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Oxycodone now appearing at drug houses

St. Petersburg Police Department

Prescription medication seized during a drug house raid Tuesday far outweighed the amount of illicit drugs that were found.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

sthompson@tampatrib.com

Published: July 1, 2009

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, a report was released showing Pinellas and Pasco counties last year saw more deaths caused by the painkiller oxycodone than any other area in the state.

Slightly more than four hours later, the police SWAT team in St. Petersburg, the largest city in Pinellas, stormed a drug house in the south part of the city.

Three years ago, vice and narcotics detectives would typically find crack cocaine and marijuana during one of these raids, said Lt. Mike Kovacsev of the vice and narcotics unit. Tuesday afternoon, however, they found mostly painkillers – including 62 grams of oxycodone. In comparison, only 8.9 grams of crack and cocaine were recovered.

As indicated by the report released Tuesday by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, prescribed painkillers, and particularly oxycodone, continue to turn up in increasing frequency in the two counties, in all kinds of ways.

Of the 941 deaths caused by oxycodone in the state, 209 were in Pinellas and Pasco counties. What the report did not say was that the 209 figure represented a 60 percent increase in the number of deaths compared with the previous year.

"Years ago we used to see crack and marijuana, but now we are seeing that the traditional drug houses now have prescription drugs to sell," Kovacsev said.

One way the prescription drug craze manifested itself was in the number of cases where gunmen would rob pharmacies for the drugs. In St. Petersburg, that has tapered off a bit, said Sgt. Al White of the city's robbery unit, but authorities are seeing more and more cases where people are getting robbed – or having their homes invaded – by people in search of prescription drugs.

People are also reporting their own drugs stolen so that they can get their prescriptions refilled, White said. Sometimes, patients will use some of their own medication but sell the rest, he said.

Tuesday's raid was executed after a tip was called in as part of the city's gun bounty program. The program was put in place after an 8-year-old girl was killed in her home during a drive-by shooting, and it's designed to crack down on gun-wielding criminals. Two handguns and a rifle were confiscated Tuesday, authorities said.

Police agencies aren't the only ones witnessing increased business as a result of the prescription drug craze.

Operation PAR, one of the largest drug rehabilitation organizations in west central Florida, has seen a spike in the number of people coming in addicted to painkillers who are interested in the organization's methadone treatment program.

Methadone was originally used to treat heroin addicts, but now people addicted to painkillers are seeking it, said Marvin Coleman, vice president of community and business relations for Operation PAR.

In particular, counselors have seen a spike in the number of teens addicted to painkillers, though they are still primarily coming in for alcohol and marijuana addiction, Coleman said. He attributed the increase in painkiller addiction to the availability of the drug. All a youngster has to do is raid the family medicine cabinet and swipe a few pills prescribed for mom or dad, he said.

In other cases, someone who is legitimately prescribed a painkiller – following a car accident for instance, or because of a back problem – eventually loses control and takes the medication more frequently, or in greater dosages, than originally prescribed, he said.

One reason so many people are getting addicted to painkillers such as oxycodone is that more people are getting prescribed them in the first place, he said. Also, more pain medication centers have popped up to cater to the new patients' needs, he said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.

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