Butler County sheriff's officers, responding to a call involving an individual changing prescriptions for narcotic drugs, arrested one female on Tuesday, charging her with possession of a controlled substance.

&uot;We received word that a subject had presented altered drug scripts to a Georgiana pharmacy, in attempts to have them filled,&uot; said Chief Deputy Kenny Harden. &uot;Assisted by Georgiana Police Lt. Clint Reaves, Deputy Dean and I arrested Renee Craft Horton, a 36-year-old female of North Hester Street in McKenzie, charging her with unlawful possession of a controlled substance.&uot;

Harden explained that while she had presented a prescription to the pharmacy that was in fact signed by a doctor, when she changed the amount of tablets to be filled, and actually had them filled, every pill over the originally prescribed amount was illegal.

&uot;Horton had in her possession a total of 160 tablets, identified as Lortab and Xanex,&uot; Harden said. &uot;It is our understanding that one is a pain medication, and one is for anxiety.&uot;

Harden said both drugs were considered narcotics, and therefore fell into the category of a controlled substance.

&uot;This type of offense is a continually increasing problem in our area,&uot; Harden said. &uot;And it is only through the cooperation of the pharmacies and physicians that we are able to make these cases - we certainly appreciate their help.&uot;

&uot;I want to say that I also appreciate the hard work and cooperation of our deputies and the other law enforcement agencies we work with to continue to fight the drug war in Butler County,&uot; Harden said.

Harden said that scripts being altered makes the drugs obtained no more or no less a crime than possession of crack cocaine.

&uot;At that point, it is just another illegal drug,&uot; Harden said.

&uot;People don't realize it is a crime to forge an instrument of any type, including prescriptions,&uot; said Sheriff Diane Harris. &uot;And if you do forge something, you'll be charged with a crime.&uot;

Harris said everyone ends up paying for the few that do wrong.

&uot;It is a shame to say it, but the honest folks that actually need pain medication as part of a supervised management program, administered by their doctors - those are the people who suffer, because pharmacists have become more scrutinizing and skeptical regarding the filling of narcotic prescriptions,&uot; she said.

agencies we work with to continu the drug war fight in Butler County,&uot; Harden said.

Harden said that scripts being altered makes the drugs obtained no more or no less a crime than possession of crack cocaine.

&uot;At that point, it is just another illegal drug,&uot; Harden said.

&uot;People don't realize it is a crime to forge an instrument of any type, including prescriptions,&uot; said Sheriff Diane Harris. &uot;And if you do forge something, you'll be charged with a crime.&uot;

Harris said everyone ends up paying for the few that do wrong.

&uot;It's a shame to say it, but the honest folks that actually need pain medication as part of a supervised management program, administered by their doctors are the people who suffer, because pharmacists have become more scrutinizing and skeptical regarding the filling of narcotic prescriptions,&uot; she said.