Black Market Prescription Narcotic Drugs: 
We are facing a new, insidious threat—the exploding, illegal use of prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin. Considered a relatively minor problem just a few years ago, especially when compared to the abuse of street drugs, misuse of prescription drugs has hit New York City hard. Lulled into a sense that prescription drugs are safe and well-regulated, the public has been slow to absorb the reality that we are in the middle of an epidemic. Overdose fatalities from prescription opioids increased by 20% between 2005 and 2009 across the city, according to a new study by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Meanwhile prescription rates for the highly addictive oxycodone have doubled since 2007 to over a million in 2010.

These prescription drugs are abused by young and old alike. Most alarming is the regular abuse of prescription drugs by children. Prescription and over-the-counter drugs comprised eight of the top 14 categories of drugs abused by 12th graders in 2009.

The easy access to prescription drugs, and the illusion that they are safe, has lured our children onto a perilous path.

Criminal groups that specialize in prescription drug diversion pose new challenges for our office. These complex cases often involve fraud and require a careful review of sensitive medical information. Sometimes doctors and pharmacies are implicated.

Often in these schemes, it’s the taxpayer who picks up the tab. Medicaid dollars pay for many of the drugs stolen from medicine cabinets, sold on the street and purchased with phony prescriptions. It is critical that we work immediately to reverse this trend.

Prescription Drug Abuse Linked to Escalating Overdose Deaths:
A study released by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOH) in April underscores a problem we have seen on the law enforcement side: increased misuse of prescription drugs leading to soaring rates of overdose deaths. The rates of accidental prescription opioid poisonings (excluding methadone) increased a dramatic 20% between 2005 and 2009. Of all the boroughs, Staten Island was hit the hardest with a stunning 147% increase in overdose deaths during this same time period, according to DOH. Middle class neighborhoods are generally the most affected by the prescription drug abuse epidemic, with seven in 10 deaths occurring in medium- and high-income groups.

This trend is mirrored in data from the New York State Health Department for the year 2010, which shows more than one million oxycodone prescriptions were filled in New York City—enough to supply one prescription for every eighth person or 13% of the total population. Oxycodone, the generic name for a narcotic pain reliever commonly prescribed as OxyContin, is among the most frequently prescribed and heavily abused opioid analgesic. In 2007, just half a million prescriptions for the drug were filled, or 6% of the citywide population. Additionally, over the past three years, the number of oxycodone prescriptions filled has increased by 97% on average across all five boroughs.

On Staten Island, the borough most inundated with oxycodone, the number of prescriptions filled in 2010 represented an astounding 28% of the borough’s population. This is compared to 17% (Bronx), 13% (Manhattan), 10% (Brooklyn) and 10% (Queens). The breakdown by borough is as follows:

Meanwhile, the city reports that in 2009 approximately 10% of high school students in New York City said they used prescription opioids for non-medical purposes at least once in their lifetime. Prevalence was highest among students living on Staten Island, with 11% reporting non-medical use of a prescription opioid on at least one occasion.

The skyrocketing prescription rates and increases in fatal overdoses strongly correlate with the upsurge in prescription drug diversion cases handled by our agency. In 2007, 6% of our caseload was comprised of prescription drug-related arrests. The percentage more than doubled to nearly 15% of our caseload by 2010.

While the sheer numbers are a matter of concern, the violence associated with the black market prescription drug trade is all the more disturbing. Many of our prescription drug investigations have lead to seizures of guns, and in some cases small arsenals.

In March of this year, our office indicted 31 participants in a major prescription drug diversion scheme that funneled 43,000 highly addictive oxycodone pills worth $1 million onto the black market in one year. An ice cream truck was used to sell the pills to customers on Staten Island.

This case, which began with a referral from the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office, required hundreds of man-hours to put together. Investigators from our office and the State Health Department’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement learned that the ring leaders of the organization obtained more than 300 prescription sheets from a Manhattan physician’s office manager. The office manager had stolen the prescription sheets without her employer’s knowledge and sold them for cash. The ring’s leaders then employed dozens of runners to get these prescriptions filled, paying them in cash and/or pills. Many of these runners had drug dependency problems and several were also involved in armed robberies of pharmacies and burglaries of homes.

Armed Drug Dealers Selling Rx Medication:
In other cases, a defendant was sentenced to six years in prison after we discovered a stash of hydrocodone pills—along with crack cocaine, a loaded AK-47, two semiautomatic 9mm handguns, a 12-gauge shotgun and ammunition—in his Coney Island, Brooklyn apartment. A Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, resident was also sentenced to six years in prison when an undercover operation involving the sale of 300 oxycodone pills over a four-month period led to the discovery of a loaded gun and 33 rounds of ammunition in his home. This particular defendant also had a violent criminal history.

These are just a sampling of the numerous cases we see involving illegal prescription drug dealing by dangerous felons with guns at the ready.