Just last week, we had another near-death heroin overdose of a local teenager.
The battle to protect our young people must be approached on many fronts and the adage that “it takes a village to raise a child” has never been more appropriate.
Almost four years ago now, members of the Sheriff’s Office began to see an upsurge in heroin-related overdoses in different areas of the county.
Led by Assistant Sheriff Gary Pentis, further investigation revealed that a majority of the overdose victims had made the jump from abusing prescription drugs to heroin. The reasons vary, but cost — $40 to $60 for an Oxycodone pill, versus $10 for a hit of heroin — was a factor.
We decided to go after the cause. So many black-market pills were getting into the hands of our young people that we formed the Prescription Drug Task Force.
The District Attorney’s Office was first to join, followed by the Simi Valley Police Department and most recently the California Highway Patrol, whose officers have seen a huge increase in the number of cases of driving while under the influence of drugs.
Our primary target has been those who are putting these pills on the street. This group includes doctors and pharmacies that are violating the law and illegally prescribing and dispensing mass quantities of opiate derivative pills.
We understand and have found that 99 percent of the doctors and pharmacies are honest, caring professionals, but unfortunately every profession has its bad apples.
So far, the task force has made 88 arrests, including four doctors, two nurse practitioners and one pharmacist. The task force has seized more than $2 million in drugs, which includes hundreds of thousands of prescription pills, $1.5 million in assets and 12 firearms.
In addition to the enforcement, the task force works to identify and stop new trends of abuse primarily affecting teenagers and young adults, such as bath salts and other synthetic drugs.
Enforcement alone is not the answer. We need effective programs to educate the public and proven programs to treat those who fall into the ugly hands of addiction.
Please support your local narcotic educational programs and call us at 383-8700 if you become aware of abuse involving prescription drugs or any kind of drugs.
Thank you. Together, we can make a difference.
Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/08/sheriff-geoff-dean-targeting-abuse-of-and-other/#ixzz31Hhdzq00
- vcstar.com
No comments:
Post a Comment