Illegal painkiller sales on the rise
By: WUTR Staff
Updated: April 11, 2012
Illegal painkiller sales are on the rise, according to medical experts.
According to the drug enforcement administration, figures show dramatic rises between 2000 and 2010 in the distribution of oxycodone.
The Day Rehabilitation Program Director at the Insight House in Utica agrees with the recent findings.
The director says today alone, 75-percent of patients admitted were addicted to pills.
"It is much more accessible for those folks who may not able to access heroine on the street. Someone who is 16 and 17 can go in their parent's medicine cabinets and find opiates or in the grandmothers or neighbors," explained Cheryl Spina, the Day Rehab Program Director.
The director says the pills have a high street value.
She says the increase in sales of painkillers is most likely from addicts going doctor shopping to feed their addiction.
