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Bad Guys Dealing Prescription Drugs - Seminar Teaches Police to Spot Illegal Activities in Legal Medications

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 15:00 CST

SPRINGFIELD - Law enforcement's war on drugs goes beyond methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.

It now includes legal medication such as OxyContin and other popular painkillers, which, when abused by people looking for a high, can be as or even more dangerous as any illicit drug.

But a former police officer who now works for a pharmaceutical company says many police departments don't have the expertise to spot and investigate crimes involving prescription medication.

Street drugs, such as cocaine, is "what they get their training on," said Ritch Wagner, a law enforcement liaison with Purdue Pharma. "But this (medication) is a foreign language. They've never received training on it generally. They don't understand it. It's not in their comfort zone. It's not a priority in their departments."

Wagner was one of three representatives of the Stamford, Conn.- based Purdue who visited Springfield on Tuesday to put on an all- day prescription-drug seminar for police officers.

About 20 officers attended. Many were from various divisions of the Illinois State Police, including its Medicaid fraud control unit.

In addition to getting a full-color brochure that shows the size, shape, color and markings of several types of pills, officers learned how to identify phony prescriptions.

They also were told how to spot other signs of a "diverter," someone who illegally takes medication out of its normal progression of going from the pharmaceutical company to the wholesaler to the pharmacy to the legitimate customer for the purposes of selling it, getting high or supporting an addiction.

Wagner, who used to be a state police officer in Nebraska, said the illegal users aren't the only people affected when criminals get their hands on powerful pain pills.

"You have doctors who are afraid to prescribe certain medications, and you have pharmacists in many areas that are afraid to stock certain medications," he said. "The reason is they're afraid they are going to targeted by the bad guys, which means legitimate patients don't have access. And it's all because of the crooks, and that's not right."

Dr. Sherry Siegel, another presenter from Purdue, said the hope is police can learn a little more about how drug fraud and abuse happens, so they can help stop it, which will allow doctors to prescribe medicine as they see fit.

"The bottom line is doctors need to understand appropriate pain care and what addiction is and what it's not so they can prescribe these medications with more confidence," she said. "And working with law enforcement we hope to keep the bad guys out of the picture so that we can do our practice."

Source: Journal Star; Peoria, Ill.

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