SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County is seeing an epidemic of OxyContin fatalities, authorities told 10News.

Authorities said there have been 57 deaths in the past year within a 10-mile radius of Rancho Santa Fe, and more than 40 arrests of young people abusing OxyContin.

One Drug Enforcement Administration agent with more than 25 years on the job told 10News he's never seen a drug take hold like this one.

Recovering OxyContin addict Stephanie Gray said she was hooked in the blink of an eye. "I was trying to escape, using it every day," she said.

Gray is now in recovery after an intervention. Her rescuer said she was beaten down and devastated by the drug.

"She couldn't walk, couldn't speak, did not know where she was," said Bay Recovery Center director of interventions, David Wambaugh.

Wambaugh said 15 of the 24 beds at the center are being used by OxyContin victims.

Dr. Jerry Rand at the center said an OxyContin pill is 16 times more powerful than other prescription painkillers, often easily accessible in a family's medicine cabinet.

"I see so many people who started because a family member had them on a shelf. In most other countries, you can't get these drugs outside of a hospital," said Rand.

He went on to talk about how easy it is to get addicted. "Once people take it, they can't stop. It outsells heroin. It's a starter drug, many of these people will go to heroin," he added.