One Clear Sign of an Epidemic: Pharmacy Robberies

The addiction for pharmaceuticals is at an all time high. One consequence is that there has been an unprecedented number of robberies at major chain pharmacies. As other crimes across the nation are seeing reductions, this crime that is increasing.

Major pharmacies have had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars upgrading security. The penalties are stiff, and once caught  the perpetrators get a rude awaking of the federal system.

Coast to Coast Pharmacy Crimes

Knoxville Suffers: One area where there has been a rise in prescription drug armed robberies is Knoxville Tennessee.  Authorities  have noticed a drastic increase in drug store robberies in the past year.  Knoxville police department shows that robberies jumped from 26 to 44 from 2009 to 2010.     In the month of December 2010 investigators worked on ten cases – including one day where there were …

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New Formula of Oxy Leads to Heroin Abuse, Addiction

It has been almost a year since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released their new formulation for OxyContin. The FDA released the new design of the tablet to help prevent the illegal misuse and abuse of the pain relieving drug. As successful as the new formula may be, the new version is causing authorities across the nation new stress. Authorities have been noticing a rise in more individuals turning to heroin to get the sensation of euphoria that at one time OxyContin was able to fulfill.

On April 5, 2010 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the new formulation of the time controlled-release drug OxyContin. OxyContin is made to slowly release potent opioid oxycodone into patients that require management of a continuous around-the-clock pain suppressant. However, because of OxyContin’s time-released formula, each tablet contains large doses of oxycodone. …

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How to Safely Dispose of Prescription Medication

Unused or expired prescription or over-the-counter medications can stay in your medicine cabinet for years. If you have children at home, this can be risky. They may unknowingly take a high-potency pain medication thinking it would help their headache go away, or they may experiment with the prescription medication or offer them to friends.

If you haven’t already, it’s time to take stock of the prescription and over-the-counter medications that you have in your home. Make sure they are properly labeled and out of reach from children. If they are expired or you no longer need them, it’s a good idea to get them out of your house to reduce the risk of prescription drug misuse.
Instead of flushing your prescription medication down the drain, follow these guidelines for proper disposal of prescription and over-the-counter medications from the Office of …

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