Long Island’s Nassau County is committed to fighting prescription drug abuse, in the wake of two deadly pharmacy killings, one in Suffolk County on Father’s Day last year, and the other on New Year’s Eve in Nassau County’s Seaford, a small town on the South Shore.
The joint effort is with Nassau County’s Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse Prevention Task Force, InfraGard, and the Long Island Pharmacy Crimes Task Force. The three organizations will hold a Pharmacist Security Summit on February 7.
“Prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions nationwide. In Nassau County, we have felt firsthand the devastating effects of prescription drug abuse and will therefore take the lead in addressing this epidemic by implementing safety, awareness and educational initiatives for the public as well as local pharmacists,” said Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano.
Posts Tagged ‘Prescription Drug Abuse’
Nassau County Committed To Fighting Prescription Drug Abuse
Friday, January 27th, 2012Surgeon General To Speak At First National Rx Drug Abuse Summit
Friday, January 20th, 2012The epidemic of prescription drug abuse in the United States is a growing public health concern. As a result, the first National Rx Drug Abuse Summit will take place in April in Florida. The summit’s keynote speaker will be the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina M. Benjamin.
“The negative impacts of substance abuse span a broad spectrum, including health care costs, public safety, economic development and social services. As ‘America’s Doctor,’ Dr. Benjamin is on the front line of responding to this crisis,” said Karen Kelly, president of Operation UNITE, a non-profit organization based in organization that is coordinating the event.
Florida Authorities Continuing Fight Against Prescription Drug Abuse
Sunday, January 1st, 2012The authorities in Florida are forging ahead with the fight against prescription drug abuse by scrutinizing more pharmacies, physicians and pain clinics.
Federal investigations have revealed several drug trafficking rings in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Authorities are charging pill mills and pharmacies as organized criminal enterprises. Florida has also restricted the permit process required to open new pharmacies in the state.
In November, CVS notified some Florida physicians that its pharmacies will no longer fill their prescriptions for drugs like oxycodone, saying it wanted to “prevent drug abuse and keep controlled substances out of the wrong hands.”
First National Prescription Drug Abuse Summit To Be Held In Florida
Monday, December 19th, 2011The first National Prescription Drug Abuse Summit will be held in Florida in April of 2012.
Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, will be the Summit’s keynote speaker.
“We are excited that Dr. Volkow will share her expertise during the Summit,” said Karen Kelly, the president and CEO of Operation UNITE, a Kentucky-based organization that is coordinating the Summit. “She is a highly regarded professional whose work has engaged the entire health care system to seek appropriate responses and effective treatments for addiction.”
Florida has made great strides in the fight against prescription drug abuse in 2011, and it is hoped that the progress will continue into the new year.
First National Prescription Drug Abuse Summit To Be Held In Florida
Friday, December 16th, 2011The first National Prescription Drug Abuse Summit will be held in Florida in April of 2012.
Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, will be the Summit’s keynote speaker.
“We are excited that Dr. Volkow will share her expertise during the Summit,” said Karen Kelly, the president and CEO of Operation UNITE, a Kentucky-based organization that is coordinating the Summit. “She is a highly regarded professional whose work has engaged the entire health care system to seek appropriate responses and effective treatments for addiction.”
Florida has made great strides in the fight against prescription drug abuse in 2011, and it is hoped that the progress will continue into the new year.
U.S. Representative Mary Bono Mack Concerned About Prescription Drug Abuse
Sunday, December 11th, 2011U.S. Representative Mary Bono Mack is concerned about the growing prescription drug abuse epidemic in this country. Bono Mack said she does not want the fight to deny these powerful and potentially addictive drugs to patients in severe pain from late-stage cancer or other diseases.
“I recognize there is pain and it needs to be treated,” said Bono Mack.
Mack wants physicians to be more cognizant of the potentially deadly ramifications of prescribing drugs that deliver such a powerful high. Physicians should not prescribe these drugs for medical conditions that can be treated with less powerful drugs. Bono Mack hopes her suggestions will curb “doctor shopping.”
“They are masters at it,” said Bono Mack of the people who seek multiple prescriptions from different physicians.
Bono Mack’s son, Chesare, struggled with an addiction to oxycontin, but has been clean since 2007.
“I care about this issue passionately because I have been exposed to it personally.”
Florida Still Struggling With Prescription Drug Abuse
Friday, December 9th, 2011According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from prescription pain pills have reached epidemic levels. The CDC reported that there were enough prescription pain pills to medicate every person in the United States around the clock for one month. In Florida, seven people die every day from prescription drugs. In Hernando County, there were 44 deaths attributed to prescription drugs last year.
“The abuse of prescription medication has become an epidemic that cannot be ignored,” said Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis. “Many suspects who are taken into custody admit to committing crimes in order to obtain money to support their drug addiction.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration says that Florida is the state listed on the applications of half of the country’s new pharmacies.
“Until we can make it socially unacceptable to use these powerful and highly addictive painkillers in anything but terminal cases, this problem will continue to plague our society just like morphine and heroin have since the last half of the 1800s,” Nienhuis said.
Medical Students In Ohio Educate Young People About Prescription Drugs
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011Medical students from the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine are trying to educate elementary, middle and high school students about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.
OU-HCOM’s drug education group started last year. The group visits schools and uses dramatic skits and hard facts to open the dialogue about prescription drugs.
“The skits are designed to be situations that they might actually encounter,” said Kaitlyn Kelly, one of the initiators of the group.
The students are a tough audience, but appear to get the message.
“I think it was pretty interesting because, well, they’re (the drug education group) coming in, using their time to teach us how alcohol and all the drugs can really affect you in all the wrong ways and all the good ways,” said Kyler Young, an eighth grader at Athens Middle School.
Kentucky Senator Working To Regulate Pill Mills
Monday, December 5th, 2011Kentucky State Senator Robert Stivers is working diligently to regulate pill mills in the state, and stem the tide of prescription drug abuse in Kentucky.
“What you are beginning to see is the fact that the bordering states have all gotten tighter regulations on them so they are all starting to migrate to Kentucky because we are much more lax,” said Stivers.
Stivers wants to stop “fly in” physicians, hired by pain clinics in Kentucky who are only contributing to the problem of prescription drug abuse.
“They only come in maybe a couple of days a month, they don’t sit there and evaluate you and they don’t check and do exams on you, they don’t see how flexible you are or how stiff you are,” Stivers said.
Pharmacy Robber In Daytona Beach Sought
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011With prescription drug abuse consistently on the rise in Florida, pharmacy robberies are also increasing across the state.
Now, police in Daytona Beach are looking for an armed man who allegedly robbed two different pharmacies in Daytona Beach looking for prescription pain pills. In recent months, pharmacy robberies have increased not only in Florida, but in states across the United States, posing a new challenge for law enforcement authorities.
In June of last year, a pharmacy robbery in eastern Long Island resulted in four shooting deaths.