Prescription Pads Play a Key Role in Drug Abuse

For decades, the small pads of paper used to write prescriptions have been an iconic part of every doctor’s office. Now these seemingly innocent tablets are assuming a more sinister role. According to drug enforcement officials, stolen and forged prescription pads are at the heart of the current epidemic of prescription drug abuse.  In some recent cases, such as that of Dr. Lisa Barden of Rancho Cucamonga, doctors have stolen prescription pads from other doctors and used them to obtain highly addictive painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin. In other cases, pads are printed by counterfeiters. Many law enforcement officials and lawmakers see paper prescriptions as an old fashioned mechanism that encourages fraud. Prescription pads are in high demand on the black market; law enforcement officials report that drug dealers will pay up to $400 for a stolen prescription drug pad.…
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Southern California OxyContin Abusers Switching to Heroin

Drug treatment officials in San Diego County recently reported that the use of heroin by young adults has more than tripled since 2006.  According to Susan Bower, director of San Diego County Alcohol and Drug Services, the increase in heroin use is “scary.”  Admissions for heroin addiction now account for nearly one in five of all treatment admissions at facilities operated by the county.

Many of the addicts seeking treatment have been identified as young men who are switching to heroin as a cheaper alternative to OxyContin.  The black market demand for OxyContin has caused the price to rise to as much as $80 for an 80mg tablet, making heroin an cheaper alternative for addicts despite its deadly reputation. This is the first time in several decades that heroin abuse and addiction has become an issue in San Diego…
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Purdue Pharma Executives Fight OxyContin Sentence

In a time of upheaval in our society, this case could be seen as an opportunity for our judicial system to “walk the talk” of our Government’s recent claims to be enforcing Corporate Responsibility.

In 2007, three top executives at Purdue Pharma (maker of OxyContin) were criminally charged for their role in the marketing of the addictive narcotic painkiller.  The executives were each convicted of a criminal misdemeanor under a somewhat obscure law known as the “responsible corporate officer” doctrine and could have faced a year in prison.  Instead, former CEO Michael Friedman, former medical director Paul Goldenheim and former general counsel Howard Udell agreed to deals that included three years of probation and fines totaling $34.5 million.

 

As part of their plea bargain, the Purdue Pharma trio also agreed to a sanction prohibiting them from doing business with …

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Positive News on the Opiate Crackdown in Ohio

In an article forwarded to us (6 men charged in Ohio Pill Mill Ring) , we see that Ohio is doing their part to crackdown on the OxyContin epidemic.  Authorities in Ohio are prosecuting six people involved in a pill mill in Waverly.  This is encouraging because you can read how unsavory the behaviors of the pill mill operators were:

The indictment alleges that the clinic was owned and operated by Nancy and Lester Sadler and Lisa Clevenger. The clinic operated as a “pill mill” by selling prescriptions for controlled substances (usually oxycodone), without a legitimate medical need for the prescriptions.

Many of the prescriptions were openly sold and diverted. Blank prescriptions forms were sold so the buyer could use or resell the prescriptions.

Additionally, the defendants allegedly created fake medical records and prescriptions for individuals who were not actual

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The Oxy Epidemic that Turns Good People Bad

 

 

 

Before the Fathers Day Massacre

Melinda Brady, 29, was convicted of third-degree burglary and obstructing governmental administration with a set bail at $1.5 million bond or $175,000 cash. Her Husband David Laffer,33, was convicted for first-degree murder for the victims of the Medford Long Island New York pharmacy massacre.

Read our Coverage of the Father’s Day Massacre

Read our Coverage of the Arrest of the Father’s Day Murderer

This event has shattered many families and have left police speechless being “the most cold-blooded robbery-homicide in Suffolk County history,”  As Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney John Collins said.

Police Commissioner Richard Dormer was at a loss of words for Laffer and Brady, because they were a couple with out any previous criminal records or history of violence.

Dormer said, “It is very difficult to comprehend this…to suddenly engage …

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Fathers Day Pharmacy Shooter Caught and Pleads Not Guilty

The suburban neighborhood in Medford Long Island New York will never forget this years’ Father’s Day. That’s because four innocent lives got brutally executed in a local pharmacy by a man robbing the store for Oxycodone.  The assailant took only the drugs and left all the money. Read our “Father’s Day Massacre” story.

Suffolk County police examined the video footage from the pharmacy’s security cameras. Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said, “[This is] one of the most heinous, brutal crimes we have ever encountered.”

The video showed David Laffer,33, walk into the pharmacy calmly and started small talk with the pharmacist Raymond Ferguson at the counter. Then without warning Laffer pulled out a .45-caliber pistol and shoot him in the abdomen.

Then Laffer cornered 17-year-old pharmacy clerk Jennifer Mejia into an aisle and shot her twice. Then he returned to Ferguson …

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Governor Signs Bill to Stop Florida Pill Mills

Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a landmark bill last week that is aimed at cracking down on the so-called pill mills that have been freely dispensing addictive prescription drugs in his state.  Law enforcement officials and residents of southern states hope that the new law will put an end to the OxyExpress, a nickname given to Florida’s Interstate 75.  Drug dealers have been using highway to transport narcotic prescription drugs like OxyContin throughout the state of Florida and north to neighboring states.
The Governor has been under intense pressure to do something about pill mills – the name given to pain clinics that have popped up all over the state and have made it easy for drug abusers and drug dealers to obtain powerful prescription narcotics.  Florida has become ground zero for the nation’s prescription drug epidemic, with seven people …

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OxyContin Addicts Lay Siege to Pharmacies

When Seattle pharmacist Mike Donohue started his career two decades ago, he never dreamed that he would someday be packing a gun each day at work.  Nor did he imagine that pharmacies would require security cameras and bullet-proof glass to stop stray bullets from injuring passers by.  Unfortunately, a string of 6 recent robberies has forced Donohue to adopt a siege mentality.  Each of the armed robbers was seeking one thing – OxyContin.

Pharmacy robberies that target OxyContin are on the rise across the country and Washington State has been particularly hard hit.  Most of the thieves are addicted to the drug and some are drug dealers who can get up to $5,000 on the street for a single bottle of OxyContin.  Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, maintains an online database of pharmacy crimes that are related to the …

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Black Market OxyContin Worth Millions

 

Black Market OxyContin Worth Millions

Prescription drug abuse has created a growing black market demand for pain killers like OxyContin as well as for drugs used to treat depression and anxiety.  Using data from federal law enforcement agencies, CNN recently published a comparison of street versus legal prescription drug prices:

  • OxyContin: up to $80 on the street compared to $6 with a prescription.
  • Hydrocodone and/or Vicodin: up to $25 compared to $1.50.
  • Percocet: up to $15 compared to $6.

The high price of black market OxyContin and other illegal prescription drugs is driven by a growing demand.  Even after the release of OxyContin’s new formulation the drug is the primary target of opiate addicted abusers. The DEA reports that 7 million Americans abused prescription drugs in 2009, up 13% from 2008.  The agency expects there to …

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How the Internet Fuels Prescription Drug Abuse

In the past decade, anyone with an e-mail account has most likely received spam e-mail that advertises the sale of prescription drugs.  Millions of these e-mails are sent out each year from pharmacies that are typically located outside of the United States.  These rogue pharmacies are not under the jurisdiction of U.S. laws and freely dispense potentially dangerous drugs like Percocet and Oxycontin that normally require a doctor’s prescription.

A recently completed 7-year study conducted by the University of Southern California and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has revealed a correlation between Internet access and prescription drug abuse.  States with the highest growth in high speed internet access also saw the greatest increase in treatment admissions for prescription drug abuse.

According to Dana Goldman, a public health expert at the University of Southern California, the findings suggest that widespread use of …

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