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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Fathers Day Pharmacy Massacre – Painkiller Robbery Gone Horribly Awry

If you were to go and try to pick up prescription drugs form Haven Drugs in Medford Long Island New York, you would notice candles burning, colorful flowers, and a sign that reads “Haven Drugs will be closed until further notice!”

This is because on Sunday, Fathers Day,  a man walked into the small local drug store at around 10:20 a.m. and caused “one of the most heinous, brutal crimes we have ever encountered” said Soffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer.

The man was about 5-foot-8 with a thin build, between his late 20’s and early 30’s. He walked into the pharmacy with a white baseball cap, black backpack, dark bearded face, and robbed the store with a hand gun.

The man could have fled the scene of the crime after he had the painkillers. Instead he shoot everyone in …

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Opana – A Popular Substitute for OxyContin Users

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Opana: A Powerful Prescription Opioid

Opana is a drug that was created initially to combat the abuse issues that arose with Purdue Pharma’s most popular and addictive drug, Oxycontin. Unfortunately, this drug is abused often just like its predecessor. People often crush the pills and then chew, inject or snort them.

Newer formulas have been made to be crush-proof, so they can’t be ingested quickly to get high. This version can drive a person with an opioid addiction to the streets to get their fix.

Facts About Opana

Opana is seeing a rise in popularity as a drug of choice among opioid users. Here are some facts about the drug:

  • Opana is the brand name for oxymorphone hydrochloride.
  • Like Oxycodone, Opana is a narcotic painkiller that is similar to morphine but much, much stronger.
  • Opana should never be taken
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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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Son of Democratic Chairman Dies of Overdose

The son of Tennessee Democratic Party chairman Chip Forrester was found dead in his Phi Gamma Delta house  last month. Wilson Forrester, 19, was a promising student at the University of Arizona in Tucson Arizona, which was ranked the fifth “hardest-partying” college in 2009 by Playboy.

On April 2, 2011 Forrester was having drinks at Fiji’s fraternity house when friends had to call paramedics after Forrester’s body collapsed. Forrester was pronounced dead at around 9 a.m. When Tucson news KGUN tried to talk to his Phi Gamma Delta, or Fiji, fraternity brothers they refused to comment. Only one comment was made “We’re getting over it and whatever you guys can find by yourselves, that’s pretty much it.”

On April 3, 2011 an autopsy was performed by Dr. Parks with the Pima County Medical Examiners office. Dr. Bruce’s report revealed that …

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Alarming Rise in Prescription Drug Overdoses

The U.S. is currently facing an epidemic of deaths caused by accidental drug overdoses.  According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 75 people die every day from drug overdoses.  More than 90% of all poisoning deaths are attributed to unintentional drug overdoses that occur during drug abuse and due to taking too much of a prescribed medication.

The number of deaths from drug overdoses more than doubled between 1999 and 2007, from about 12,000 to more than 28,000 per year.   In 2007, fatal drug overdoses were second only to motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the general population.  For those aged 35 to 54, they caused more deaths than car accidents.

Most of these deaths are caused by opioid pain medications (oxycodone, methadone and hydrocodone), followed by cocaine and …

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