Testing It Up

The number of Oxycodone-related deaths in Florida during the first six months of 2012 has significantly dropped, according to new data released by the state’s Department of Law Enforcement.

Statewide, there were 759 oxycodone-related deaths from January through June 2012, compared to 1,058 during the same period in 2011.

In Orange and Osceola counties, where prescription drug overdoses have been prominent in recent years, there were 42 oxycodone-related deaths reported from January to June of 2012, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

“Two years ago, Florida was the epicenter of prescription drug abuse; today we are a national role model for both enforcement and regulation,” FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey said in a news release. “We’ve made tremendous strides, but prescription drug abuse remains a significant concern.”

The state’s medical examiners reported a total of 4,126 drug related deaths in the first half of 2012. Oxycodone ranked third in the most frequently-occurring drugs found in autopsies — the first were benzodiazepines which account for more than 2,500 deaths from January through June 2012.

Oxycodone was widely prescribed in Florida in the previous years. But new legislation has made it more difficult for people to obtain certain prescription drugs. Similarly, oxycodone has become more expensive, particularly in Central Florida.

The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation Director Larry Zwieg believes that the decrease in prescription-drug related deaths is a result of the combined education efforts and the law enforcement’s efforts aimed at targeting rogue doctors and pharmacists.

When one sees an ice cream truck, it is not at all unreasonable to expect frozen treats from a sliding side door – or to expect that nothing else will be sold by it. One ice cream truck, however, sold more than frozen treats; according to a feature on NY Daily News, it also allegedly made stops to meet with customers who were looking for a different kind of treat.

Louis Scala is accused of being part of a drug ring that raked in more than $1 million in a year. His actual job is selling ice cream to kids from the “Lickity Split” truck. At certain pre-arranged spots, though, another item appears on the menu: oxycodone. Customers knew that they could get these treats from Scala, according to the New York Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

The ice cream truck operation is allegedly part of a 30-person drug ring, which also included more than two dozen “runners” whose jobs were to fill fake prescriptions. Scala’s role, based on the accusations hurled against him, involved illegally selling these prescription drugs; he reportedly sold more than 40,000 oxycodone pills, in the Staten Island borough.

Also accused along with Scala for her role in the drug ring is Nancy Wilkins, an assistant at an orthopedic office in Manhattan. Her involvement in the operations consisted of stealing blank prescription pads, which she allegedly sold for a whopping $100 per page, according to prosecutors.

The drug ring reportedly charged as much as $20 for a pill. Bridget Brennan, Special Narcotics Prosecutor, commented: “This narcotics organization was as predatory as any I have ever seen — in its structure and distribution practices.”

New York Drug Screening

Maine drugstores are being victimized by thieves, whose objective is to get their hands on prescription drugs that are widely abused, according to a report on The New York Times. The incidence of armed robberies in drugstores in Maine increased last year, according to the report, and it has caused alarm among pharmacists in the state.

Chet Hibbard, a pharmacist in Maine, has taken to hanging signs in his pharmacy that read: “We Do Not Stock OxyContin.” “I want people to know before they even get in the door that we don’t have it… Outside hiring an armed guard to be in here 24/7, I don’t know what else to do,” Mr. Hibbard shared. Last July, two robbers in ski goggles had demanded OxyContin at knifepoint, an incident that prompted Hibbard to stop dispensing the highly addictive drug.

The issue of drug-related armed robberies is hardly a problem that is unique to Mane, however. The report shared further that over the last three years, more than 1,800 pharmacy robberies occurred across the country. These robberies usually involve individuals whose objective is to acquire opioid painkillers and other abused prescription drugs, to sustain their own habits or peddle to other addicts. The most common targets of these robberies are oxycodone (the main ingredient in OxyContin), hydrocodone (the main ingredient in Vicodin), and Xanax.

In response, pharmacies have tightened security measures, which include upgrading surveillance cameras, installing bullet-proof glass, and making counters high enough to prevent robbers from jumping over them. Law enforcement, on the other hand, has been trying out new tools, such as placing tracking devices in OxyContin bottles.

New York Drug Screening

Tanya Beyer graced Playboy magazine as Miss February for the year 1992, moving on to appear in Playboy videos such as “Playboy: Wet and Wild IV” and “Playboy Playmate Private Pleasures”.

Fast forward to 2010, and Beyer posed for a different sort of photograph: a mug shot this time. According to a report on the New York Daily News, the now 38-year old Beyer is facing felony charges for trafficking Oxycodone, a powerful painkiller. Beyer was arrested on March 24 and is currently jailed in Palm Beach.

Investigators caught on to the activities of Beyer, who was “doctor-shopping”, hopping from one doctor to another and collecting prescriptions for Oxycodone. According to police allegations, Beyer would lie to doctors in order to get prescriptions and filled prescriptions for the drug in at least three pharmacies in Florida.

Florida Drug Screening

Controversy surrounded the untimely death of former WWE star Andrew “Test” Martin last month, a few days shy of his 34th birthday. Now, toxicology reports from the Medical Examiner’s Office in Hillsborough County, Florida, reveal that Martin died due to an overdose of Oxycodone.

Andrew Martin was found dead in his home in Florida after a neighbor noticed that he has been sitting motionless on his couch for hours and called emergency services. A search by police yielded steroids and painkillers in the star’s apartment.

It was revealed that Martin has been struggling with an addiction to painkillers for years and has undergone treatment to try to rid himself of the habit. He was dropped from the WWE roster in 2007 after testing positive for testosterone following a suspension, and was arrested for DUI a couple of times.

Despite all his problems, however, Andrew Martin was consciously trying to pull himself together. WWE offered a helping hand a number of times, and Martin entered the Hanley Center of Recovery in West Palm Beach in August last year with the help of WWE.  He completed the program the following month, only to be hospitalized a month later due to rhabdomyolsis, a condition of the muscle and kidney that is sometimes caused by too much work out.

Outside of professional help, he was also trying to detoxify and rehabilitate himself on his own, although he failed repeatedly. He went back to wrestling in January with a trip to Japan and was scheduled to leave for France and Belgium for more shows at the time of his death.

Andrew Martin was interviewed for a documentary that included deaths at a young age in pro wrestling in 2007. He recounted the pressures and difficulties of the pro wrestling life, such as being on the road all the time, and how all these difficulties can lead to dangerous lifestyles. He was quoted as saying he didn’t want to go the way some of his colleagues have gone.

The WWE has witnessed a number of drug and overdose-related deaths among its stars, and has adopted stricter testing and rules, particularly after the death of Eddie Guerrero in 2005.

Andrew Martin’s remains have since been cremated and flown home to his native Whitby in Ontario, Canada. A family funeral service has been set for April 25, according to Martin’s father Robert.

Florida Drug Screening