Despite $1 million in city AIDS funding over three years, the District's largest needle-exchange program is nearly out of cash and has at times been unable to supply clean syringes to intravenous drug users. The shortage comes after years of turmoil at Prevention Works, which offers needle exchanges at its Northeast Washington headquarters and from a mobile unit that sweeps the city's most drug-addled neighborhoods. "I am distraught," said Philip Terry, executive director of Prevention Works. "I am not happy that we're in this circumstance." [continues 1212 words]
State Lawmakers Have Passed Legislation That Will Give Thousands Of Ex-Felons a Better Shot at Regaining Their Civil Rights, Including The Right to Vote. TALLAHASSEE - In a rare show of support for disenfranchised felons, the Florida Legislature on Monday unanimously passed a bill requiring county jails to help thousands of inmates apply for their civil rights once they have paid for their crimes. The bill, now headed to Gov. Jeb Bush for approval, closes a little-known loophole in state law that has cost an estimated 50,000 felons since 1980 the chance to vote, serve on a jury, hold public office or qualify for various occupational licenses. [continues 473 words]
OxyContin abuse struck swiftly in the Carolinas and hasn't let up. The powerful painkiller has become the most heavily abused prescription drug in some Carolina communities, forcing agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration to spend as much as 80 percent of their time investigating OxyContin-related crimes. Their work started in 2000, after distribution of OxyContin in North Carolina had doubled in one year. In South Carolina, it increased even more. Much of the increase can be attributed to OxyContin's growing popularity among pain patients. But as use of the drug spread, so did abuse, addiction and crime. [continues 1202 words]
He made his home in crack houses, sleeping beneath beds to avoid gunfire. He made money by begging: Homeless. Need to eat. He bought drugs by selling drugs. He'd keep a few pills as payment for his work. Then, in early May, Derek Collins showed up at the Julian F. Keith Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center near Asheville, determined to kick an addiction to OxyContin. He came because at 23, he feared he was going to die. For months, OxyContin abusers have strained drug treatment centers across the Carolinas, forcing counselors into a frantic scramble to find support and services. [continues 1501 words]
He made his home in crack houses, sleeping beneath beds to avoid gunfire. He made money by begging: Homeless. Need to eat. He bought drugs by selling drugs. He'd keep a few pills as payment for his work. Then, in early May, Derek Collins showed up at the Julian F. Keith Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Center near Asheville, N.C., determined to kick an addiction to OxyContin. He came because, at 23, he feared he was going to die. [continues 966 words]
The man Shana Dunn planned to marry stumbled into the apartment, covered with mud and grass, mumbling words she could barely understand. He tripped over furniture. He was missing a shoe. Billy Elliott had proposed to Dunn almost every day for a year, but now he seemed like a frightening stranger. For weeks in 1999, Dunn watched, sickened, as her fiance grew addicted to a narcotic painkiller prescribed by her doctor for chronic discomfort in her arms and wrists. Elliott, 35, would borrow a pill for a bad back or a toothache. He always wanted more. [continues 2850 words]
LANCASTER, S.C. - No one knows exactly when OxyContin came to Lancaster County, or why abuse of the drug so quickly struck this quiet community on South Carolina's northern border. But law enforcement and addiction experts say dozens of people in neighborhoods across Lancaster took part in the OxyContin drug trade beginning in early 2000. Gerald Ghent had a wife, two young children and a job for 12 years in a local plant when he was indicted last year on federal drug possession charges. [continues 637 words]
Substance abuse experts say more must be done to educate consumers and health care professionals about the proper use of narcotic painkillers, which can be deadly if abused. Here are two cases where OxyContin may have played a role in sudden deaths: 'She Couldn't Help Herself' It's been seven months since Karen Wilkins fell asleep on a recliner in her mother's house and never woke up.Wilkins, who lived near Durham, suffered chronic back pain after a 1992 injury on the job in a supermarket. The pain was so severe that after she sang in church, she'd sometimes crawl to the car on her hands and knees. [continues 335 words]
STATESVILLE - The tip that helped police crack the biggest OxyContin ring in the Charlotte region came from an addict in Greensboro. Caught trying to pass a forged OxyContin prescription, the addict told police about a group of people in Statesville selling hundreds of pills. They would drive to an office supply store and copy legitimate OxyContin prescriptions. Then, they'd drive from pharmacy to pharmacy along I-40 and I-77, passing forged prescriptions. At least three were from West Virginia, a state hit hard by OxyContin abuse. When pharmacies there started questioning OxyContin prescriptions, the men moved near friends in Iredell County. They passed pills around at parties, introducing the painkiller to people who had not had a serious drug abuse problem. [continues 546 words]
DURHAM - With a radio in his back pocket and a gun beneath his shirt, Durham County Sheriff's Detective Tom Mellown shuttles between pharmacies, hunting addicts and forged prescriptions. Mellown can identify just about every known drug dealer in town. He grew up here, met his wife here, watched the Durham Bulls play baseball on weekend nights. For three years, Mellown has worked to crack Durham's drug trade. Few other prescription drugs before OxyContin, he says, have ever produced such desperation among addicts. [continues 537 words]
Just after 7 a.m. in a medical clinic already packed with patients, Dr. Joseph Talley steps outside an exam room and into a semi-circle of flashing badges. For years, he figured this day might come. Now, standing before drug enforcement agents with the power not just to disable his medical practice but to help put him in jail, Talley says he's furious. His Grover clinic, in southeastern Cleveland County, is teeming with some 20 law enforcement agents. They seal off the driveway and send patients away. They confiscate the clinic's prescription narcotics. They haul off box after box of medical files, 4,000 folders documenting almost 40 years of work as a family practitioner. [continues 3139 words]
Addiction To Narcotic Painkiller Is On The Rise In The Carolinas Miracle Or Menace? The man Shana Dunn planned to marry stumbled into the apartment, covered with mud and grass, mumbling words she could barely understand. He tripped over furniture. He was missing a shoe. Billy Elliott had proposed to Dunn almost every day for a year, but now he seemed like a frightening stranger. For weeks in 1999, Dunn watched, sickened, as her fiance grew addicted to a narcotic painkiller prescribed by her doctor for chronic discomfort in her arms and wrists. Elliott, 35, would borrow a pill for a bad back or a toothache. He always wanted more. [continues 1337 words]
Just after 7 a.m. in a medical clinic packed with patients, Dr. Joseph Talley steps outside an exam room and into a semicircle of flashing badges. For years, he figured this day might come. Now, standing before drug enforcement agents with the power not just to disable his medical practice but to help put him in jail, Talley says he's furious. His Grover clinic, in southeastern Cleveland County, N.C., is teeming with some 20 law enforcement agents. They seal off the driveway and send patients away. They confiscate the clinic's prescription narcotics and haul off almost 40 years of medical files. [continues 1018 words]
OxyContin abuse struck swiftly in the Carolinas and hasn't let up. The powerful painkiller has become the most heavily abused prescription drug in some Carolina communities, forcing agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration to spend as much as 80 percent of their time investigating OxyContin-related crimes. Their work started in 2000 after distribution of OxyContin in North Carolina had doubled in one year. In South Carolina, it increased even more. Much of the increase can be attributed to OxyContin's growing popularity among pain patients. But as use of the drug spread, so did abuse, addiction and crime. [continues 1135 words]
LANCASTER - No one knows exactly when OxyContin came to Lancaster County or why abuse of the drug so quickly struck this quiet community on South Carolina's northern border. But law enforcement and addiction experts say dozens of people in neighborhoods across Lancaster took part in the OxyContin drug trade beginning in early 2000. Gerald Ghent had a wife, two young children and a job for 12 years in a local plant when he was indicted last year on federal drug possession charges. [continues 644 words]
For weeks in 1999, Shana Dunn watched, sickened, as her fiance, Billy Elliott, grew addicted to OxyContin, a narcotic painkiller prescribed by her doctor for chronic discomfort in her arms and wrists. Now, three years later, law enforcement and addiction experts in the Carolinas say abuse of few other prescription drugs has ever struck so quickly, hurt so many or posed so complicated a challenge. Elliott, 35, would borrow a pill for a bad back or a toothache. He always wanted more. [continues 2229 words]
