Pubdate: Tue, 13 Dec 2005
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2005 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Roger Alford, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

ELDERLY RESELL MEDICINE, FIND THEMSELVES IN JAIL

Some Seniors Turn To Dealing Prescription Drugs For Extra Money

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. - Dottie Neeley, 87, was fingerprinted, photographed
and thrown in jail, imprisoned as much by the tubing from her oxygen
tank as by the concrete and steel around her.

The woman, who spent two days in jail after her arrest last December,
is among a growing number of Kentucky senior citizens charged in a
crackdown on a crime authorities say is rampant in Appalachia: Elderly
people reselling their painkillers and other medications to addicts.

"When a person is on Social Security, drawing $500 a month, and they
can sell their pain pills for $10 apiece, they'll take half of them
for themselves and sell the other half to pay their electric bills or
buy groceries," Floyd County jailer Roger Webb said.

Since April 2004, Operation UNITE, a Kentucky anti-drug task force
created largely in response to rampant abuse of the powerful and
sometimes lethal painkiller OxyContin, has charged more than 40 people
60 years or older with selling primarily prescription drugs in the
mountains.

"It used to be a rare occasion to have an elderly inmate," Webb said.
"Five years ago it was a rarity."

Local jails are having to bear the increased cost of caring for old
and often sickly inmates.

"You've got to give them more attention," Webb said. "It's putting a
strain on my deputies. We're understaffed anyway. You've got to get
them doctors, and meet their medical needs."

Researchers suspect the problem is not limited to Appalachia.

Elderly people "may be looking for a way to bring in a little extra
money," said Erin Artigiani, deputy director of the University of
Maryland Center for Substance Abuse Research. "We haven't heard a lot
about senior citizens being a source of those drugs. We know college
students do this. It's not much a stretch to think that seniors could
do it, too."

Dr. Anita Cornett, a physician in Hyden, Ky., said one of her
patients, a reformed drug addict, told her that he bought all his
drugs not from a known dealer, but from elderly people.

The Rev. Doug Abner, pastor of Community Church in Manchester, Ky.,
and an anti-drug activist, said senior citizens may not understand the
seriousness of selling prescription drugs.

"They justify it because they're having a hard time financially," he
said.

However, Dan Smoot, a former state police drug detective who heads the
task force, said the elderly people being charged are not necessarily
struggling to put food on the table.

"Most of the elderly we arrest are merely continuing a family
tradition," he said. "It has been part of their culture for a long
time."

Neeley, who was arrested along with her son and his girlfriend, faces
up to 10 years in prison if convicted of trafficking in prescription
drugs as well as marijuana. In a telephone interview, Neeley denied
selling drugs. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 29.
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