Galveston County Daily News, July 1, 2007 GALVESTON - Xanax and Vicodin aren't the first prescription pills to be used recreationally and likely won't be the last, experts say. Mike Montagne, a professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and an expert in societal drug use, said there is a clear pattern to explain how certain prescriptions become problems. Non-medical use of pills comes soon after the number of legitimate prescriptions increases, he said.  When that supply increases, experimenting with the drugs becomes easier. When the non-medical use starts among artists and celebrities, it is referenced in pop culture, furthering its acceptance, he said.  "You see Bart Simpson pop a Ritalin," Montagne said. "The mom on ‘Desperate Housewives' takes her son's medication to finish her housework. The portrayals aren't negative and it reinforces that safety." Often, teens take the drugs from family members' medicine cabinets. That's how16-year-old Josh, who began using and dealing in marijuana when he was 9, first dipped into Xanax and Vicodin. Dr. Howard Brody, a family medicine specialist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said studies have shown that doctors undermedicate pain. Brody said it's also difficult when doctors are expected to prescribe based on the medicine's intended purpose while simultaneously individualizing treatment.