Adam Loveless speaks Thursday in Toliver’s Pawn Shop in Manchester, Tenn., about the growing problem of prescription drug abuse in the area.
MANCHESTER, Tenn. — Adam Loveless recognizes the customers addicted to prescription drugs. Their voices full of gravel, their demeanor edgy and nervous.
They come into Toliver’s Pawn and Gun frequently, carrying family items — a TV, jewelry, games.
They need money.
“They’ll say it’s for diapers or groceries, but you know what they really do with the money,” said Loveless, who works at the pawn shop on the town square in Manchester. “You see a lot of good people that have gone to using painkillers; it’s just blown up.”
Manchester — a sprawling town of 10,000 people on the Cumberland Plateau — has four licensed pain management clinics. Prescription drug abuse is rampant here, many people in the area say.