The pharmacy in Bethel where people are trying to fill illegal prescriptions from Florida for high-powered narcotics. (WKRC-TV) More than six million people in this country are abusing prescription drugs -- that's more than the number of Americans abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined, according to the DEA.
In Florida, experts say five people die every day from prescription drug overdoses. Local 12's Rich Jaffe says Florida's problem is now coming here.
If you had a prescription you needed to fill, how far would you be willing to go to fill it? In the last month a number of people in the Tri-State have gone as far as Florida to get the "script" and then come all the way back here, to fill it.
In mid-March the tiny Pillbox Pharmacy in Amelia was suddenly flooded with Kentucky residents trying to fill Florida prescriptions for powerful painkillers like Oxycodone, Roxycodone and Percocet. The first guy showed up with one script in each hand. "We were real surprised when we first started seeing them come in due to the fact they were all stamped with the drug name on them and you could see where the people had put all their information on there ahead of time."
Pharmacies across the area saw the blitz ... sometimes different groups of people hitting the same pharmacy on the same day. "The officer brought back the people that were involved to the office and within the hour another call from CVS pharmacy that another script was being passed from a doctor in Florida, so another officer went up there and brought those people back to the office ... so we had our office full of Kentucky residents trying to pass Florida scripts."
Most of the apparently legal prescriptions are coming from pain clinics in South Florida where "patients" pay $200 for an initial visit and a fist full of prescriptions. Each subsequent visit costs $150. "In talking to the people I know in the Warren County Drug Unit they informed me that there's a pipeline running from Southern Florida right up to this area and people are passing handfuls of prescriptions everywhere."
Bethel Police checked out one womans' GPS and found locations for pharmacies in four states, including two doctors' offices in Florida.
While the investigation continues police in Bethel have been confiscating the questionable prescriptions and telling the people who brought them, they'll get them back when the investigations done, as long as they're legal.
State, local and federal investigators are all looking at the south Florida clinics where the prescriptions are coming from and the people trying to fill them. In Ohio, pharmacists are not required to fill prescriptions if they are suspicious.
On the street, illegal prescription drugs like oxycontin sell for about a dollar per milligram.
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Friday, April 10, 2009
A numbing trend: Prescription drug abuse on the rise
Cyrus Moinzadeh was smart, a "whiz at everything," his mother said. He could speak three languages and had a photographic memory. He was charming and friendly and had beautiful blue eyes.
On Dec. 16, 2007, the 23-year-old Torrey Pines graduate died after overdosing on OxyContin.
"So many dreams buried," his mother Kiyan Yazdani said. "Pointless and senseless."
Ask Yazdani about the price of OxyContin abuse and she will tell you she's felt Cyrus' absence through every minute of every hour of the one year and four months since his death.
And she is not alone. Of Cyrus' closest group of five friends from high school, three have died from drug overdoses. The other two are in rehab for Oxy addiction. Eight lives from the Torrey Pines class of 2002 alone have been lost to drugs, Yazdani said.
Yazdani said a lot of parents want to close their eyes to it - some who have lost a child to drug addiction will say it was a heart condition or a lung condition because they don't want to talk about the real problem.
But Yazdani does, if it can save just one life. She doesn't want her fraternity of grieving mothers to grow any larger than it already is.
"I don't want any other parents to be where I am," Yazdani said. "They should be taking flowers to their children's weddings, not to their graves everyday like I am."
OxyContin, a formula of the opiate oxycodone, is prescribed for relief associated with severe injuries, bursitis, dislocation, fractures, arthritis, lower back pain and cancer pain.
Overdoses can result in stupor, coma, muscle flaccidity, severe respiratory depression, hypertension and cardiac arrest, according to Glenn Wagner, San Diego County's chief medical examiner.
If OxyContin is an epidemic, teenagers in the North County are living in its epicenter, Yazdani said.
Teenagers can type "Get oxycontin without a prescription" into an Internet search engine and find Web sites that will ship the drug from Canada or Mexico. But Yazdani said North County teenagers don't even have to go that far. She said with a phone call, the drug will be delivered that day. Some dealers even offer a "month free" of use.
One pill can run $60 to $80, according to Joseph Olesky, the San Dieguito Union School District substance abuse counselor. Taken orally, the capsules are time-released, so to get the high faster, teens crush it up and snort it or melt the pill to smoke it. They place the drug on tin foil, heat it from underneath with a lighter and inhale the fumes with a straw.
Smoking or snorting OxyContin, or Oxy, causes the drug to enter the body very fast, within 10 minutes. The high, similar to that of heroin, can last three to four hours, Olesky said. "Some melt it in a spoon and shoot it up," he added, noting all methods of use are equally dangerous.
Scott Henderson, of the San Diego Police Department narcotics division, spoke about the problem at a community crime forum in February. He advised parents to keep an eye on their teenagers' activities.
Check out their Facebook and MySpace pages, he said, because that's commonly where they exchange information about getting drugs. Henderson also said to be on the lookout for the tin foil used to smoke it since Oxy leaves black charred streaks.
"If you're running out of tin foil and you don't make a lot of casseroles, I'm telling you right now something is amiss," Henderson said.
Parents can also look for changes in their child's behavior, such as a loss of interest in their normal activities and lack of energy. Yazdani said she noticed that Cyrus slept a lot more and that his straight-A grades at San Diego State had slipped substantially. In an attempt to battle his addictions, she sent him to rehab facilities in Mexico and Cuba but he'd only stay for two months.
Yazdani said Cyrus told her he would cry because the pain and cravings were so bad and that he was trying to "be good" but just couldn't.
Yazdani was set to pick Cyrus up at the train station after a trip to Costa Rica on a Sunday in December of 2007. He had promised she could take him to any rehab she liked when he came in from Los Angeles.
Instead, Cyrus died alone a hotel room after a drug dealer left him with a bottle full of pills.
Yazdani said she wants more people to talk about OxyContin and more teens to realize that they are not invincible, that they can die from this and that they should be afraid of using this drug. "There's got to be more awareness," Yazdani said. "We have to show kids what can happen."
Cyrus left behind a younger brother Dariush. Yazdani said Dariush shies away from taking any kind of medicine - even cough medicine.
He's learned his lesson, Yazdani said, but at what cost?
Facts about OxyContin
What it is:
An opiate prescribed for pain relief
How teens use it: Oxy can be taken as a pill, crushed up and snorted, melted and smoked or injected. Smoking is the most common method
Slang terms:
OC, Ox, 80's, Beans, Norcos, Watsons
What to look for: Paraphernalia consisting of aluminum foil, lighters, straws, syringes and spoons burnt on one side
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
On Dec. 16, 2007, the 23-year-old Torrey Pines graduate died after overdosing on OxyContin.
"So many dreams buried," his mother Kiyan Yazdani said. "Pointless and senseless."
Ask Yazdani about the price of OxyContin abuse and she will tell you she's felt Cyrus' absence through every minute of every hour of the one year and four months since his death.
And she is not alone. Of Cyrus' closest group of five friends from high school, three have died from drug overdoses. The other two are in rehab for Oxy addiction. Eight lives from the Torrey Pines class of 2002 alone have been lost to drugs, Yazdani said.
Yazdani said a lot of parents want to close their eyes to it - some who have lost a child to drug addiction will say it was a heart condition or a lung condition because they don't want to talk about the real problem.
But Yazdani does, if it can save just one life. She doesn't want her fraternity of grieving mothers to grow any larger than it already is.
"I don't want any other parents to be where I am," Yazdani said. "They should be taking flowers to their children's weddings, not to their graves everyday like I am."
OxyContin, a formula of the opiate oxycodone, is prescribed for relief associated with severe injuries, bursitis, dislocation, fractures, arthritis, lower back pain and cancer pain.
Overdoses can result in stupor, coma, muscle flaccidity, severe respiratory depression, hypertension and cardiac arrest, according to Glenn Wagner, San Diego County's chief medical examiner.
If OxyContin is an epidemic, teenagers in the North County are living in its epicenter, Yazdani said.
Teenagers can type "Get oxycontin without a prescription" into an Internet search engine and find Web sites that will ship the drug from Canada or Mexico. But Yazdani said North County teenagers don't even have to go that far. She said with a phone call, the drug will be delivered that day. Some dealers even offer a "month free" of use.
One pill can run $60 to $80, according to Joseph Olesky, the San Dieguito Union School District substance abuse counselor. Taken orally, the capsules are time-released, so to get the high faster, teens crush it up and snort it or melt the pill to smoke it. They place the drug on tin foil, heat it from underneath with a lighter and inhale the fumes with a straw.
Smoking or snorting OxyContin, or Oxy, causes the drug to enter the body very fast, within 10 minutes. The high, similar to that of heroin, can last three to four hours, Olesky said. "Some melt it in a spoon and shoot it up," he added, noting all methods of use are equally dangerous.
Scott Henderson, of the San Diego Police Department narcotics division, spoke about the problem at a community crime forum in February. He advised parents to keep an eye on their teenagers' activities.
Check out their Facebook and MySpace pages, he said, because that's commonly where they exchange information about getting drugs. Henderson also said to be on the lookout for the tin foil used to smoke it since Oxy leaves black charred streaks.
"If you're running out of tin foil and you don't make a lot of casseroles, I'm telling you right now something is amiss," Henderson said.
Parents can also look for changes in their child's behavior, such as a loss of interest in their normal activities and lack of energy. Yazdani said she noticed that Cyrus slept a lot more and that his straight-A grades at San Diego State had slipped substantially. In an attempt to battle his addictions, she sent him to rehab facilities in Mexico and Cuba but he'd only stay for two months.
Yazdani said Cyrus told her he would cry because the pain and cravings were so bad and that he was trying to "be good" but just couldn't.
Yazdani was set to pick Cyrus up at the train station after a trip to Costa Rica on a Sunday in December of 2007. He had promised she could take him to any rehab she liked when he came in from Los Angeles.
Instead, Cyrus died alone a hotel room after a drug dealer left him with a bottle full of pills.
Yazdani said she wants more people to talk about OxyContin and more teens to realize that they are not invincible, that they can die from this and that they should be afraid of using this drug. "There's got to be more awareness," Yazdani said. "We have to show kids what can happen."
Cyrus left behind a younger brother Dariush. Yazdani said Dariush shies away from taking any kind of medicine - even cough medicine.
He's learned his lesson, Yazdani said, but at what cost?
Facts about OxyContin
What it is:
An opiate prescribed for pain relief
How teens use it: Oxy can be taken as a pill, crushed up and snorted, melted and smoked or injected. Smoking is the most common method
Slang terms:
OC, Ox, 80's, Beans, Norcos, Watsons
What to look for: Paraphernalia consisting of aluminum foil, lighters, straws, syringes and spoons burnt on one side
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Howard K. Stern Appears in L.A. Court
LOS ANGELES -- Arraignment has been delayed for Anna Nicole Smith's longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, and a psychiatrist accused of over-supplying the one-time Playboy playmate with prescription drugs.
The 40-year-old Stern and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, 61, appeared briefly in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday, but a court official postponed the hearing until May 13.
Each were charged with six felonies March 12, including conspiracy, unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance and prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict.
Dr. Sandeep Kapoor is also charged in the case. He is scheduled to be arraigned on May 13th as well.
The three are accused of knowingly supplying Smith with excessive amounts of addictive prescription drugs prior to her overdose death in 2007.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown has said Stern was the "principal enabler" and that Drs. Eroshevich and Kapoor were "prescribing drugs excessively to a known addict and using false and fictitious names all in violation of the law and in furtherance of a conspiracy."
"These people were caught up in being in a relationship with and being around the celebrity Anna Nicole Smith," Brown said.
The charges allege that the trio conspired to give opiates, benzodiazapines and other controlled substances to the former model between June 5, 2004, and January 26, 2007, just two weeks before her death from an overdose.
Kapoor and Eroshevich are also each charged with one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by "fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," and one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by giving a false name or address.
Stern and Kapoor are free on $20,000 bond. Eroshevich is free on $20,000 bail.
The investigation leading to the charges against the three began in October 2007, when investigators served search warrants at various medical offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The offices of Eroshevich and Kapoor were both searched.
Anna Nicole Smith died on February 8, 2007 of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in Hollywood, Florida. She was 39-years-old at the time.
Eleven prescription medications were found in Smith's hotel room the day she died, according to the medical examiner. Also, more than 600 pills were missing from prescriptions that were only several weeks old when Smith died.
Most of the drugs were prescribed in Stern's name, and none were prescribed in Smith's own name. Prosecutors say some of the medications included valium, vicodin, xanax, ambien and methadone.
The medical examiner's office has said that Eroshevich authorized all the prescription medications found in the room.
Eroshevich's attorney acknowledged that his client wrote some of the prescriptions using fictitious names for Smith, but said she did so for "privacy reasons," not to commit fraud.
At the time of her death, Smith had just given birth to a daughter, Dannielynn Hope. The girl became the focus of a lengthy custody battle between Stern and photographer Larry Birkhead.
DNA tests ultimately determined that Birkhead was the father, and he was granted sole custody of Dannielynn.
Smith's death also followed shortly after the death of her 20-year-old son Daniel in September 2006, also from an accidental drug overdose.
Eroshevich began treating Smith following Daniel's death. She traveled with the starlet on several occasions over a six-month period to the Bahamas, where Smith was living with Stern.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
The 40-year-old Stern and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, 61, appeared briefly in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday, but a court official postponed the hearing until May 13.
Each were charged with six felonies March 12, including conspiracy, unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance and prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict.
Dr. Sandeep Kapoor is also charged in the case. He is scheduled to be arraigned on May 13th as well.
The three are accused of knowingly supplying Smith with excessive amounts of addictive prescription drugs prior to her overdose death in 2007.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown has said Stern was the "principal enabler" and that Drs. Eroshevich and Kapoor were "prescribing drugs excessively to a known addict and using false and fictitious names all in violation of the law and in furtherance of a conspiracy."
"These people were caught up in being in a relationship with and being around the celebrity Anna Nicole Smith," Brown said.
The charges allege that the trio conspired to give opiates, benzodiazapines and other controlled substances to the former model between June 5, 2004, and January 26, 2007, just two weeks before her death from an overdose.
Kapoor and Eroshevich are also each charged with one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by "fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," and one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by giving a false name or address.
Stern and Kapoor are free on $20,000 bond. Eroshevich is free on $20,000 bail.
The investigation leading to the charges against the three began in October 2007, when investigators served search warrants at various medical offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The offices of Eroshevich and Kapoor were both searched.
Anna Nicole Smith died on February 8, 2007 of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in Hollywood, Florida. She was 39-years-old at the time.
Eleven prescription medications were found in Smith's hotel room the day she died, according to the medical examiner. Also, more than 600 pills were missing from prescriptions that were only several weeks old when Smith died.
Most of the drugs were prescribed in Stern's name, and none were prescribed in Smith's own name. Prosecutors say some of the medications included valium, vicodin, xanax, ambien and methadone.
The medical examiner's office has said that Eroshevich authorized all the prescription medications found in the room.
Eroshevich's attorney acknowledged that his client wrote some of the prescriptions using fictitious names for Smith, but said she did so for "privacy reasons," not to commit fraud.
At the time of her death, Smith had just given birth to a daughter, Dannielynn Hope. The girl became the focus of a lengthy custody battle between Stern and photographer Larry Birkhead.
DNA tests ultimately determined that Birkhead was the father, and he was granted sole custody of Dannielynn.
Smith's death also followed shortly after the death of her 20-year-old son Daniel in September 2006, also from an accidental drug overdose.
Eroshevich began treating Smith following Daniel's death. She traveled with the starlet on several occasions over a six-month period to the Bahamas, where Smith was living with Stern.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Robbery Suspect In Custody After Police Standoff
Man, armed with gun, threatened to kill himself
HUNTINGTON -- Police now have the robbery suspect in custody after a standoff on Huntington's East End Tuesday Night.
Zachary Melba of Huntington allegedly robbed a CVS Pharmacy on 29th Street led police on a chase to a nearby parking lot and threatened to kill himself.
Authorities, including a SWAT team blocked off the area around 29th Street from 5th Avenue to 8th Avenue for more than 90 minutes.
Melba allegedly robbed the pharmacy around 9:15 p.m. and escaped with an unknown amount of oxycontin. He then drove to a parking lot at Spurlock's Warehouse, where he told police he was going to kill himself.
No one was injured in the standoff.
Authorities took Melba out on a stretcher and will be taken to a hospital for observation. Police believe that he took some of the oxycontin and will be observed overnight and later arrested.
HUNTINGTON -- Police now have the robbery suspect in custody after a standoff on Huntington's East End Tuesday Night.
Zachary Melba of Huntington allegedly robbed a CVS Pharmacy on 29th Street led police on a chase to a nearby parking lot and threatened to kill himself.
Authorities, including a SWAT team blocked off the area around 29th Street from 5th Avenue to 8th Avenue for more than 90 minutes.
Melba allegedly robbed the pharmacy around 9:15 p.m. and escaped with an unknown amount of oxycontin. He then drove to a parking lot at Spurlock's Warehouse, where he told police he was going to kill himself.
No one was injured in the standoff.
Authorities took Melba out on a stretcher and will be taken to a hospital for observation. Police believe that he took some of the oxycontin and will be observed overnight and later arrested.
Doctor gets five years probation in drug case
WARREN - A Vienna Township physician will serve 90 days in an alternative sentencing program and five years on probation after pleading guilty to drug charges stemming from allegations that he traded Vicodin for sexual favors.
Trumbull Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan sentenced Dr. Mark Davis, 47, of Howland, Tuesday on two counts of drug trafficking. During the sentencing Logan chastised Davis for violating his position of trust.
The judge called charges against Davis ''offensive'' and said he was a disappointment to the community.
The doctor, who had many letters of support from patients and community members, apologized to the court and said the charges have humiliated him and have affected the two most important things in his life, his career and his family.
''The hardest thing was explaining this to my son,'' Davis said. ''You always hope your children are proud of you. I hope they are some day.''
Davis had pleaded guilty Jan. 27 to the two fifth-degree felonies. Davis had faced a maximum penalty of between six months and 12 months in jail.
The charges followed prosecutors' claim that Davis gave Vicodin in exchange for sexual favors to two female informants posing as patients. Assistant county prosecutor Gina Buccino-Arnaut said Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigators used confidential informants on Aug. 6, 2006, and Jan. 5, 2007, at the offices where Davis has a family practice.
Arnaut said she forwarded Davis' conviction to the Ohio Medical Board. The board hasn't contacted Davis yet concerning any sanctions, according to Davis' attorney John Juhasz.
Agents detailed how they put Davis' office under surveillance, and an affidavit also includes photos of the doctor's office and the Jeep he drove.
An informant used an audio and video camera on at least one occasion, resulting in one of the charges.
One patient in 2004 told agents with the state pharmacy board that a female friend who worked as a barmaid suggested that Davis could prescribe OxyContin for her. The patient admitted to agents she had a secret calling code that allowed her to meet the doctor after hours in his office, where they had sex, drank vodka and orange juice, and she would return the next day to pick up a prescription for 80 or 160 OxyContin.
A licensed doctor of osteopathic medicine, Davis, who lives in Brittany Oaks, has practiced since 1988 and specialized in family practice. He graduated in 1987 from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Trumbull Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan sentenced Dr. Mark Davis, 47, of Howland, Tuesday on two counts of drug trafficking. During the sentencing Logan chastised Davis for violating his position of trust.
The judge called charges against Davis ''offensive'' and said he was a disappointment to the community.
The doctor, who had many letters of support from patients and community members, apologized to the court and said the charges have humiliated him and have affected the two most important things in his life, his career and his family.
''The hardest thing was explaining this to my son,'' Davis said. ''You always hope your children are proud of you. I hope they are some day.''
Davis had pleaded guilty Jan. 27 to the two fifth-degree felonies. Davis had faced a maximum penalty of between six months and 12 months in jail.
The charges followed prosecutors' claim that Davis gave Vicodin in exchange for sexual favors to two female informants posing as patients. Assistant county prosecutor Gina Buccino-Arnaut said Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigators used confidential informants on Aug. 6, 2006, and Jan. 5, 2007, at the offices where Davis has a family practice.
Arnaut said she forwarded Davis' conviction to the Ohio Medical Board. The board hasn't contacted Davis yet concerning any sanctions, according to Davis' attorney John Juhasz.
Agents detailed how they put Davis' office under surveillance, and an affidavit also includes photos of the doctor's office and the Jeep he drove.
An informant used an audio and video camera on at least one occasion, resulting in one of the charges.
One patient in 2004 told agents with the state pharmacy board that a female friend who worked as a barmaid suggested that Davis could prescribe OxyContin for her. The patient admitted to agents she had a secret calling code that allowed her to meet the doctor after hours in his office, where they had sex, drank vodka and orange juice, and she would return the next day to pick up a prescription for 80 or 160 OxyContin.
A licensed doctor of osteopathic medicine, Davis, who lives in Brittany Oaks, has practiced since 1988 and specialized in family practice. He graduated in 1987 from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
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