Prescription Drug Abuse

According to neighborhoodscout.com Trenton, N.J. has a population of 84,913 and it has a crime index of 11 – 100 being the safest.  If you lived in New Jersey you have a 1 in 324 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime and if you lived in Trenton, N.J. you have a 1 in 70 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime. Just recently Trenton had 15 murders, 14 rapes, 500 robberies and 671 assaults.  Not surprisingly, nearby Edison drug rehabs are also kept quite busy. These figures are collected by the FBI from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies.  For every one thousand residents there will be 45 who will be a victim.  It is not among the communities with the very highest crime rate.  Although it is number 31 on the top 100 most dangerous cities to live in.

Nj.com is reporting today April 19, 2012 that state officials are doubling the number of places in New Jersey to safely dispose of unused prescription drugs.  Covanta Energy Corp, a Morristown-based waste-to-energy and renewable energy company is agreeing to destroy the prescription drugs for free.  Attorney General Jeffery Chiesa said, “This initiative, called Project medicine Drop, will expand to locations at the Cherry Hill Police Department, Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, Lower Township Police Department and the Toms River Police Department.

The state Division of Consumer Affairs installs lockable, metal boxes at select police and sheriff’s offices.  So anyone can dispose of unused prescription drugs at any time and no one will ask questions. Of course there is a goal for this program and it is to get unused prescription drugs out of household medicine cabinets.  Some of these medicines are found by teenagers who then abuse them.

This whole idea started in November of last year with locations in Little Falls, Seaside Heights and Vineland.  Chiesa said, “Residents turned in far more drugs than expected, and the departments were faced with the high cost of having to dispose of them.”  Covanta has agreed to accept the drugs and destroy them.  This company does this in other states as well and their process is approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

It seems like the officials in Trenton are doing a good deed to fight the war on drugs.  Many other cities in these United States are doing the same.  Drugs harm our communities in many ways.  If you know someone who wants to get off drugs get them to an inpatient treatment center or one of the prescription drug rehabs where they can detox and withdraw in a safe and natural way.  Something can be done about it.

According to neighborhoodscout.com Desert Hot Springs, CA has a population of 25,938 with a crime index of 3 with 100 being the safest.  If you lived in California you would have a 1 in 226 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime and if you lived in Desert Hot Springs, CA you would have a 1 in 69 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime.  FBI reports that just recently Desert Hot Springs has had 3 murders, 8 rapes, 67 robberies and 296 assaults.  This information is collected from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies.  For every one thousand residents there will be 68 of them that will be a victim.  Desert Hot Springs, CA is number 28 in the top 100 most dangerous cities to live in. Not surprisingly, nearby Los Angeles drug rehabs are kept quite busy as well.

Uniondemocrat.com reported just recently that a pharmacist plead guilty to felony grand theft and misdemeanor possession of alprazolam (Xanax) for sale.  The case for this incident started back a year ago.  This 61 year old pharmacist was arrested by Angles Camp Police department.  When they did a legal search they found $3,000 worth of prescription medications in his car.  It seems that the security officers for the Rite Aid where he worked were the ones that called the police.  There is not doubt by the police that he was intending on selling these drugs.  For this kind of violation he is facing a maximum of 120 days of jail and three years probation.  He will be sentenced in Department 1 of the Calaveras County Superior court.  His plea was in exchange for dropping some other charges like possession of pain killers and diet pills. 

The pharmacist got into a 90 day in-patient drug treatment program in Desert Hot Springs in Southern California.  He did that as part of the California State Board of Pharmacy’s Pharmacists Recovery Program.  He has been a licensed pharmacist for more than 24 years and it had remained clear.

Kim Brown, spokeswoman for the Board of Pharmacy said, “The board cannot confirm or deny whether a pharmacist is being investigated.  I have no information on the details of this case.  A conviction like that would definitely be grounds for opening an investigation if one hadn’t been opened before.  Any action taken against a pharmacist’s license is not recorded publicly until an investigation is completed.”

Drugs are everywhere in this country.  Doing these stories I become very aware that many are involved in taking, selling and distributing drugs.  For some people it is the money it brings to them.  For some like in this example it is the addiction they have to these drugs.  I can imagine it is very easy for a pharmacist to just reach out on the shelf and take some pills.  If you know someone who wants to get off drugs get them to an inpatient treatment center or one of the prescription drug rehabs where they can get safe and natural ways to detox and withdraw.  Something can be done about it.

According to neighborhoodscout.com the city of Riviera, Florida has a population of 32,488 and they have a crime index of 2 – 100 being the safest.  If you lived in Florida you would have a 1 in 184 chance of becoming a victim and if you lived in Riviera Beach, Florida you would have a 1 in 55 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime.  Out of every one thousand residents 76 of them will be the victim of some sort of crime. And not surprisingly, nearby Miami drug rehabs are kept quite busy as well.

Wlfx.com ran a story late in 2011 that told about almost two dozen people being accused of running a prescription drug operation out of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Riviera Beach.  An operation called “Operation Tango Vax” was what they called this seven month undercover investigation.  This investigation included four agencies, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, State Attorney’s Office, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Office of Inspector General Criminal Investigations Division.  21 people got warrants for arrest and that included hospital patients and employees.  Some of the VA workers included a pharmacy technician, a respiratory therapist and several nursing assistants.  There was a whole morning spent while investigators searched vehicles and interviewed potential witnesses.

VA patient Robert Bates said, “it really hurts my feelings that you know these people are here to take care of us and there’s people here that are selling drugs you know and everybody knew this for a long time and I guess it’s been going on until they could track down the correct people and I’m glad that they did that.”

VA patient David Pond, said, “That’s the good thing.  Finally somebody’s brought it to attention and that’s good, that’s good, yes.”

Agents went undercover several months ago and they posed as hospital workers.  They were able to buy prescription drugs, largely Oxycodone, from hospital staffers and veterans as well who were selling their own medication.  Agents seized about 6,000 Oxycodone pills, 2 vehicles and $200,000 in cash. Hopefully seizures like this can help keep people out of rehabs in Florida and rehabs in Louisiana and other nearby states.

Captain Eric Coleman with the PBSO Narcotics Division said, “The VA Center is almost like a little city.  There are 8 to 10 thousand people a day that come through here, receiving services….it’s a unique facility.  There are a lot of people here.  A lot of the drugs were coming off the street and being brought into here, so uh, there’s a little bit of everything that was happening here.”

Because of this situation there have been others outside of the hospital that have been targeted for investigation.

Riviera Beach, Florida is number 13 on the 100 most dangerous cities to live in; located in these United States.  Drugs are everywhere in this community and they are harming the residents in many ways.  If you know someone who wants to get off drugs get them to an in patent treatment center or one of the prescription drug rehabs where they can get safe and natural ways to detox and withdraw.  Something can be done about it.

Atlantic City, New Jersey has a population of 39,558 and it has a crime index of 1 – 100 being the safest.  All this according to neighborhoodscout.com.  If you lived in New Jersey you have a 1 in 324 chance to become a victim and I you lived in Atlantic City, New Jersey you have a 1 in 50 chance of becoming a victim of violent crimes.  For every one thousand resident there are 95 that will be a victim.  Atlantic City has one of the highest crime rates in America.  That is when you compare it to all communities of all sizes. And not surprisingly, nearby Edison drug rehabs are kept quite busy, as well.

Pressofatlanticcity.com reported in March of 2012 that Atlantic County’s schools know that marijuana, prescription pills and alcohol is still the main concerns for all of the officials but they are also worried about newer more dangerous drugs like bath salts and synthetic marijuana.  These have absolutely been the target of a recent statewide ban.  It has been observed in many local schools and the law enforcement agencies have heard about the problems with these so-called designer drugs elsewhere, but it is noticed that they don’t seem to be the choice here.  Atlantic City Police Officer Robert Berg, a Drug Abuse Resistance Education Officer for 13 years said, “I didn’t hear much about that until a couple of weeks ago, when they were making it against the law.  There is not real study or data on it, so it’s difficult to say.”

Glenn Hausmann, a Hamilton Township schools resource officer, said, “But Atlantic County’s schools aren’t seeing it.  Some things just don’t catch on.  I don’t know what it is about South Jersey.  Weed is always here.  It’s here to stay.”

The Commissioner of Education’s Report on Violence, Vandalism and Substance Abuse in New Jersey schools shows that marijuana use increased nearly 29 percent from 2008 to 2011.

Jo-Ann Goldberg, director of Mainland Regional High Schools’ Child Study Team, said, “Basically, what I see is that students are using marijuana to self-medicate.  What the student and /or parents do not realize is that there is a strong relationship between marijuana use and mental health problems.”

At this time Hausmann commented with, “Prescription pills are also a big problem because of the easy access, who deals mainly with middle school students.  Students will often wind up sick in the nurse’s office from prescription drug abuse.  I have a pretty good rapport with the students despite being a lot older and ‘not hip’.  I think they just trust me.  They have not mentioned the synthetic marijuana or bath salts.  The ban is a good thing.  I think New Jersey stayed in front of it.”

These are the things going on in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Drugs are in all parts of the city.  Atlantic City is one of the top 100 cities in the US that is considered the most dangerous to live in.  If you know someone who wants to get off drugs get them to an inpatient treatment center or one of the prescription drug rehabs where they can get safe and natural ways to detox and withdraw.  Something can be done about it.

There was a joint investigation conducted by the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office, Jacksonville and Miami Police Departments for Trafficking in prescription pills.  What they came up with in the late part of 2011 was an arrest of a 31 year old.  This 31 year old would sell the prescription pills in Carteret and Onslow counties.  The detectives that were working the case had intercepted a package that was being mailed from Florida to Carteret County by the suspect.  What was in the package was a large amount of prescription pills coming from pain clinics in Florida — the same kind that put so many kids in Jacksonville drug rehabs.

When the detectives served the warrant they found 108 Percocet 30 mg.  There was further evidence that the suspect’s previous trips to Florida had given him many more prescriptions that had been written for him from different clinics in Florida.  This young man was charged with trafficking controlled substances and was placed in the Carteret County jail under a $150,000 secure bond.

What this young man was doing does not look like a big operation but there are many of this kind going on a regular basis.  The prescription drug business is wide open.  If you ever had a mystery about where do all these young students get their drugs it will probably be from someone like this 31 year old.  The fact that he could get many different prescriptions from doctor shopping in the state of Florida and then bring these drugs to other states — and land their customers in rehabs in Louisiana and all the other states they distribute to — is the kind of operation that is going on.

This may not have been the biggest drug bust by the Jacksonville police department but if they get enough of these arrests done then the supply of drugs will be affected.  If you know someone who wants to get off drugs get them some help and recommend to them they go to an inpatient treatment center or one of the prescription abuse rehabs near you.

The Ohio Department of health is reporting that the state had a record number of accidental drug-overdose deaths in 2010.  Dispatch.com is reporting the figures and they are showing 1,544 people died in 2010 and that is a rise of over 100 deaths from the year previously recorded. Not surprisingly, it’s been a busy year for Columbus drug rehabs.

One of the counties that was looked at was Franklin County and of the 42 counties this one experienced a jump in the number of deaths from 2009 to 2010.  The numbers show an increase from 139 to 192 and that is a 38 percent jump.  Scioto County was reporting a drop in drug deaths and it is felt that the reason for that is because the state closed down more than a dozen “pill mills” in the past year.  It is noted that the overall numbers for the state of Ohio rose in 2010.  The numbers for 2011 are not available yet.

The website healthyohioprogram.com states:

From 1999 to 2010.  Ohio’s death rate due to unintentional drug poisoning increased 372 percent and the increase in deaths has been driven largely by prescription drug overdoses.

In Ohio, there were 327 fatal unintentional drug overdoses in 1999 growing to 1,544 annual deaths in 201.

On average approximately four people dies each day in Ohio due to drug overdose.

This is all at a high cost to Ohio.  $3.5 billion a year is what unintentional fatal drug poisonings cost Ohioans.  An additional $31.9 million is what the hospital admitted poisonings cost each year.  In these figures they took in account the medical cost, work loss and quality of life cost.

ODH has launched a comprehensive education and awareness campaign and it is known as Prescription for Prevention: Stop the Epidemic. This is all in an effort to combat the epidemic of prescription drug misuse, abuse and overdose.  The focus is on nine high risk counties.  It is a multi level social marketing campaign that includes public education and outreach, TV and radio public service announcements, and programs in the school and employee outreach.

The Prescription Drug Abuse Action Group is put together by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH).  This is a workgroup devoted to reducing prescription drug abuse misuse and overdose.  They serve as a point-of-contact for sharing information that has to do with prescription drug abuse across the state.  Among some of the projects are the encouraging excess drug disposal solutions and methods just like the take back events and permanent drug disposal drop boxes through the development of take-back guidelines and support for permanent drop boxes.  Ohio is doing all they can to fight this alarming trend. If you know someone in trouble, get them into one of the prescription abuse rehabs today.

Texas Christian University had some undercover drug investigation going in this week.  This investigation led to charges against 21 people and 10 more could be arrested that according to the internal Fort Worth Police memo. Not surprisingly, Texas drug rehabs are also kept quite busy.

The memo states that 93 arrest warrants were issued for 31 people and warrant will be processed for 10 additional people.  At a NBC news conference this information was given out.  In this drug bust at Texas Christina University there was much seized:

Nine weapons

$46,243 in cash

$29,000 in marijuana, prescription pills, cocaine and methamphetamine

15 vehicles worth $253,890

Officers found a half ounce of marijuana, a digital scale and five drug pipes in a search of a student’s house just off campus.  This student is a linebacker on TCU’s football team and he was one of the four players arrested in the sweep. Rehabs in Texas, rehabs in Louisiana, and elsewhere are facing these kinds of problems with athletes all across the south.

Can you imagine this kind of things going on at a prestigious college?  Drugs and drug abuse is working its way into many establishments that we are not aware of and we hardly give thought to this kind of thing happening in all of this country.  I suppose some people do this kind of thing to make extra money and maybe they do it just they can keep a supply going for themselves.  When a parent sends their young adults to college they don’t expect them to go into a selling ring of drugs and then have to go get their child out of jail.  I don’t know what this country is coming to.  It seems like the war on drugs is losing every day. In the meantime, if you know someone who needs help, get him to a treatment facility or one of the prescription abuse rehabs today.