Pubdate: Wed, 13 Aug 2008
Source: Jacksonville Daily News (NC)
Copyright: 2008 Jacksonville Daily News
Contact:  http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/216
Author: Lindell Kay

MEDICINE EASY TO FIND ON THE STREET

There is never a shortage of prescription pills on the street in 
Onslow County.While cocaine and marijuana sources run dry from time 
to time, the supply of prescription pills seems endless, said 
narcotics officers with the Onslow County Sheriff's and Holly Ridge 
Police departments. "Drugs are about supply and demand, but with 
pills, the supply is so great there is never a shortage of them," 
Holly Ridge Police Chief John Maiorano said. "The most popular are 
the opiates."Opiates, derived from opium poppies, are prescribed 
mainly as pain killers, OxyContin being the most recognized brand 
name available, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. And 
there has been an upswing in the number of pain pills available on 
the street in Onslow County recently, Sheriff's Capt. Rick Sutherland 
said. Narcotics detectives with the Sheriff's Department explained 
that the source of prescription pills has them constantly changing 
enforcement tactics. "There is no legitimate source of cocaine, but 
prescription pills are easily obtained legally," a Sheriff's sergeant 
in the narcotics division told The Daily News. His name is withheld 
from publication because he frequently works undercover operations.

The sergeant said there are several ways pills hit the street: People 
go "doctor shopping," which means they visit several different 
doctors until they find one willing to issue prescriptions without 
asking a lot of questions.

They steal prescription pads and write their own counterfeit 
prescriptions. People go to local methadone clinics claiming to be 
hooked on heroin just to get the pills prescribed to help kick the habit.

"They will go on Saturday knowing the clinic is closed on Sunday and 
get two days worth of pills and either abuse the supply themselves or 
sell it to someone else," Sutherland said.

People are also "stepping inside the system to get pills," Maiorano 
said. In May, detectives with the Holly Ridge and Surf City police 
departments teamed up to make one of the largest drug busts in the 
state this year. A Kinston pharmaceutical distribution center 
employee who police say stole and distributed more than 55,000 pills 
with a street value of more than $250,000 was arrested during a sting 
operation.

Sutherland said that while street-level enforcement remains the same 
for pills and illicit drugs like cocaine and marijuana, the 
prescription pill supply has to be attacked in a different way.

Undercover buys, the use of informants and traffic stops all help in 
the fight to control prescription drug abuse.

But, Sutherland said, law enforcement and the medical community need 
to form a stronger partnership to ensure people who need prescription 
drugs for legitimate medical reasons can get them while preventing 
access by people who plan to abuse the drugs.
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