talking only about the cost, dollar-wise. He spoke of the effect it has on loved ones of those who have died or been hospitalized, and the unpleasant duty of having to inform those people.

“I’ve been on the other side of the table with the finger in my face (and them demanding), ‘What am I going to do about it?’” he said. “Education is one of the best things we have.”