Opiates elicit their powerful effects by activating opiate receptors that are widely distributed throughout the brain and body. Once an opiate reaches the brain, it quickly activates the opiate receptors that are found in many brain regions and produces an effect that correlates with the area of the brain involved.
Two important effects produced by opiates, such as morphine, are pleasure (or reward) and pain relief. The brain itself also produces substances known as endorphins that activate the opiate receptors. Research indicates that endorphins are involved in many things, including respiration, nausea, vomiting, pain modulation, and hormonal regulation.
When opiates are prescribed by a physician for the treatment of pain and are taken in the prescribed dosage, they are safe and there is little chance of addiction.
However, when opiates are abused and taken in excessive doses, addiction can result.
Opiate: Reward System
Findings from animal research indicate that, like cocaine and other abused drugs, opiates can also activate the brain's reward system. When a person injects, sniffs, or orally ingests heroin (or morphine), the drug travels quickly to the brain through the bloodstream.
Once in the brain, the heroin is rapidly converted to morphine, which then activates opiate receptors located throughout the brain, including within the reward system.
Because of its chemical structure, heroin penetrates the brain more quickly than other opiates, which is probably why many addicts prefer heroin.
Within the reward system, the morphine activates opiate receptors in the VTA, nucleus accumbens, and cerebral cortex (refer to the Introduction for information on the reward system). Research suggests that stimulation of opiate receptors by morphine results in feelings of reward and activates the pleasure circuit by causing greater amounts of dopamine to be released within the nucleus accumbens. This causes an intense euphoria, or rush, that lasts only briefly and is followed by a few hours of a relaxed, contented state. This excessive release of dopamine and stimulation of the reward system can lead to addiction.
Opiates also act directly on the respiratory center in the brainstem, where they cause a slowdown in activity. This results in a decrease in breathing rate. Excessive amounts of an opiate, like heroin, can cause the respiratory centers to shut down breathing altogether. When someone overdoses on heroin, it is the action of heroin in the brainstem respiratory centers that can cause the person to stop breathing and die.
Opiate, Brain and Endorphin
As mentioned earlier, the brain itself produces endorphins that have an important role in the relief or modulation of pain. Sometimes, though, particularly when pain is severe, the brain does not produce enough endorphins to provide pain relief. Fortunately, opiates, such as morphine are very powerful pain relieving medications. When used properly under the care of a physician, opiates can relieve severe pain without causing addiction.
Although endorphins are not always adequate to relieve pain, they are very important for survival. If an animal or person is injured and needs to escape a harmful situation, it would be difficult to do so while experiencing severe pain. However, endorphins that are released immediately following an injury can provide enough pain relief to allow escape from a harmful situation. Later, when it is safe, the endorphin levels decrease and intense pain may be felt. This also is important for survival. If the endorphins continued to blunt the pain, it would be easy to ignore an injury and then not seek medical care.
There are several types of opiate receptors, including the delta, mu, and kappa receptors. Each of these three receptors is involved in controlling different brain functions. For example, opiates and endorphins are able to block pain signals by binding to the mu receptor site. The powerful new technology of cloning has enabled scientists to copy the genes that make each of these receptors. This in turn is allowing researchers to conduct laboratory studies to better understand how opiates act in the brain and, more specifically, how opiates interact with each opiate receptor to produce their effects. This information may eventually lead to more effective treatments for pain and opiate addiction.
Opiates: Pain Relief
Feelings of pain are produced when specialized nerves are activated by trauma to some part of the body, either through injury or illness. These specialized nerves, which are located throughout the body, carry the pain message to the spinal cord. After reaching the spinal cord, the message is relayed to other neurons, some of which carry it to the brain. Opiates help to relieve pain by acting in both the spinal cord and brain. At the level of the spinal cord, opiates interfere with the transmission of the pain messages between neurons and therefore prevent them from reaching the brain. This blockade of pain messages protects a person from experiencing too much pain. This is known as analgesia.
Opiates also act in the brain to help relieve pain, but the way in which they accomplish this is different than in the spinal cord.
There are several areas in the brain that are involved in interpreting pain messages and in subjective responses to pain. These brain regions are what allow a person to know he or she is experiencing pain and that it is unpleasant. Opiates also act in these brain regions, but they don't block the pain messages themselves. Rather, they change the subjective experience of the pain. This is why a person receiving morphine for pain may say that they still feel the pain but that it doesn't bother them anymore.
Get Help Now
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Las Vegas Rapid Detox can free you from your dependency and get your life back.
Monday, January 26, 2009
V.I.P. Rapid Opiate Detox Way
We perform Medical Rapid Detoxification, using medications including Clonidine and Naloxone. The withdrawal process is accelerated, under anesthesia, to help people addicted to opiates/narcotics and overcome most of the bulk of physical addiction. The procedure lasts 8 hours under anesthesia and 28 hours of immediate recovery.
We have successfully treated of Patients Physically Addicted to Opiates: from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, South America, and North America.
We Received Patients from all over the World in a Fully Accredited Medical Hospital located in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Safety: Treatment is administered one-on-one by a Board-Certified Anesthesiologist.
Experience: Rapid Detox Medical Director, 18 year experience in Cardiac Surgery Anesthesia, Intensive Care Unit & 13 years experience in Pain Management.
Facility: Our Clinic is located on Campus across the parking lot Emergency Entrance of the Hospital.
Hospital: State of the Art and Accredited by the Joint Commission of Accreditation.
Our Las Vegas location: Offers convenience, security from paparazzi and discretion. No one back home needs to know what you actually did in Vegas. What Happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Cost: Is $12,000 and not covered by most insurance companies.
Post Operation Care: Patients have the Choice.
Affiliates: Rehabilitation centers and staying there might be covered by some insurance companies or our Affiliate Hotel.
Most cases: Patients rather be at the hotel, recovering with our Nurse.
Chief Nurse: 13 years of experience, has patience, with Patients in hospital, medical surgical unit, emergency room, intensive care unit, triage, mental, psychiatric health, medical clinics, convalescent, assisted living homes, retirement homes, private duty, sports medicine, case management, celebrities, and Home Health.
V.I.P Care: one-on-one with the Chief Nurse, on-call 24/7 close will be adjacent to your room, and will be very happy to assist you, by re-assurance, empathy, post-operation instructions/questions/answers, and anything you need to feel safe, secure, and provide medications, as needed.
Priority: We treat you like Family, because you're a Very Important Patient. Maintenance follow-up call made after a month, to hear about any changes in condition.
Transportation: available to Airport. Then patients go home for out-patient services in their area for follow-up.
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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Teens Supply Of Oxycontin Busted
CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. -- Narcotics officers say they have shut down a major supplier of prescription drugs to high school and young college students in South Cherokee County.
Three weeks ago the Cherokee Multi Agency Narcotics Squad (CMANS) received information that teenagers were being supplied and abusing the prescription pain killer OxyContin. During that investigation, a significant dealer of the drug was identified according to Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison.
On Friday, they served a search warrant at the home of 49-year old Marc Peyton. Investigators say they learned during the investigation that Peyton's home on Copperhead Road in Acworth was a place teens knew they could get the drug.
Sheriff Garrison said information from a number of undercover purchases of the drug pointed them to Peyton's home. "We think at times he may have been selling 150-pills a week, which is not huge, but it's certainly a major supplier for the region," Sheriff Garrison said.
Peyton and nine others were charged with various drug charges including possession and distribution:
-- Gregory Davis, 35, of Cartersville was charged with possession of a controlled substance and sale of OxyContin.
-- Larry Kines, 49, of Powder Springs was charged with possession of OxyContin with intent to distribute.
-- Craig Jakubczyk, 26, of Kennesaw was charged with trafficking methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
-- Thomas Knight Jr., 25, of Dallas was charged with trafficking methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
-- Jason Gazaway, 26, of Acworth was charged with possession of OxyContin.
-- Kelsey Bos, 19, of Woodstock was charged with possession of OxyContin.
-- Jesse Clark, 17, of Boaz, Alabama was charged with possession of methamphetamine.
-- Robert Clark Jr., 20, of Boaz, Alabama was charged with possession of methamphetamine.
-- Robert Clark Sr., 45, of Kennesaw was charged with possession of methamphetamine.
Cherokee County deputies seized 195-prescription pills of OxyContin, methamphetamine and some cash. Sheriff Garrison says Peyton got the pills by faking pain illnesses, and paying other people to fake illnesses to get the prescriptions.
While serving the search warrant a 19-year old female, a 2007 graduate of Woodstock High School was in the residence purchasing OxyContin, according to investigators. The sheriff says two other females pulled up to the house looking to purchase the drug. "They were actually silly enough to pull down the driveway with patrol cars sitting there," Sheriff Garrison said.
OxyContin is a popular pain killing medication that has become popular among teenagers who think prescription drugs are safer. Sheriff Garrison says abusers crush the time-release tablets, making the initial dose more potent. He says sometimes they will mix it with alcohol which is a potentially lethal venture.
The arrests will lessen the availability of the drug in south Cherokee County according to the sheriff. He says other suppliers were identified during the investigation and there may be more arrests.
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Three weeks ago the Cherokee Multi Agency Narcotics Squad (CMANS) received information that teenagers were being supplied and abusing the prescription pain killer OxyContin. During that investigation, a significant dealer of the drug was identified according to Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison.
On Friday, they served a search warrant at the home of 49-year old Marc Peyton. Investigators say they learned during the investigation that Peyton's home on Copperhead Road in Acworth was a place teens knew they could get the drug.
Sheriff Garrison said information from a number of undercover purchases of the drug pointed them to Peyton's home. "We think at times he may have been selling 150-pills a week, which is not huge, but it's certainly a major supplier for the region," Sheriff Garrison said.
Peyton and nine others were charged with various drug charges including possession and distribution:
-- Gregory Davis, 35, of Cartersville was charged with possession of a controlled substance and sale of OxyContin.
-- Larry Kines, 49, of Powder Springs was charged with possession of OxyContin with intent to distribute.
-- Craig Jakubczyk, 26, of Kennesaw was charged with trafficking methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
-- Thomas Knight Jr., 25, of Dallas was charged with trafficking methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
-- Jason Gazaway, 26, of Acworth was charged with possession of OxyContin.
-- Kelsey Bos, 19, of Woodstock was charged with possession of OxyContin.
-- Jesse Clark, 17, of Boaz, Alabama was charged with possession of methamphetamine.
-- Robert Clark Jr., 20, of Boaz, Alabama was charged with possession of methamphetamine.
-- Robert Clark Sr., 45, of Kennesaw was charged with possession of methamphetamine.
Cherokee County deputies seized 195-prescription pills of OxyContin, methamphetamine and some cash. Sheriff Garrison says Peyton got the pills by faking pain illnesses, and paying other people to fake illnesses to get the prescriptions.
While serving the search warrant a 19-year old female, a 2007 graduate of Woodstock High School was in the residence purchasing OxyContin, according to investigators. The sheriff says two other females pulled up to the house looking to purchase the drug. "They were actually silly enough to pull down the driveway with patrol cars sitting there," Sheriff Garrison said.
OxyContin is a popular pain killing medication that has become popular among teenagers who think prescription drugs are safer. Sheriff Garrison says abusers crush the time-release tablets, making the initial dose more potent. He says sometimes they will mix it with alcohol which is a potentially lethal venture.
The arrests will lessen the availability of the drug in south Cherokee County according to the sheriff. He says other suppliers were identified during the investigation and there may be more arrests.
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Migraines
Migraines
Migraines are a painful and debilitating condition that can be hard to explain to people who don't get them. This area can help people who get migraines learn more about their headaches and what can be done to manage them.
It's important to understand that there is no "cure" for migraine. However, there is hope. Scientists are beginning to discover the causes of migraine. Today there are migraine prevention techniques and safe, cost-effective medications that can help you to manage your headaches.
Understanding Migraines:
Migraine is a lot more than just a bad headache. It's a complex disorder that is often accompanied by many symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound. But for many, the worst symptom is the pain.
Do I Have Migraines?
An international panel of experts created the following criteria to help doctors diagnose migraines. You may be getting migraines if your headache pain is:
* On one side of the head
* Pulsating or throbbing
* Aggravated by routine physical activity, such as climbing stairs
* Inhibits or prohibits usual activity
* Accompanied by nausea or vomiting
* Accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound
Why Me?
Research into the exact cause of migraine is ongoing. Many experts believe that certain people are born with a predisposition to headache — making them more susceptible to migraine. Since migraine runs in families, researchers have begun to use advanced techniques to identify the gene that causes headaches. Exciting developments for identifying the true cause of migraines are on the horizon.
Characteristics
Many scientists now believe that serotonin is the main culprit in the chemical reactions that occur during a migraine. Serotonin is a chemical in your brain that can constrict blood vessels and stimulate pain receptors. Levels of serotonin are unusually high just before a migraine and unusually low during the migraine attack.
Attacks can occur any time, day or night, though they often occur first thing in the morning. Routine activity, exercise or slight head movement makes the pain worse. Some patients report that the simple act of trying to lift their heads off the pillow results in excruciating pain. Symptoms may appear up to several hours before the headache, or the pain may strike without any warning. Some people feel irritable during migraine attacks and seek solitude, often in a darkened room. Following an attack, many people feel washed out and listless.
Signs of an Impending Attack
When a migraine is on its way, some people say they can feel it coming. It's like their bodies have a built-in warning system. Getting to know these warning signs can help you take action at the best time — before the pain begins.
The signs can be subtle. You might have a change in mood — either up or down — or not feel like eating. You might feel washed out and tired. You might even feel dizzy or numb. Either way, if you notice any changes that seem out of the ordinary, there's a chance that a migraine may soon follow.
As the pain gets closer, your body may also send visual warning signs. You might see flashing lights, bright zig-zagging lines, or a blind spot. Experts call this special type of headache "migraine with aura."
Common Triggers
Certain foods, beverages, or situations may bring on or trigger your migraines. If you think you get migraines, figuring out what your specific triggers are can be well worth the effort.
Not all migraine triggers apply to you. Nor do the ones that can affect you apply in every situation. So don't lose heart at the list of dietary triggers below. If you think you get migraines, figuring out what your specific triggers are can be well worth the effort involved.
Your diet can trigger migraines
Review the list of migraine triggers below and try to figure out which ones affect you. Keeping a headache diary may help you to avoid these triggers.
* alcoholic drinks
* coffee, tea, cola
* aged cheese
* chocolate
* monosodium glutamate (MSG)
* nitrates (food preservatives)
* smoked fish
* nuts
* pickled foods
Other migraine triggers
You should also know about migraine triggers that relate to how you live. Do any of the following seem linked to your headaches?
* missed meals
* psychological stress
* fatigue or irregular sleep
* changes in weather
* traveling to different altitudes
It's also well known that migraine attacks can increase or decrease in response to hormonal fluctuations, such as those that happen during menstruation, pregnancy and menopause.
That's why migraines may sometimes coincide with a menstrual period. It's also why you may have stopped getting migraines during pregnancy. And after menopause, there's a good chance you'll never get migraines again.
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Migraines are a painful and debilitating condition that can be hard to explain to people who don't get them. This area can help people who get migraines learn more about their headaches and what can be done to manage them.
It's important to understand that there is no "cure" for migraine. However, there is hope. Scientists are beginning to discover the causes of migraine. Today there are migraine prevention techniques and safe, cost-effective medications that can help you to manage your headaches.
Understanding Migraines:
Migraine is a lot more than just a bad headache. It's a complex disorder that is often accompanied by many symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound. But for many, the worst symptom is the pain.
Do I Have Migraines?
An international panel of experts created the following criteria to help doctors diagnose migraines. You may be getting migraines if your headache pain is:
* On one side of the head
* Pulsating or throbbing
* Aggravated by routine physical activity, such as climbing stairs
* Inhibits or prohibits usual activity
* Accompanied by nausea or vomiting
* Accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound
Why Me?
Research into the exact cause of migraine is ongoing. Many experts believe that certain people are born with a predisposition to headache — making them more susceptible to migraine. Since migraine runs in families, researchers have begun to use advanced techniques to identify the gene that causes headaches. Exciting developments for identifying the true cause of migraines are on the horizon.
Characteristics
Many scientists now believe that serotonin is the main culprit in the chemical reactions that occur during a migraine. Serotonin is a chemical in your brain that can constrict blood vessels and stimulate pain receptors. Levels of serotonin are unusually high just before a migraine and unusually low during the migraine attack.
Attacks can occur any time, day or night, though they often occur first thing in the morning. Routine activity, exercise or slight head movement makes the pain worse. Some patients report that the simple act of trying to lift their heads off the pillow results in excruciating pain. Symptoms may appear up to several hours before the headache, or the pain may strike without any warning. Some people feel irritable during migraine attacks and seek solitude, often in a darkened room. Following an attack, many people feel washed out and listless.
Signs of an Impending Attack
When a migraine is on its way, some people say they can feel it coming. It's like their bodies have a built-in warning system. Getting to know these warning signs can help you take action at the best time — before the pain begins.
The signs can be subtle. You might have a change in mood — either up or down — or not feel like eating. You might feel washed out and tired. You might even feel dizzy or numb. Either way, if you notice any changes that seem out of the ordinary, there's a chance that a migraine may soon follow.
As the pain gets closer, your body may also send visual warning signs. You might see flashing lights, bright zig-zagging lines, or a blind spot. Experts call this special type of headache "migraine with aura."
Common Triggers
Certain foods, beverages, or situations may bring on or trigger your migraines. If you think you get migraines, figuring out what your specific triggers are can be well worth the effort.
Not all migraine triggers apply to you. Nor do the ones that can affect you apply in every situation. So don't lose heart at the list of dietary triggers below. If you think you get migraines, figuring out what your specific triggers are can be well worth the effort involved.
Your diet can trigger migraines
Review the list of migraine triggers below and try to figure out which ones affect you. Keeping a headache diary may help you to avoid these triggers.
* alcoholic drinks
* coffee, tea, cola
* aged cheese
* chocolate
* monosodium glutamate (MSG)
* nitrates (food preservatives)
* smoked fish
* nuts
* pickled foods
Other migraine triggers
You should also know about migraine triggers that relate to how you live. Do any of the following seem linked to your headaches?
* missed meals
* psychological stress
* fatigue or irregular sleep
* changes in weather
* traveling to different altitudes
It's also well known that migraine attacks can increase or decrease in response to hormonal fluctuations, such as those that happen during menstruation, pregnancy and menopause.
That's why migraines may sometimes coincide with a menstrual period. It's also why you may have stopped getting migraines during pregnancy. And after menopause, there's a good chance you'll never get migraines again.
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Headache Types
While there are many different kinds of headaches, tension-type and migraine headaches are most common. Since these two headache types may be treated differently, determining which type you have is a critical step in relieving the pain.
Tension-type headaches are sometimes called muscle contraction headaches. The pain is usually a dull ache on both sides of the head and has been described as feeling like a tight band across the head.
Migraine-type headaches produce moderate to severe pounding or throbbing pain, common on one side of the head. Migraine pain is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, dizziness and sensitivity to light and/or sounds. To answer your questions about migraines, visit the Migraines area of the Headache Center.
Other types of headaches you may have heard of include:
Cluster headaches are relatively uncommon, but cause excruciating, sharp-as-knife pain around one eye. Attacks occur daily in clusters of weeks or months , then disappear completely for months or years. 90% of sufferers are males, most aged 20-30. See your doctor if you think you have a cluster headache.
Rebound headaches occur in patients whose persistent headache pain causes them to overuse headache medication. This may cause symptoms to worsen instead of improve. See your doctor if you are taking maximum recommended doses without relief.
Tension-type headaches are sometimes called muscle contraction headaches. The pain is usually a dull ache on both sides of the head and has been described as feeling like a tight band across the head.
Migraine-type headaches produce moderate to severe pounding or throbbing pain, common on one side of the head. Migraine pain is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, dizziness and sensitivity to light and/or sounds. To answer your questions about migraines, visit the Migraines area of the Headache Center.
Other types of headaches you may have heard of include:
Cluster headaches are relatively uncommon, but cause excruciating, sharp-as-knife pain around one eye. Attacks occur daily in clusters of weeks or months , then disappear completely for months or years. 90% of sufferers are males, most aged 20-30. See your doctor if you think you have a cluster headache.
Rebound headaches occur in patients whose persistent headache pain causes them to overuse headache medication. This may cause symptoms to worsen instead of improve. See your doctor if you are taking maximum recommended doses without relief.
Prescription drugs find place in teen culture
When a teenager in Jan Sigerson's office mentioned a "pharm party" in February, Sigerson thought the youth was talking about a keg party out on a farm.
"Pharm," it turned out, was short for pharmaceuticals, such as the powerful painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin. Sigerson, program director for Journeys, a teen drug treatment program in Omaha, soon learned that area youths were organizing parties to down fistfuls of prescription drugs. Since February, several more youths at Journeys have mentioned that they attended pharm parties, Sigerson says.
"When you start to see a pattern, you know it's becoming pretty widespread," she says. "I expect it to get worse before it gets better."
Drug counselors across the USA are beginning to hear about similar pill-popping parties, which are part of a rapidly developing underground culture that surrounds the rising abuse of prescription drugs by teens and young adults.
It's a culture with its own lingo: Bowls and baggies of random pills often are called "trail mix," and on Internet chat sites, collecting pills from the family medicine chest is called "pharming."
Carol Falkowski, director of research communications for the Hazelden Foundation, says young abusers of prescription drugs also have begun using the Internet to share "recipes" for getting high. Some websites are so simplistic, she says, that they refer to pills by color, rather than their brand names, content or potency.
That, Falkowski says, could help explain why emergency rooms are reporting that teens and young adults increasingly are showing up overdosed on bizarre and potentially lethal combinations of pills.
Overdoses of prescription and over-the-counter drugs accounted for about one-quarter of the 1.3 million drug-related emergency room admissions in 2004, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported last month.
The abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs — which barely registered a blip in drug-use surveys a decade ago — is escalating at what Falkowski and other analysts say is an alarming rate.
In a 2005 survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 19% of U.S. teenagers — roughly 4.5 million youths — reported having taken prescription painkillers such as Vicodin or OxyContin or stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall to get high.
Vicodin has been particularly popular in recent years; a study by the University of Michigan in 2005 found that nearly 10% of 12th-graders had used it in the previous year. About 5.5% said they had used OxyContin. Both drugs are now more popular among high school seniors than Ecstasy and cocaine.
Marijuana is still the most popular drug by far; about one-third of the 12th-graders surveyed said they had used it in the previous year.
More socially acceptable
Falkowski, whose foundation is a treatment center based in Center City, Minn., says prescription pills have become popular among youths because they are easy to get and represent a more socially acceptable way of getting high than taking street drugs.
Some kids, she says, are self-medicating undiagnosed depression or anxiety, while others are using stimulants to try to get an edge on tests and studying.
Falkowski says prescription drugs are familiar mood-altering substances for a generation that grew up as prescriptions soared for Ritalin and other stimulants to treat maladies such as attention-deficit disorder. "Five million kids take prescription drugs every day for behavior disorders," she says.
"It's not unusual for kids to share pills with their friends. There have been incidents where kids bring a Ziploc baggie full of pills to school and share them with other kids."
Pharm parties, she says, are "simply everyone pooling whatever pills they have together and having a good time on a Saturday night. Kids ... don't think about the consequences."
Lisa Cappiello, 39, of Brooklyn, N.Y., says that seemed to be the case with her son, Eddie. She says she knew that he had tried marijuana at 15 and sneaked beers at school.
But it wasn't until after he graduated from high school and took a year off before college that Cappiello realized the extent of her son's drug use — and the hold prescription drugs had on him.
"In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it went from marijuana and an occasional beer to so much Xanax that (one day) my husband had to pick him up when he feel asleep on a street corner waiting for some friends," she said. "He hid his drug use from me so well."
The next day, Eddie Cappiello admitted to his parents that he had taken 15 pills of Xanax, a brand name for benzodiazepine that acts as a sedative. He told his parents Xanax helped him deal with anxiety and depression.
Eddie rejected professional help and vowed to stop taking pills, his mother says. He was clean for 10 months, she says, before he was hospitalized in July 2005 after overdosing.
Two months later, he entered a 28-day treatment program, his mother says. After he was discharged, he stayed clean for about two months — then relapsed into weekend binging: 40 to 50 pills and a quart of Jack Daniel's, sometimes by himself, sometimes with friends, Lisa Cappiello says.
Eddie Cappiello, 22, died in his bed on Feb. 17 after overdosing on a mix of pharmaceuticals. He left behind a girlfriend and two young children.
A toxicology report said he had 134 milligrams of Xanax — the equivalent of 67 pills — and an opioid derivative in his system, his mother says.
"Before four years ago, I never even heard the word Xanax," Lisa Cappiello says. "Now ... I know kids as young as 12 are using it. Then I found out that Vicodin was a very big party drug. Before school, after school, at parties. Kids mixed them with alcohol and Ecstasy. It was baffling to me."
Cappiello says police, teachers and parents are so fixated on street drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy that they are missing the start of an epidemic.
"Eddie was not the first kid to die in this neighborhood from prescription drugs," she says.
'Troubling trend'
In recent months, federal anti-drug officials have acknowledged that they didn't anticipate the quick escalation of prescription-drug abuse. Most government-sponsored drug prevention programs focus on marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and methamphetamine.
"We were taken by surprise when we started to see a high instance of abuse of prescription drugs," says Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is collecting information about how teens perceive, get and use prescription drugs so it can try to craft an effective prevention campaign.
In a bulletin last year, NIDA called the increase in pharmaceutical drug abuse among teens "disturbing" and said pharm parties were a "troubling trend."
The increasing availability of prescription drugs is a big reason for the rise in their abuse, Volkow and other drug specialists say.
Pharmaceutical companies' production of two often-abused prescription drugs — hydrocodone and oxycodone, the active ingredients in drugs such as Vicodin and OxyContin — has risen dramatically as the drugs' popularity for legitimate uses has increased. Drug companies made 29 million doses of oxycodone in 2004, up from 15 million four years earlier. Hydrocodone doses rose from 14 million in 2000 to 24 million in 2004.
The 2005 Partnership survey found that more than three in five teens can easily get prescription painkillers from their parents' medicine cabinets. And as Falkowski says, the rising number of youths being treated with stimulants has made it easier for kids to use such drugs illicitly. About 3% of children are treated with a stimulant such as Adderall or Ritalin, up from less than 1% in 1987.
Almost all of the 13 youths at Phoenix House's intensive outpatient treatment program on New York City's Upper West Side have dabbled in prescription drugs, director Tessa Vining says.
"There's definitely easy access," she says. "Maybe a parent had some surgery and took one or two painkillers from a bottle of 10, and the rest are just hanging out in the medicine cabinet."
After her son died, Cappiello says she wondered how kids in her area were getting pills. She says she learned from police that one local dealer got Xanax from his mother, who had been given a prescription for the drug. Instead of taking the pills, she gave them to her son to sell for $2 to $3 each.
Paul Michaud, 18, of Boston, says he got his first taste of OxyContin pills — he calls them OCs — from a friend during his freshman year in high school.
Until then, Michaud says, he had smoked marijuana daily and taken a Percocet pill occasionally. Michaud's father had recently died of cancer, and Michaud says he was depressed and feeling like an outsider at school. The prescription painkiller made him feel like nothing could faze him, he recalls.
"The first time I did it, I was hooked," says Michaud, who is four months into a yearlong drug treatment program at Phoenix House in Springfield, Mass. He says he quickly became a daily OxyContin user, breaking apart the time-release capsules, crushing pills and snorting the powder from five 80-milligram pills a day.
"They're not very hard to get. I could find OCs easier than I could find pot," Michaud says. "There were plenty of people who sold them," including some dealers who got pills illicitly by mail order.
Cutting off the supply
To try to reduce the supply of prescription drugs on the black market, authorities have shut down several "pill mills" — where doctors prescribe inordinate amounts of narcotics — as well as Internet pharmacies that ship drugs with little medical consultation, says Catherine Harnett, chief of demand reduction for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Last September, DEA agents arrested 18 people allegedly responsible for 4,600 such pharmacies.
A tricky part of the prescription-drug problem, Harnett says, is addressing the perception among youths that pills are safe because they are "medicine." Many teens don't equate taking such pills with using drugs such as heroin or cocaine, she says.
"If you start with pills, it seems fairly sanitary and legitimate," she says. "Kids have been lulled into believing that good medicine can be used recreationally."
Two in five teens in the Partnership study said prescription medicines, even if they are not prescribed by a doctor, are "much safer" to use than illegal drugs.
'A lot to live for'
Phil Bauer of York, Pa., believes his son, Mark, 18, an avid weight lifter, started using prescription drugs to relieve chronic back pain and didn't appreciate the potential risks of taking the drugs.
Bauer says his son never behaved as he imagined a drug addict would. "He wasn't hanging out all night. He had parents who wouldn't let him do that."
Mark Bauer died of an overdose on May 28, 2004. The toxicology report found morphine, oxycodone and acetaminophen — the active ingredient in Tylenol but also an ingredient in Vicodin — in his system, Phil Bauer says.
Before his son's death, "we didn't see a bleary-eyed guy. He wasn't slurring his words," the father says. "He seemed to have a lot to live for. I did not know prescription-drug abuse was a problem. There's so much guilt in that. I don't know if I stuck my head in the ground. I did not see this coming."
Michaud says he didn't equate his OxyContin addiction with hard-core drug abuse. "Where I come from, OC is a rich boys' drug," he says. "I thought, heroin abuse, that's pretty low. I'd never stick a needle in my arm."
However, Michaud says he eventually switched to heroin. "I sniffed it and a week later, I was shooting," he says. "I thought I wasn't like other people doing heroin. I wasn't that low. Come to figure out, it all leads to the same place."
"Pharm," it turned out, was short for pharmaceuticals, such as the powerful painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin. Sigerson, program director for Journeys, a teen drug treatment program in Omaha, soon learned that area youths were organizing parties to down fistfuls of prescription drugs. Since February, several more youths at Journeys have mentioned that they attended pharm parties, Sigerson says.
"When you start to see a pattern, you know it's becoming pretty widespread," she says. "I expect it to get worse before it gets better."
Drug counselors across the USA are beginning to hear about similar pill-popping parties, which are part of a rapidly developing underground culture that surrounds the rising abuse of prescription drugs by teens and young adults.
It's a culture with its own lingo: Bowls and baggies of random pills often are called "trail mix," and on Internet chat sites, collecting pills from the family medicine chest is called "pharming."
Carol Falkowski, director of research communications for the Hazelden Foundation, says young abusers of prescription drugs also have begun using the Internet to share "recipes" for getting high. Some websites are so simplistic, she says, that they refer to pills by color, rather than their brand names, content or potency.
That, Falkowski says, could help explain why emergency rooms are reporting that teens and young adults increasingly are showing up overdosed on bizarre and potentially lethal combinations of pills.
Overdoses of prescription and over-the-counter drugs accounted for about one-quarter of the 1.3 million drug-related emergency room admissions in 2004, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported last month.
The abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs — which barely registered a blip in drug-use surveys a decade ago — is escalating at what Falkowski and other analysts say is an alarming rate.
In a 2005 survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 19% of U.S. teenagers — roughly 4.5 million youths — reported having taken prescription painkillers such as Vicodin or OxyContin or stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall to get high.
Vicodin has been particularly popular in recent years; a study by the University of Michigan in 2005 found that nearly 10% of 12th-graders had used it in the previous year. About 5.5% said they had used OxyContin. Both drugs are now more popular among high school seniors than Ecstasy and cocaine.
Marijuana is still the most popular drug by far; about one-third of the 12th-graders surveyed said they had used it in the previous year.
More socially acceptable
Falkowski, whose foundation is a treatment center based in Center City, Minn., says prescription pills have become popular among youths because they are easy to get and represent a more socially acceptable way of getting high than taking street drugs.
Some kids, she says, are self-medicating undiagnosed depression or anxiety, while others are using stimulants to try to get an edge on tests and studying.
Falkowski says prescription drugs are familiar mood-altering substances for a generation that grew up as prescriptions soared for Ritalin and other stimulants to treat maladies such as attention-deficit disorder. "Five million kids take prescription drugs every day for behavior disorders," she says.
"It's not unusual for kids to share pills with their friends. There have been incidents where kids bring a Ziploc baggie full of pills to school and share them with other kids."
Pharm parties, she says, are "simply everyone pooling whatever pills they have together and having a good time on a Saturday night. Kids ... don't think about the consequences."
Lisa Cappiello, 39, of Brooklyn, N.Y., says that seemed to be the case with her son, Eddie. She says she knew that he had tried marijuana at 15 and sneaked beers at school.
But it wasn't until after he graduated from high school and took a year off before college that Cappiello realized the extent of her son's drug use — and the hold prescription drugs had on him.
"In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it went from marijuana and an occasional beer to so much Xanax that (one day) my husband had to pick him up when he feel asleep on a street corner waiting for some friends," she said. "He hid his drug use from me so well."
The next day, Eddie Cappiello admitted to his parents that he had taken 15 pills of Xanax, a brand name for benzodiazepine that acts as a sedative. He told his parents Xanax helped him deal with anxiety and depression.
Eddie rejected professional help and vowed to stop taking pills, his mother says. He was clean for 10 months, she says, before he was hospitalized in July 2005 after overdosing.
Two months later, he entered a 28-day treatment program, his mother says. After he was discharged, he stayed clean for about two months — then relapsed into weekend binging: 40 to 50 pills and a quart of Jack Daniel's, sometimes by himself, sometimes with friends, Lisa Cappiello says.
Eddie Cappiello, 22, died in his bed on Feb. 17 after overdosing on a mix of pharmaceuticals. He left behind a girlfriend and two young children.
A toxicology report said he had 134 milligrams of Xanax — the equivalent of 67 pills — and an opioid derivative in his system, his mother says.
"Before four years ago, I never even heard the word Xanax," Lisa Cappiello says. "Now ... I know kids as young as 12 are using it. Then I found out that Vicodin was a very big party drug. Before school, after school, at parties. Kids mixed them with alcohol and Ecstasy. It was baffling to me."
Cappiello says police, teachers and parents are so fixated on street drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy that they are missing the start of an epidemic.
"Eddie was not the first kid to die in this neighborhood from prescription drugs," she says.
'Troubling trend'
In recent months, federal anti-drug officials have acknowledged that they didn't anticipate the quick escalation of prescription-drug abuse. Most government-sponsored drug prevention programs focus on marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and methamphetamine.
"We were taken by surprise when we started to see a high instance of abuse of prescription drugs," says Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is collecting information about how teens perceive, get and use prescription drugs so it can try to craft an effective prevention campaign.
In a bulletin last year, NIDA called the increase in pharmaceutical drug abuse among teens "disturbing" and said pharm parties were a "troubling trend."
The increasing availability of prescription drugs is a big reason for the rise in their abuse, Volkow and other drug specialists say.
Pharmaceutical companies' production of two often-abused prescription drugs — hydrocodone and oxycodone, the active ingredients in drugs such as Vicodin and OxyContin — has risen dramatically as the drugs' popularity for legitimate uses has increased. Drug companies made 29 million doses of oxycodone in 2004, up from 15 million four years earlier. Hydrocodone doses rose from 14 million in 2000 to 24 million in 2004.
The 2005 Partnership survey found that more than three in five teens can easily get prescription painkillers from their parents' medicine cabinets. And as Falkowski says, the rising number of youths being treated with stimulants has made it easier for kids to use such drugs illicitly. About 3% of children are treated with a stimulant such as Adderall or Ritalin, up from less than 1% in 1987.
Almost all of the 13 youths at Phoenix House's intensive outpatient treatment program on New York City's Upper West Side have dabbled in prescription drugs, director Tessa Vining says.
"There's definitely easy access," she says. "Maybe a parent had some surgery and took one or two painkillers from a bottle of 10, and the rest are just hanging out in the medicine cabinet."
After her son died, Cappiello says she wondered how kids in her area were getting pills. She says she learned from police that one local dealer got Xanax from his mother, who had been given a prescription for the drug. Instead of taking the pills, she gave them to her son to sell for $2 to $3 each.
Paul Michaud, 18, of Boston, says he got his first taste of OxyContin pills — he calls them OCs — from a friend during his freshman year in high school.
Until then, Michaud says, he had smoked marijuana daily and taken a Percocet pill occasionally. Michaud's father had recently died of cancer, and Michaud says he was depressed and feeling like an outsider at school. The prescription painkiller made him feel like nothing could faze him, he recalls.
"The first time I did it, I was hooked," says Michaud, who is four months into a yearlong drug treatment program at Phoenix House in Springfield, Mass. He says he quickly became a daily OxyContin user, breaking apart the time-release capsules, crushing pills and snorting the powder from five 80-milligram pills a day.
"They're not very hard to get. I could find OCs easier than I could find pot," Michaud says. "There were plenty of people who sold them," including some dealers who got pills illicitly by mail order.
Cutting off the supply
To try to reduce the supply of prescription drugs on the black market, authorities have shut down several "pill mills" — where doctors prescribe inordinate amounts of narcotics — as well as Internet pharmacies that ship drugs with little medical consultation, says Catherine Harnett, chief of demand reduction for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Last September, DEA agents arrested 18 people allegedly responsible for 4,600 such pharmacies.
A tricky part of the prescription-drug problem, Harnett says, is addressing the perception among youths that pills are safe because they are "medicine." Many teens don't equate taking such pills with using drugs such as heroin or cocaine, she says.
"If you start with pills, it seems fairly sanitary and legitimate," she says. "Kids have been lulled into believing that good medicine can be used recreationally."
Two in five teens in the Partnership study said prescription medicines, even if they are not prescribed by a doctor, are "much safer" to use than illegal drugs.
'A lot to live for'
Phil Bauer of York, Pa., believes his son, Mark, 18, an avid weight lifter, started using prescription drugs to relieve chronic back pain and didn't appreciate the potential risks of taking the drugs.
Bauer says his son never behaved as he imagined a drug addict would. "He wasn't hanging out all night. He had parents who wouldn't let him do that."
Mark Bauer died of an overdose on May 28, 2004. The toxicology report found morphine, oxycodone and acetaminophen — the active ingredient in Tylenol but also an ingredient in Vicodin — in his system, Phil Bauer says.
Before his son's death, "we didn't see a bleary-eyed guy. He wasn't slurring his words," the father says. "He seemed to have a lot to live for. I did not know prescription-drug abuse was a problem. There's so much guilt in that. I don't know if I stuck my head in the ground. I did not see this coming."
Michaud says he didn't equate his OxyContin addiction with hard-core drug abuse. "Where I come from, OC is a rich boys' drug," he says. "I thought, heroin abuse, that's pretty low. I'd never stick a needle in my arm."
However, Michaud says he eventually switched to heroin. "I sniffed it and a week later, I was shooting," he says. "I thought I wasn't like other people doing heroin. I wasn't that low. Come to figure out, it all leads to the same place."
Students hospitalized after taking pills at school
OLIN, N.C. -- Parents should lock their medicine cabinets like they lock gun safes.
That's how bad police say the prescription drug abuse problem is among teens.
And the evidence: police say 13 kids popping pills at one Charlotte area middle school.
We talked with one of CMPD’s nationally recognized drug investigators who said, “Apparently it’s very easy.”
Too easy, detective Ernie Kirchen says, for kids to get and abuse prescription drugs.
“They may share the medicine they may sell it. They may come right out of the parents medicine cabinets.”
Police say 13 kids at North Iredell Middle were popping pills. Two got so sick they had to go to the hospital.
Kirchen said, “You have teenagers who think because it’s in a pure form and because it’s very easily accessible that there nothing wrong with it or less dangerous.”
In fact he says the wrong pills in the wrong hands can be very dangerous, even deadly.
Police say the kids at North Iredell were told they were taking Oxycontin and Hydrocodone, when in fact it was Excedrin and some antibiotics.
Kirchen says for teens, prescription drugs seem like an Ok thing to get into. “We see kids that would never think about taking a street drug at all can easily be talked into taking a pill of some sort.”
Three of those North Iredell Middle School students could face criminal charges for distributing those pills.
The two students taken to the hospital after taking the pills were not seriously hurt.
That's how bad police say the prescription drug abuse problem is among teens.
And the evidence: police say 13 kids popping pills at one Charlotte area middle school.
We talked with one of CMPD’s nationally recognized drug investigators who said, “Apparently it’s very easy.”
Too easy, detective Ernie Kirchen says, for kids to get and abuse prescription drugs.
“They may share the medicine they may sell it. They may come right out of the parents medicine cabinets.”
Police say 13 kids at North Iredell Middle were popping pills. Two got so sick they had to go to the hospital.
Kirchen said, “You have teenagers who think because it’s in a pure form and because it’s very easily accessible that there nothing wrong with it or less dangerous.”
In fact he says the wrong pills in the wrong hands can be very dangerous, even deadly.
Police say the kids at North Iredell were told they were taking Oxycontin and Hydrocodone, when in fact it was Excedrin and some antibiotics.
Kirchen says for teens, prescription drugs seem like an Ok thing to get into. “We see kids that would never think about taking a street drug at all can easily be talked into taking a pill of some sort.”
Three of those North Iredell Middle School students could face criminal charges for distributing those pills.
The two students taken to the hospital after taking the pills were not seriously hurt.
Teens Taking Too Much Cold Medicine To Get High
PAW PAW (Newschannel 3) - They're easily available to help cure coughs, colds or other ailments that can slow you down. But young people are finding more dangerous uses for these over-the-counter medicines, and one is becoming more popular than ever. While adults often take them to relieve cold symptoms, some kids in Paw Paw are taking them too, and they are part of a growing and dangerous trend nationwide. They're called Coricidan Cough and Cold pills, which are sold over-the-counter. But to kids looking to get high, they're known as Triple C's, Red Devils, or sometimes Skittles, for their similar appearance to the candy. But the tiny red pills are far from sweet, says Dr. Rashmi Kothar, who works in the Emergency Room at Borgess Hospital. "If you take 20, 30, 40, you can die from it," said Dr. Kothar. It may sound ridiculous to most people, but taking the pills in multiples of ten is exactly what kids are doing, trying to use two ingredients in them to get high. The first is dextromethorphan, an ingredient commonly found in cold medicines, and the second is an antihistamine. "(The antihistamine) can make you really sedated or fall asleep," said Dr. Kothar. "The other medication can cause seizures." Deputy Trever Tate, a Paw Paw Schools Liaison Officer, says kids taking the pills often don't realize what they're taking. "I say, 'Hey, do you know what you're taking?' They'll say, 'I'm not sure, they called it Triple C's'." This nonchalant attitude is very concerning to Dr. Kothar, who says next time may not be a laughing matter. "Maybe this time it's funny, they're acting goofy and get to go home," he said. "But next time, they can come in dead." That thought scares one concerned parent in Paw Paw, who didn't want to reveal her identity. "I had never heard of Triple C's before," she said. And that is what most parents are probably thinking. But this woman's daughter was one of the middle schoolers from Paw Paw who was given twelve of the tiny pills by a high school student. "This is a very real and dangerous situation," she told Newschannel 3. "It has the potential of taking our children from us." But trying to stop this trend in Michigan is hard. The high school girl who handed out pills in Paw Paw only got ten days suspension, and nothing more. Newschannel 3 spoke with the principal at Paw Paw High School, who said if the law was different, they would have tried to get the girl prosecuted. Deputy Tate has also sent a letter to parents in the district, and below are some tips from that letter: 1. Don't be in denial. This problem is not based on socioeconomics, race or gender. It can happen to anyone! 2. Talk to your kids! Ask them about over-the-counter medication abuse. Tell them the dangers and risks that are associated with with this addiction. 3. Keep your eyes open. Your kid's room is your property. Take the time to investigate. They shouldn't have anything to hide from you. Look for items that could be associated with this problem: boxes, bottles, left-over packaging, etc. 4. Keep your ears open. Listen to what your kids are talking about. Common terminology associated with DXM: Robo, Skittles, Triple C's, Vitamin D, etc. 5. Keep track of your kids. Verify that they are going where they tell you they are going. Don't lose trust in them, but certainly realize they are teenagers and they will test their boundaries. You are in charge, not them! If you have children in the Paw Paw Public Schools and you have any questions, you can call School Liaison Deputy Tate at (269) 657-8898 ext. 6401.
Investigators: Prescription probe complete
Flagler County Sheriff's investigators have reported wrapping up a three-month investigation Friday evening into an illegal operation that allegedly was distribution of prescription pain killers in the county.
Investigators are charging that the organization was led by Justin Douglas of Ormond Beach.
"Douglas recruited others to conduct fraudulent doctor visits for the purpose of obtaining prescriptions for the pain killer Roxicodone," according to a release from the sheriff's office. "Roxicodone contains the controlled substance Oxycodone, which is also contained in Oxycontin."
The recruits allegedly filled the prescriptions at local pharmacies and received payment for the doctor visit and the pills from Douglas, the Sheriff's Office stated. The prescriptions averaged from 190 to 300 pills each, investigators said.
The Roxicodone pills were sold on the street for $9 to $12 each, according to the release.
Investigators say that Douglas recruited "at least 30 people" over the past two years. Many of them reportedly live in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach.
Investigators also say Douglas made $15,000 to $25,000 a month through the operation.
Several agencies were involved in the investigation. The sheriff's office was assisted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Tri-County Task Force and the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.
Officers began to buy pills from the organization in November 2008, the release said.
"Because of the amount of pills being sold each time, many of the charges are trafficking charges which carry a minimum mandatory prison term upon conviction," according to the press release. "Several of these charges are mandatory 15-year sentences."
Through the efforts of earlier investigations, "(D)rug dealers in Flagler County were put on notice that we were after them," said Sheriff Donald W. Fleming. "These individuals failed to heed the warning and now we have taken them down.
"It is time for drug dealers to leave Flagler County because we are not done yet, and we will be coming after you if you stay."
*
Sheriff's investigators are asking for assistance in locating suspect Eric Johnson, 19, of 12 Sea Beacon Place, Palm Coast.
Anyone with information on Johnson's whereabouts is asked to call the Flagler County Sheriff's Office at (386) 437-4116 or Crimestoppers at 1-888-277-8477.
Investigators are charging that the organization was led by Justin Douglas of Ormond Beach.
"Douglas recruited others to conduct fraudulent doctor visits for the purpose of obtaining prescriptions for the pain killer Roxicodone," according to a release from the sheriff's office. "Roxicodone contains the controlled substance Oxycodone, which is also contained in Oxycontin."
The recruits allegedly filled the prescriptions at local pharmacies and received payment for the doctor visit and the pills from Douglas, the Sheriff's Office stated. The prescriptions averaged from 190 to 300 pills each, investigators said.
The Roxicodone pills were sold on the street for $9 to $12 each, according to the release.
Investigators say that Douglas recruited "at least 30 people" over the past two years. Many of them reportedly live in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach.
Investigators also say Douglas made $15,000 to $25,000 a month through the operation.
Several agencies were involved in the investigation. The sheriff's office was assisted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Tri-County Task Force and the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.
Officers began to buy pills from the organization in November 2008, the release said.
"Because of the amount of pills being sold each time, many of the charges are trafficking charges which carry a minimum mandatory prison term upon conviction," according to the press release. "Several of these charges are mandatory 15-year sentences."
Through the efforts of earlier investigations, "(D)rug dealers in Flagler County were put on notice that we were after them," said Sheriff Donald W. Fleming. "These individuals failed to heed the warning and now we have taken them down.
"It is time for drug dealers to leave Flagler County because we are not done yet, and we will be coming after you if you stay."
*
Sheriff's investigators are asking for assistance in locating suspect Eric Johnson, 19, of 12 Sea Beacon Place, Palm Coast.
Anyone with information on Johnson's whereabouts is asked to call the Flagler County Sheriff's Office at (386) 437-4116 or Crimestoppers at 1-888-277-8477.
Pharmacy robbery suspect arrested
A man accused of robbing a local pharmacy at gunpoint was taken into police custody Thursday night.
Thomas Gene Johnson, 25, of 850 W. Kelly in Fayetteville faces felony charges of aggravated robbery, theft of property and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver (marijuana).
Police say Johnson entered the Medicap Pharmacy, 2818 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., at 9:40 a.m. Jan. 6 and brandished a handgun. He then demanded OxyContin and hydrocodone.
The pharmacist said he gave Johnson three bottles of oxycodone, which is also known by its brand name, OxyContin. Both medications are used for pain. He then walked to the back of the store and dialed 911.
Johnson, who was wearing a baseball cap and a hood with a white shirt over his face, fled the scene prior to officers' arrival.
Police set up a perimeter and tracked the suspect with a K-9 unit for about half an hour, but eventually called off the search.
During an interview with police, the store owner said he briefly saw Johnson's face during the robbery when the shirt fell. He described the suspect as a fair-skinned man in his 20s.
Investigators obtained a still photo from the store's video surveillance and dis- tributed it to the media.
Police received a tip from a confidential informant on Jan. 15 with information concerning the robbery. The tipster identified Johnson as the robbery suspect. The informant went on to tell police that Johnson had been bragging about the robbery and allegedly sold some of the stolen pills in Fayetteville within days of the crime.
During a photo lineup Jan. 16, the victim identified Johnson as the suspect involved in the robbery.
"After that, we found out where he lived and got a warrant," said Fayetteville Police Sgt. Bill Phelan.
Johnson was taken into custody and transported to the Washington County Detention Center, where he was being held on a $100,000 bond Friday. He will make his next appearance in Washington County Circuit Court on Monday.
Thomas Gene Johnson, 25, of 850 W. Kelly in Fayetteville faces felony charges of aggravated robbery, theft of property and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver (marijuana).
Police say Johnson entered the Medicap Pharmacy, 2818 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., at 9:40 a.m. Jan. 6 and brandished a handgun. He then demanded OxyContin and hydrocodone.
The pharmacist said he gave Johnson three bottles of oxycodone, which is also known by its brand name, OxyContin. Both medications are used for pain. He then walked to the back of the store and dialed 911.
Johnson, who was wearing a baseball cap and a hood with a white shirt over his face, fled the scene prior to officers' arrival.
Police set up a perimeter and tracked the suspect with a K-9 unit for about half an hour, but eventually called off the search.
During an interview with police, the store owner said he briefly saw Johnson's face during the robbery when the shirt fell. He described the suspect as a fair-skinned man in his 20s.
Investigators obtained a still photo from the store's video surveillance and dis- tributed it to the media.
Police received a tip from a confidential informant on Jan. 15 with information concerning the robbery. The tipster identified Johnson as the robbery suspect. The informant went on to tell police that Johnson had been bragging about the robbery and allegedly sold some of the stolen pills in Fayetteville within days of the crime.
During a photo lineup Jan. 16, the victim identified Johnson as the suspect involved in the robbery.
"After that, we found out where he lived and got a warrant," said Fayetteville Police Sgt. Bill Phelan.
Johnson was taken into custody and transported to the Washington County Detention Center, where he was being held on a $100,000 bond Friday. He will make his next appearance in Washington County Circuit Court on Monday.
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