| |
OxyContin News Online |
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Oxycontin Abuse Leads to
Smuggling |
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Skittles Scam Leads to Drug
Charges for Fairbanks Man
Source:
Daily News Miner
By: Chris Freiberg |
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| |
5/02/09 -
FAIRBANKS —
Authorities
arrested a
North Pole
man earlier
this week
who they say
received a
shipment of
prescription
drugs in a
repackaged
bag of
Skittles.
JD Anderson,
20, has been
charged with
two counts
of felony
drugs
misconduct.
If convicted
on both
counts, he
could be
sentenced to
more than 20
years in
prison.
(click for full story) |
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Prescription Drug Fraud
Involved with Oxycontin
Addiciton |
|
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Young Suspects Linked to
Fraudulent Oxycontin
Prescriptions
Source:
North County Times
By: Sarah Gordon |
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| |
05/01/09 - Five young
adults,
including
four from
North
County, were
arrested at
home
Thursday,
accused of
using
fraudulent
prescriptions
to obtain
thousands of
commonly
abused
drugs.
Among them
was
OxyContin, a
synthetic
opiate that
authorities
say is
gaining
popularity
with a
young,
affluent
crowd.
From January
through
March, the
suspects are
believed to
have used 11
pharmacies
to get over
3,000 pills
with a
street value
about
$70,000,
said Dana
Simas, a
spokeswoman
for the
attorney
general's
office.
(click for full story)
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Oxycontin Addiction
Treatment Needed in Small
Town |
|
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Oxycontin Abuse Hits
Rocklin
Source:
The Placer Herald
By: Jon Brines |
|
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12/30/08 -
A new drug of choice has
taken over the streets of
Rocklin and Roseville and
now officers admit there is
little they can do to stop
it.
“OxyContin makes me feel
euphoric,” said Jane, an
addict turned police
informant who spoke on the
condition of anonymity. “You
could be on it and nobody
would know.”
To doctors, OxyContin is a
painkiller used only by
prescription.
“It’s not your average pain
medication, an equivalent of
60 pain pills in one
tablet,” said Dr. Charlie
Moore, medical director for
the Chemical Dependency
Recovery Program at Kaiser
Permanente.
A spokesperson for Sutter
Roseville Medical Center
declined comment.
Police said those
prescription pills are
winding up on the black
market in alarming numbers
with a street value of $50 a
pill.
(click for full story) |
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The Dangers of Oxycontin
Abuse |
|
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You Should Know
about Oxycontin
Source:
Caledon Citizen |
|
| |
12/25/08 -
At a recent execution of a
search warrant in Bolton,
Caledon OPP Street Crime
Unit officers seized a
number of drugs. Among them
was a drug which is sold
legally by prescription in
Ontario called Oxycontin.
Oxycontin is also sold
illegally on the street by
drug dealers. This drug is
being bought, sold and used
in Caledon and police
believe residents should
know about it.
The street names for
Oxycontin are: "O.C.", "Oxy"
and "Oxycotton."
Oxycontin will make you sick
if not taken according to
the explicit instructions
from your doctor. The drug
has many side effects, such
as constipation, sexual
difficulties, swelling,
nausea, sweating, itching
and sleeplessness.
A major concern regarding
the illicit use of Oxycontin
is that it is relatively
easy to overdose because of
the way it is ingested. The
risks of accidental overdose
increase when oxycontin is
mixed with alcohol, other
opioids (morphine, codeine,
heroin, and methadone)
and/or tranquilizers. An
overdose of Oxycontin can
lead to brain damage and
even death.
Here is what to look for if
you suspect someone you know
has overdosed: • Slow
breathing (less than 10
breaths a minute is really
serious trouble). • Small,
pinpoint pupils. •
Confusion. • Being tired,
nodding off, or passing out.
• Dizziness. • Weakness. •
Apathy (they don't care
about anything). • Cold and
clammy skin. • Nausea. •
Vomiting. • Seizures.
(click for full story) |
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Oxycontin Addiction
Increases |
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Oxycontin is a New
Target in the War on Drugs
David Spakowicz, New
Wisconsin Drug Czar, Will
Bust You for Selling or
Using OxyContin
Source:
Associated Content
By: Michael Thompson |
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| |
12/20/08 -
Wisconsin's new drug czar,
like other drug czars, is
eager to put people in
prison. David Spakowicz,
appointed as director of the
Wisconsin Justice
Department's Narcotics
Bureau, says he even will
imprison people for abuse of
OxyContin, a prescription
drug.
"We see a lot of kids get
addicted to OxyContin,"
David Spakowicz told The
Chicago Tribune in an
interview. "They divert them
generally from other
prescriptions to already
legally prescribed people.
They see that mom or dad
might have had some Oxy in
their medicine cabinet that
they didn't use, because
they had a back injury. All
of a sudden now they're
selling it to their friends.
And with OxyContin we've
seen within the last about
year and a half, though, the
price of Oxy on the street
level has doubled. It used
to be 50 cents a milligram.
Now it's a dollar a
milligram. So for a
40-milligram Oxy, what used
to cost a person $20 now
costs them $40.
Unfortunately with that,
we're seeing that a lot of
younger people can't afford
that, so they're switching
to heroin, because it's less
expensive."
(click for full story) |
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Adolescent Oxycontin Abuse a
Major Concern |
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Against Doctors'
Orders
Teens flirt with danger,
swap drugs at parties
Source:
JournalGazette.net
By: Jane Glenn Cannon |
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| |
11/27/08 -
Acting on a tip from a
parent, Garvin County,
Okla., deputies last month
busted a “pharm” party, a
gathering of young people
exchanging and taking
prescription drugs to get
high. This was the second
pharm party deputies had
interrupted in recent weeks,
Undersheriff Steve Brooks
said.
Parties where young people
share prescription drugs are
a growing problem, and they
can be deadly, Mike Snowden,
an Oklahoma drug agent,
said.
Eighty-one percent of
drug-related deaths in
Oklahoma each year are
attributed to prescription
drugs, he said. Many of
those reported deaths are of
young people.
Before the pharm party last
month, a parent overheard
her son talking about plans
for the party, refused to
let him go out that evening
and called authorities.
Deputies set up surveillance
outside the house until it
looked like a party was
under way, then interrupted
it, Brooks said.
Inside, deputies found about
25 teens with an assortment
of drugs that included
muscle relaxers,
tranquilizers and the
painkillers morphine and
OxyContin, Brooks said.
(click for full story) |
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Oxycontin and Other
Prescription Drugs Prove
Deadly |
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From the Medicine Cabinet to
the Morgue
Source:
The Coast News
By: Ralph Kalp |
|
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11/26/08 -
Excerpt: As more teens
and young adults turn to
their parents’ medicine
cabinets to get high, a
dangerous undercurrent of
abuse is occurring due to
the powerful nature of
opiate prescription pills.
With the addictive nature of
the opiates and the high
street value of pills, like
OxyContin, users may turn to
heroin, a cheaper but
equally effective way to get
their fix. Regardless of
which opiate they use, once
the cycle of abuse begins
the addict ultimately only
has three choices—death,
recovery or incarceration.
According to the Community
Epidemiology Working Group,
a panel of researchers who
track drug use in 16
metropolitan areas, in San
Diego County opiate
addiction — which they
separate from heroin
addiction and includes
OxyContin, Vicodin and
Hydrocodone — is the only
category of drug addiction
in which there has been an
increase in treatment
admission over the last five
years.
And more telling of the
dangerous crossover between
prescription opiates and
heroin is the Justice
Department’s 2008 National
Drug Threat Assessment,
which states the abuse of
prescription narcotics, like
OxyContin, as a precursor to
heroin is an “emerging
concern” to law enforcement
and public health officials.
(click for full story) |
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Successful Rehabs Sought for
Rising Oxycontin Abuse |
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The New Face of
Heroin
Source:
The Coast News
By: Ralph Kalp |
|
| |
11/21/08 -
Across town in Encinitas,
Detective Craig Johnson of
the Encinitas Sheriff’s
Substation said
pharmaceuticals are the
drugs of choice among teens
in coastal North County.
“OxyContin is one of the
most potent and sought-after
prescription pills out
there,” Johnson said.
Drug use usually starts when
teens experiment with their
parents’ prescription
medications, Johnson said.
Because of the addictive
nature of OxyContin, an
opiate that produces a
similar high and similar
withdrawal effects to
heroin, this experimentation
can quickly get out of hand
and lead to heroin use.
(click for full story) |
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DEA Agent: Prescription Drug
Abuse a Problem
Source:
Phoenix East Valley Tribune
By: Mike Sakal |
|
| |
11/20/08 -
(EXCERPT) Drug
smuggling into the United
States from Mexico remains a
problem, but the types of
drugs that now are being
heavily abused are shifting
from methamphetamine to
heroin and prescription
drugs, according to a
federal drug enforcement
agent.
Prescription drugs such as
OxyContin and Percocet are
readily available in the
medicine cabinets of many
homes, Coleman said.
"Our prescription drug abuse
numbers are going through
the roof," Coleman said.
"Lock up your legal drugs."
(click for full story) |
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I-Team: Fighting
Oxycontin Addiction
Source:
TurnTo10.com
By: Jim Taricani |
|
| |
11/12/08 - If
you have OxyContin in your
medicine cabinet, experts
say keep a close eye on it.
It’s the No. 1 drug of
choice on the street when
it’s used illegally.
“The primary threat we see
for a diverted prescription
med on the street is
OxyContin,” said Brian
Crowell, a Drug Enforcement
Administration agent.
The DEA says doctors are
routinely prescribing the
powerful narcotic painkiller
for all kinds of pain. It
was originally produced to
help cancer patients.
One woman, who we’ll call
“Barbara,” is from a
southeastern Massachusetts
community. She is a
professional with a college
degree and a successful
career.
She became hooked on
OxyContin after being
addicted to heroin.
“OxyContin was probably the
worst. Worse than the heroin
for me,” Barbara said.
(click for full story) |
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Prescription Drugs
Kill 300 Percent More
Americans Than Illegal Drugs
Source:
Free Internet Press |
|
| |
11/14/08 - A
report by the Florida
Medical Examiners Commission
has concluded that
prescription drugs have
outstripped illegal drugs as
a cause of death.
An analysis of 168,900
autopsies conducted in
Florida in 2007 found that
three times as many people
were killed by legal drugs
as by cocaine, heroin and
all methamphetamines put
together. According to state
law enforcement officials,
this is a sign of a
burgeoning prescription drug
abuse problem.
"The abuse has reached
epidemic proportions," said
Lisa McElhaney, a sergeant
in the pharmaceutical drug
diversion unit of the
Broward County Sheriff's
Office. "It's just
explosive."
In 2007, cocaine was
responsible for 843 deaths,
heroin for 121,
methamphetamines for 25 and
marijuana for zero, for a
total of 989 deaths. In
contrast, 2,328 people were
killed by opioid
painkillers, including
Vicodin and Oxycontin, and
743 were killed by drugs
containing benzodiazepine,
including the depressants
Valium and Xanax.
(click for full story) |
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Teens and Pills
Source:
CBS 12 |
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| |
11/10/08 -
Every parent knows to keep
medicine bottles away from
toddlers, but you may want
to make sure your teen is
not raiding your medicine
cabinet too.
There are many dangers in
the medicine cabinet that
are contributing to a deadly
epidemic in Florida, where
teens many are "dying to get
high."
On average, seven people die
every day in Florida from
drug overdoses. In the case
of 21 year old Richie Perry,
his mother heard the
crushing news from deputies.
For Richie, and countless
other kids, the drug of
choice is powerful
prescription pills often
snatched right out of the
family medicine cabinet.
"My father had a
prescription. I was able to
steal them from him," said
Justin Falowski, 17, "I
started with roxy sets, went
on to 80 mg oxycontin."
An exploding problem in
Florida, it's the number two
drug of choice behind
marijuana. Narcotics
officers are fighting the
battle on several fronts.
Targeting pill poppers, pill
shoppers and pill pushers.
Officials said Florida has
become a magnet for illegal
pushers from other states
because, unlike most other
states, there isn't any
cross referencing laws for
pharmacies. This means a
person could walk into
Walgreens and get a
prescription for oxycontin -
then walk across the street
to CVS and get it filled as
well.
Add to that, the
exponentially growing number
of pain clinics and suspect
doctors who are out to cash
in.
Pediatrician Sergio
Rodriguez was busted on
charges of trafficking
oxycodone and methadone from
his West Palm office a few
months ago.
Police are calling it a
multibillion-dollar
industry.
One 80-milligram oxycontin
pill costs about $15 dollars
at a clinic, but sells for
$80 dollars on the street.
Falowski has now been clean
for more than a year.
Unfortunately.. The
temptation continues for
countless others.
Police remind parents to
keep prescription meds
hidden and local law
enforcement is behind a
prescription bill proposal
that would require
pharmacies in Florida to
cross reference patient data
bases.
(click for full story) |
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Prescrption Opiates and
Kids: One Pill Can Kill
Source:
MSNBC
By: JoNel Aleccia |
|
| |
10/20/08 -
Eight children died, 43
suffered life-threatening
injuries or serious
disabilities and 214
required prolonged medical
treatment, all because they
mistakenly took strong
medications belonging to
their parents, grandparents
and other adults.
“For opioids, really, one
pill is enough,” said Dart.
“One pill can kill or at
least cause major effects.”
The incidents
represent a surge in
injuries and near-misses
that have made prescription
drugs a top cause of child
poisonings, second only to
carbon monoxide poisoning,
said Dart. The study, which
used data from the
Researched Abuse, Diversion
and Addiction-Related
Surveillance — RADARS —
system, probably
underestimates the extent of
the problem, he added,
because not all poison
control centers participated
and not all exposures are
reported.
(click for full story) |
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Oxycontin may Hook Teens
more Easily than Adults
Source:
Reuters Health |
|
| |
9/17/08 - NEW
YORK - The powerful
painkiller Oxycontin may be
even more addictive for
adolescents than it is for
adults, new research in mice
suggests.
Fewer U.S. teens are using
illegal drugs, but the abuse
of prescription drugs, such
as Oxycontin (generic
oxycodone) and Vicodin
(generic hydrocodone) is
rising, Dr. Mary Jeanne
Kreek and colleagues from
The Rockefeller University
in New York City report.
The brain undergoes dramatic
changes in adolescence, they
add, and there is evidence
that abusing opioids during
this key developmental
period may cause permanent
brain alterations that
increase the likelihood that
a teen will be more
vulnerable to addiction
compared with those who
first abuse this drugs as
adults.
(click for full story) |
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Opioids -- We love them. Or
need them.
Source:
Los Angeles Times Health |
|
| |
8/28/08 -
Opioids such as Vicodin,
OxyContin and morphine are
used to treat pain -- with
which Americans are
apparently sorely afflicted.
More than 10 million of them
take the drugs, researchers
at Boston University have
found, with 4 million people
consuming the medications at
least five days a week.
The researchers report that
regular use of the drugs,
which pose something of an
addiction risk, rose with
age, fell with education
level and was more common
among women and whites.
Their work, published in the
Aug. 31 issue of the journal
Pain, also found that use
was more prevalent in the
south central portion of the
country.
(click for full story) |
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Teens Cite Ease of Access To
Drugs
By
Holly Watt
Special to The Washington
Post |
|
| |
8/14/08 -
A growing number of
teenagers say it's easier to
illegally obtain
prescription drugs than to
buy beer, according to a
survey published today.
The National Center on
Addiction and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University
asked: "Which is easiest for
someone your age to buy:
cigarettes, beer, marijuana,
or prescription drugs such
as OxyContin, Percocet,
Vicodin or Ritalin, without
a prescription?" Nineteen
percent of teenagers found
it easier to purchase
prescription drugs than
cigarettes, beer or
marijuana, compared with 13
percent a year ago. A
quarter of the teens said it
is easiest to buy marijuana,
with 43 percent of
17-year-olds saying they
could buy the drug in less
than an hour.
(click for full story) |
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Beg, rob, steal -- anything
for that OxyContin buzz
Source:
WTOL.com |
|
| |
6/6/08 -
TOLEDO -- The prescription
painkiller OxyContin is so
addictive that more and more
young people are risking
their lives to get high,
reports News 11's Shelley
Brown.
Indeed, experts say addicts
will do just about anything
to get it. That "just about
anything" includes robbing a
pharmacy, which happened in
Toledo just last month.
(click
for full story) |
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Former educator urges
parents to talk to kids
about drugs
Source:
wickedlocal.com
By Derek Pfeffer |
|
| |
6/6/08 -
(excerpt): Levine, former
Salem superintendent of
schools, had been invited by
the HRMS Parent Advisory
Committee to speak about his
son Joel’s struggle with
drug addiction. The talk was
part of the PAC’s Empowering
Parents Series, a year-old
program designed to aid
parents in addressing the
many issues confronting
their children.
The DVD — entitled “Drugs:
True Stories” — tells the
story of Joel’s addiction to
the painkiller OxyContin, a
narcotic similar to heroin.
OxContin can be highly
addictive, and its misuse
can lead to respiratory
depression and death. Joel
survived his addiction, but
the drug still brought him
and his family to their
knees.
(click
for full story) |
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Tough pill to
swallow: Most overdose
overdose deaths involve
prescription drugs
By
Victoria Wallack
Source: Statehouse Reporter |
|
| |
6/4/08 -
AUGUSTA Data released last
week show 154 people died in
Maine from drug overdoses in
2007, and 86 percent of
those deaths involved
pharmaceuticals — many
obtained with a legitimate
prescription often paid for
by Medicaid or private
insurance and taken
improperly or turned around
for cash.
At the same time, the
Prescription Monitoring
Program approved by the
Legislature in 2003 is being
“grossly underutilized,”
according to Maine’s U.S.
Attorney Paula Silsby, and
opportunities are being
missed to prevent abuse,
including fraud of the
Medicaid system.
Adding to the problem is
that Maine doctors and other
providers write more
prescriptions per capita for
narcotic painkillers than in
most other states.
Methadone was the leading
killer, involved in 58 of
the deaths last year,
followed by oxycodone,
involved in 38 deaths, and,
benzodiazepine or
prescription tranquilizers,
involved in 36 deaths,
according to statistics
presented last week at the
Maine Medical Association’s
annual education seminar.
(click for full story) |
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Addicts turn
to prescription drugs for
fix
Source: Associated Press |
|
| |
5/27/08 -
ENID, Okla. (AP) - Police in
Enid say they're seeing an
increase in drug addicts
using prescription drugs.
...
The Federal Drug
Administration says the most
commonly abused prescription
drugs are what's known as
opioids. They include
morphine, codeine, OxyContin,
Vicodin and Demerol.
(Click
for full story) |
|
| |
UPDATE: Visalia
student's death caused by
Oxycontin overdose
Source:
KSEE News |
|
| |
5/23/08 -
Two teens are being
questioned about stolen
prescription drugs that
killed an El Diamante High
School junior. Cory White,
17, was found dead in a
Visalia apartment on May
4rth
A toxicology report showed
White had toxic levels of
the prescription painkiller
Oxycontin in his body.
Police say the drugs he took
had been stolen.
(click for story) |
|
| |
Ads focus on
children's prescription drug
deaths
By Nick
R. Martin
Source: East Valley Tribune |
|
| |
5/23/08 -
Tammy Pasanella sobbed as
she stood in front of a wall
of television cameras and
reporters on Friday and
recalled how her son,
Chandler Valley Christian
High School football player
Danny Pasanella, slipped
into a prescription drug
addiction and, ultimately,
death.
It was a dramatic turnaround
from the days just after her
son died in September when,
she said, she shunned the
media because they were
obsessively focusing on
Danny's overdose death.
Now Tammy Pasanella is
embracing the attention.
She and four other mothers
helped launch an ad campaign
Friday that will use TV,
radio, billboard and Print
ads to warn other parents
about the dangers of
prescription drugs.
"The pain that we go through
is unbearable and
indescribable," Pasanella
said at an afternoon news
conference at the Maricopa
County Attorney's Office in
downtown Phoenix. Her son
overdosed on a combination
of OxyContin, Vicodin, and
heroin.
(click
for story) |
|
| |
Bitter Results as
Pill Abuse Surges
Source:
Online Athens
By: Merritt Melancon |
|
| |
5/18/08 -
Auburn narcotics detective
Tony Lafreniere has been
tracking a disturbing crime
trend in Barrow County for a
year and a half.
He's busted prescription
drug dealers in single-wide
trailers and three-story
McMansions; he's locked up
19-year-old students and
middle-age professionals.
He's learned the complexity
of the illicit prescription
drug trade and just how far
people will go to get a fix.
Opiates like Lortab,
Percocet and OxyContin have
surpassed methamphetamine
and crack as the biggest
drug problem in Auburn and
in most of Barrow County, he
said. The pills are easy to
get, perceived safe and
don't carry the social
stigma that street drugs do.
(click
for story) |
|
| |
New Danger:
Popularity of Heroin Growing
with Kids and Easy to Get
Source
Times Herald Record
By: Steve Israel |
|
| |
5/18/08 -
Heroin, which once conjured
up images of wasted,
strung-out junkies, is back.
Our friends, relatives and
neighbors in their teens and
early 20s are snorting it.
Heroin's first cousins,
prescription opiates such as
Vicodin and OxyContin, are
even more popular. Hundreds
of local users, also in
their teens and early 20s,
are strung out on those
pills, which somehow still
conjure up benign images of
doctors and medicine
cabinets.
(click
for story) |
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