Painkiller Epidemic Update: Painkillers Now Top “Street Drugs” in Demand

JACKSONVILLE, FL – An article on today’s Jacksonville.com asserts that legal prescription drugs have surpassed illegal drugs in terms of demand on the street—and as Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Dominick Pape says, “Prescription drugs aren’t flooding the streets because of curious kids raiding the medicine cabinet.” Dear readers, we are talking about an escalation to serious organized-crime-level operations here—from your basic doctor shopping and forged prescriptions, to armed robbery and smash-and-grabs.

“This is out of control… There’s a whole new type of junkie out there that wants these [prescription] drugs, and they’re carrying guns.”

—Pharmacist Denise Stiles-Yount

In this space just a few days ago, I wrote a post about a study which showed that, in Florida in 2007, prescription painkiller use resulted in 300% more deaths than the usual “street drugs”. Now we are finding that, in Florida at least, painkillers are not only gaining in popularity, but are in greater demand than so-called “hard drugs” like cocaine and heroin. Florida may well prove to be ground zero for the unfolding of the painkiller epidemic story.

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Source: Jacksonville.com – Top drugs on street now Rx