SOMERSET, Ky. -- Ashlee Steele doesn't fit the stereotype of a drug addict. At 24, she's well-spoken, beautiful and friendly -- a former cheerleader who is now a wife and mother.

"Addiction is not picky," she said. "It grabs whoever it can get hold of."

Increasingly often, young people are turning to prescription drug abuse either because the drugs are easy to obtain or because they believe that pharmaceuticals are safer to ingest than street-level drugs. In reality, however, abused prescription drugs can be as addictive as heroin, and the risks associated with their abuse can be dangerous and even deadly.

Ashlee was just 15 years old when she had her first experience with drugs. As a cheerleader at Dunbar High School in Lexington, she and several other girls on the squad dabbled with the drug known as ecstasy to get high.

"My parents found out about it and sent me to rehab," Steele said.

She stayed away from drugs for several years, but later, finding herself juggling the stresses of young adulthood, she turned to medications once again.

"At first I did it just to get high," Steele said. "I could take an oxycontin, get my whole house cleaned, and not be tired. It seemed like the perfect thing to do. I was like superwoman. ...

"But then it turns into a physical addiction," she said. "You don't get high anymore. You have to take it just to be able to get out of bed. ... At first I could function high. That's when it gets dangerous."

While 80 mgs. of oxycontin is considered to be a very effective dose, Steele reached a point where she needed to take two 80 mg. pills daily in order to function normally.

"It takes over your whole life before you even know what's going on," she said. "I was using it for a year before I realized I was addicted."

Steele bought oxycontin "off the street," she said.

"I'd go to the same people over and over. ... If you really want it, it's everywhere. There's always someone who knows somebody who can get it for you."

Steele was working in a day care, and her husband had a "good job," she said, when she started abusing oxycontin. But her addiction nearly ruined her family's finances.

"I drained $6,000 from our savings account in two months, and I got rid of our Volkswagen without (my husband) knowing about it," she said.

"I was willing to lose our brand new car. I would do anything. I wasn't getting it to get high anymore. I needed it just to feel normal and to function in society."

Steele was able to hide her addiction from most people. She said she's not even sure whether her husband was fully aware of her problem.

"He didn't know, or it wasn't talked about," she said. "It was the big pink elephant in the room that nobody discussed."

Steele said she finally realized she needed help when she was faced with staying in a hospital with her young daughter who needed surgery.

"I told my husband that I couldn't go with her to the surgery because I would either be high or I would detox, and either way, I wouldn't be able to be there for her and make the decisions that needed to be made," she said.

Steele said drug addicts can't quit on their own, and she bemoans the fact that there are few places local addicts can come to for help.

"I tried 100 times," she said. "You can't do it."

Steele credits individuals at the Oasis Center at Eagle Heights Church with much of her success in overcoming her addiction. A group called "Celebrate Recovery" meets there, and Steele said, "there's no way I would have been able to stay clean without them."

"There's strength in numbers," she said.

She also got over her oxycodone addiction by taking suboxone treatments. Suboxone is designed to wean oxycodone addicts from their addiction much like methadone weans opiate addicts from their drugs.

"Suboxone is supposed to help you through your withdrawal symptoms," she said. "It helps you feel normal, but it becomes a new addiction. It's an absolute joke. They say it's not addictive. I was on suboxone for a year and a half."

Steele said drugs like suboxone and methadone are easily obtainable from the clinics.

"If you tell them you can't come in, they will call in a prescription for you without even seeing you," she said. "You just give them your credit card number over the phone. ...

"It's an easy way for people to think they're clean, but you're still dependent on a pill. It's a substitute drug. It's just legal."

In order for suboxone treatments to work properly, patients should take it for no longer than two weeks, and they should be treated in a clinic, Steele said.

Steele avoided withdrawal symptoms when she switched from taking oxycodone to suboxone, but she experienced horrible symptoms when she stopped taking suboxone in July 2009.

"I spent nine days in the hospital coming off suboxone," she said. "You tremble, and have body aches, and feel like you're going to die."

Steele's husband supported her throughout her recovery.

"He's been amazing," she said. "I could have lost everything."

The couple is now expecting their third child.

As part of her recovery, Steele now shares her experiences with others who come to the Oasis. The number of individuals attending the Celebrate Recovery meetings has grown from five to more than 60 in just three months, she said.

"It's not something I'm proud of, but it's something I did," she said of her addiction. "God never wastes a hurt. ... I would have been dead if I hadn't stopped."

And she's glad to know that local law enforcement is preparing to crack down on individuals who buy or sell prescription drugs for illegal purposes.

"They should have done it years ago," she said. "They have to get it under control. It's not an option anymore. We can't pretend it's not there."

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