WASHINGTON -- With Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse presiding, a Senate subcommittee is conducting a hearing Tuesday on the nation's problem with prescription drug abuse and possible ways to solve it.

Whitehouse's office noted in announcing the hearing that Rhode Island is one of 16 states in which drug-related poisonings is the leading cause of death from unintentional injury.

Rhode Island Democrat Whitehouse, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, called the hearing, with testimony on the issue from several experts from government and academia. Among the witnesses is Laura Hosley of Rhode Island Student Assistance Services. Her topic: how prescription drug abuse affects the youth of the state.

"Rhode Island is a small state but it seems to show up on the top of the list" of states with drug abuse problems, Hosley, a former student counselor and former director of a group home for those recovering from mental illness and drug abuse, told the senators. She told some stories of Rhode Islanders suffering from prescription drug abuse and suggested that financing be expanded for drug and alcohol-abuse prevention programs that are based in communities -- and, more specifically, in schools.

Whitehouse expressed support for Hosley's suggestion that such financing come through the federal program that subsidizes the nation's public schools.

A live Webcast of the hearing is available at http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=5214