Howard Larkin still carries his jail identification card in his wallet, a grim reminder of darker days. His former life ended abruptly in 1999 when he was arrested inside a Carlsbad meth lab and handcuffed to a telephone pole while drug agents gathered evidence to build their case against him. ?They charged me with possession of chemicals to manufacture methamphetamines,? he said. ?They told me 25 years to life. I spent three days in jail thinking, I'm going to die in prison.? Larkin avoided the sentence and found a new life at SouthCoast Recovery, a rehabilitation and wellness center based in Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano that treats drug abuse and the underlying problems of why patients turn to drugs. Now nine years sober, Larkin works with patients struggling to overcome addiction.

Many of these patients have never stepped foot inside a meth lab or approached a drug dealer. They didn't have to. Their addictions began in an orange bottle with a white cap and a prescription label. The prescriptions range from opiate-based painkillers?OxyContin and Vicodin for example, which belong to the same drug family as heroin and morphine'to ?benzos??mood enhancers and anti-depressants like Xanax and Klonopin.

In the past few years many South County residents have arrived at SouthCoast Recovery looking for help breaking free of addictions to opiates and benzos, so much so that the center has developed specialized programs for prescription drugs. Often patients check in for alcoholism only to discover they are addicted to prescription drugs as well.

?When they first arrive they might not even know they need to stop taking their Klonopin,? said Tom Petersen, the court liaison at SouthCoast. ?More than half of our clients are addicted to some form of prescription medication as well as alcohol.?

The ignorance of the dangers of prescription drug addiction is common, according to Robert Goodman, the co-chair of the Human Services Department at Saddleback College. ?Many believe that since they're prescribed and legal they are not, in fact, harmful,? he said. ?Prescription drug abuse has been around as long as they've been prescribed, but it's really been in the past half decade where it's expanded greatly.? Authorities say prescription drug abuse is a national problem, attracting the attention of the Drug Enforcement Agency and other law enforcement organizations used to chasing cocaine dealers. ?Prescription drug abuse has increased throughout the country and is definitely an area of concern to the DEA,? said Special Agent Sarah Pullen with the Los Angeles Field Division. ?One of the primary means for obtaining prescription drugs is through doctor shopping, both in person and through the Internet. Street sale of prescription drugs is also common in Southern California.?

For a look at SouthCoast Recovery's entire program visit www.southcoastrecovery.com.