Family faces drug charges

Three family members allegedly involved in a long-running illegal prescription drug operation were arrested early Tuesday morning by members of the Northwest Drug Task Force.

Darrell Burghduff, 45, his wife, Virginia Burghduff, 46, and son Lyle Blackburn, 23, were arrested on felony charges of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and taken to the Flathead County Detention Center around 3 a.m. Tuesday.

They allegedly fraudulently obtained prescriptions for narcotic pain pills and forged prescriptions in their Evergreen home.

So far, authorities have found no evidence the family is selling the pills, but law officers believe that sales occurred.

During a search Monday night, the Northwest Drug Task Force uncovered prescription narcotics as well as a small amount of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Earlier this year, Virginia Burghduff pleaded not guilty to fraudulently obtaining dangerous drugs, a felony, and was placed on informal house arrest. According to court documents, on Nov. 10 she attempted to purchase Ritalin by using a fraudulent prescription.

That charge is separate from Tuesday’s arrest. The Burghduffs and Blackburn have not yet been formally charged.

In 2000, Darrell Burghduff pleaded guilty to use or possession of property subject to criminal forfeiture, a felony.

The Northwest Drug Task Force has been receiving information about the family for about a year as part of a large-scale investigation into illicit prescription drug use.

Prescription drug abuse refers to the nonmedical use of medications, use of prescription medications by people other than those the drugs are intended for, or the illicit use of prescription drugs purchased on the street.

Prescription drug use is on the rise in Montana and is beginning to rival traditional street drugs in popularity.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and an attitude tracking survey by the Partnership for a Drug Free America, more than four million people across the United States used prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes for the first time in 2008.

Montana ranks third in the nation for teen abuse of prescription pain relievers, with 9.6 percent of teens reporting abuse in the past year. 

Powerful painkillers such as hydrocodone and oxycodone (which are sold under names such as Oxycontin, Lortab and Vicodin), morphine, methadone, fentanyl, diazepam and, to a lesser extent, anti-psychotic medication, are the most-often-abused prescription medications in Flathead County.

According to Montana State Attorney General Steve Bullock, nearly 60 percent of abusers get prescriptions free from a friend or relative, while more than 14 percent buy or steal them from a friend or relative. Their accessibility is one reason abuse is so rampant.

To combat prescription drug abuse, an 18-member advisory council, including pharmacists, physicians, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, a judge and lawmakers, was formed by the Attorney General’s office in September.

“We want the public to fully appreciate the magnitude of this problem,” Bullock said at the time. The council also plans to propose legislation to help combat the problem.

Also in action is a drug diversion unit through the Montana Department of Justice, based in the Flathead Valley, which will use a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to handle prescription drug abuse cases across the state. 

Legislation is proposed for the creation of a drug monitoring program that would allow doctors and pharmacists to see a patient’s prescription history before prescribing or filling a prescription for a new medication, Bullock said.

Montana is only one of 10 states that doesn’t have a statewide database for that purpose, he added. “It would give them [physicians] a tool to learn if a person has real legitimate need for the drugs, or is just doctor shopping,” Bullock said.