Largest Drug Bust in Kentucky History Underway (300 people in custody, 500 indicted)

WKRC ^ | 10/29/2009 | WKRC

[TSgt]

One of the largest drug roundups in Kentucky state history is underway right now. Law enforcement officials have fanned out across the state to arrest hundreds of people, in an effort to stem the tide of lethal prescription drugs flowing into the Tri-State from pain clinics in Florida.

The round up started yesterday in eastern Kentucky and investigators say they already have at least 300 people in custody and they're hunting for hundreds more.

At the Dry Ridge post of the Kentucky State Police they've brought in or are bringing in 25 of those indicted. The goal is to shatter a pile pipeline that runs from South Florida to the Tri-State.

Hammering drug dealers in places like Rockcastle County and Pikeville, Kentucky State Police along with FBI, DEA agents and local police arresting people they say have been traveling to South Florida pain clinics and collecting handfuls of prescriptions for dangerous narcotics like oxycontin and percocet then traveling back to the Tri-State and cashing in that script.

On the street, a single bottle of the high powered pills can be worth thousands of dollars. The pipeline between Florida and the Tri-State has also left a long line of overdose deaths in it's wake, bringing with it the largest overdose death rate in Kentucky history.

At 2:30 p.m. today the U.S. Attorney along with multiple law enforcement agencies involved in this effort will hold a news conference in Lexington. We'll have it covered for you and bring you the latest as this massive effort to shut off this deadly pipeline moves forward.

[fujimoh]

Wow ... this with the Torture Killings trial, Kentucky sure is busy.

[TSgt]

[Sir Gawain]

Sounds like Kentucky’s #1 cash crop isn’t affected by this bust.

[TSgt]

More here:

http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/995564.html
The roundup was thought to be the largest in state history, with about 500 people to be charged. By late afternoon, police had arrested an estimated 200 people in more than a dozen counties, straining some jails.

“There is a large roundup going on in Eastern Kentucky, and every (state police) post in Eastern Kentucky is involved,” said Capt. Kevin Payne, commander of the state police drug-enforcement unit for the eastern end of the state.

[Sender]

I used to live in KY and drove around these regions. There are a lot of people in eastern KY who are barely employable and whose families are on welfare or who eke out a living by coal mining etc. First there was moonshine as a home business, then growing pot (which is still widespread), and now apparently pain pills. There are a lot of towns out there with nothing much to do. Might as well eat some percocets and drive around the Wal-Mart.

[AUH2O Repub]

Large overdose rate? Where’s the problem? Seems like it takes care of itself.

[caver]

“On the street, a single bottle of the high powered pills can be worth thousands of dollars.”

Oh come on, is this true, or the LEO’s just inflating it again?

[Anti-Bubba182]

I guess they got out of the moonshine business. Getting prescriptions is easier.

[TSgt]

Street values here:

http://www.topix.com/forum/drug/percocet/T565O6H5MQLTKHGPF

http://www.topix.com/forum/drug/oxycontin/T1FS83DRHKGB2O8QV

It appears it depends on the location but depending on the dose, type and location it is feasable you could get into the thousands.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a drug user however I am married to a drug dealer, i.e. pharmacist. ;)

[rhombus]

a single bottle of the high powered pills

And these high powered pills are so much stronger than your parents high powered pills. ;-)

[Scythian]

I swear's Mr. DEA man, they told me at the store these was asparagus plants ...

[TSgt]

And these high powered pills are so much stronger than your parents high powered pills. ;-)

[GloriaJane]

Well I hope the gov in Florida is shutting down those pain clinics. If they don’t do that the pipeline will go on, only with different faces.

[rhombus]

Do you measure those high powered pills in milligrams or inches. ;-)

[TSgt]

Florida has approved setting up a prescription-monitoring system but it’s not in place.

[TSgt]

http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/995564.html
In Montgomery County alone, there have been 20 overdose deaths in the last year linked to the type of drug trafficking targeted in Wednesday’s roundup, Commonwealth’s Attorney Keen Johnson said.

[Reaganesque]

Sorry, this is all I could think of when I read the headlline. Chalk it up to a trivial mind, I guess. LOL.

Busty Female Shop Assistant: Is this some kind of bust?

Frank Drebin: It's very impressive, yes.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Florida's Miami-area pain clinics are open to anybody who goes down there to visit them. How can Kentucky tell whether the "deadly pills" (pace Paracelsus) were obtained pursuant to Florida laws by and for the use of the persons owning them? Selling them to somebody else should be verboten, but otherwise the patients should be left alone.

[wardaddy]

10 mg lortab or percocet goes for around 6-10 bucks per pill on street

usually prescribed in 60 per month max..with cancer patients much higher but if hospice they keep watch unless home care is corrupted and some are

and so forth

when i was young opium tar balls went for around 20 bucks a gram in 1973 dollars...good for two lortab 10mg highs so the price is actually fairly comsistent

back then narcotics were not nearly as tightly regulated for docs and drugstores

large dose pain meds like big dose oxycontin or time released morphine goes for a lot more

so to answer your question...yews the value is inflated a bit...they have always done that

i have acute cervical and sternal arthritis and usually have 10mg hydrocodone or oxycodone as needed..works well for meodrate pain