SYRACUSE -- If you didn't consider prescription drug abuse a real problem, think again. By one lawmaker's account, abuse cases are expected to jump 20 percent in Onondaga County this year alone. That's according to Senator Charles Schumer (D), New York who made a stop in Central New York Monday morning. Now, he is calling for stiffer sentences for prescription drug theft.
The problem surfaced locally in Oswego County. A drug raid in Volney lead to the arrests of two people and police say more arrests are coming. 38-year-old Tina Lucas and 42-year-old Richard Timian of Fulton face drug charges in an investigation into the sale and transportation of prescription drugs from Florida to Oswego and surrounding areas. In that case ,authorities say they seized more than 650 pills including Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Methadone.
It's a widespread problem locally and across the country. According to the Upstate New York Poison Control Center, there have been 145 cases of prescription drug abuse in Onondaga County alone. That was in the first three months of this year alone.
Senator Schumer now plans to crack down by creating stiffer penalties, placing medical product theft under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, and giving police wiretap access and other tools to fight drug rings.
"There has been a disturbing level of prescription drug abuse in Central New York, and the recent arrest of the individual from Volney is yet another example of the prescription drug epidemic that is sweeping the country, leaving crime and tragedy in its wake," Schumer said. "All too often, drugs that end up on our streets are either stolen or obtained by doctor shopping, creating a robust supply chain that puts more and more prescription drugs in our neighborhoods, our schools, and on our streets."
It's not just abuse anymore, but prescription drug theft that's a problem.
State police say 37-year-old Albert Languet III, of Casey Avenue in Calcium, walked into the Kinney Drugs outside Watertown in February and handed an employee a note demanding specific controlled substances. And police say that wasn't the first time. They say Languet tried to rob the Seaway Plaza store in November.
Last fall, a nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital was accused of taking medication from his patients. Robert Robertson, 59, of Clay, was arrested on charges of diverting Dilaudid/Hydromorphone from the automated intravenous dispensing system of patients. Hydromorphone is a powerful narcotic painkiller along the lines of morphine, or even heroin. "Dilaudid" is one of the many brand names the drug is marketed under.
Schumer's proposal would increase sentences for robbing pharmacies of controlled substances, and increase sentences for stealing medical products along with transporting and storing stolen medical products.
What do you think needs to be done to combat the problem of prescription drug abuse and theft? Does Schumer's plan go too far or not far enough? Share your thoughts below.
