Free Republic

WEST PALM BEACH, FL (NBC) - A south Florida police officer has resigned and two others have been suspended after they are caught on tape hitting and kicking a handcuffed suspect. The video paints a disturbing picture. An incident back in late May involving three West Palm Beach police officers following an oxycodone robbery at a CVS. Officers Jason Zangara, Louis Schwartz, and Kirk Graham all became the target of a internal affairs report. West Palm Beach Police Chief Delsa Bush says "in this particular case having the video I chose to substantiate the charge of the use of excessive...

Exponential growth in addiction met with a dramatic reduction in supply, creates a situation where a large number of people get sick and desperate. Prices spike as addicts clamor to find the drugs they need so badly. Alternative, and often illegal, methods for raising funds are employed. Progressively risky behavior and criminal associations occur. People lose jobs, lose housing, and lose families, dismantling a network of support systems that are challenging, if not impossible, to rebuild. The magnitude of people potentially involved will send shockwaves through the criminal justice, social services, health care, and criminal justice service delivery systems as...

SAMHSA announced in March 2008 that Oklahoma topped the nation in prescription painkiller addiction. Effective law enforcement strategies by the DEA and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs have abruptly shut down many of the online pharmacies, loose physician prescription practices, and multiple doctor sourcing. The result is a dramatic reduction in supply. The huge growth in painkiller addiction fueled by cheap and easy supply is being faced with a shutdown in supply. The result will be a sudden overwhelming number of sick and desperate people. Before we become too judgmental of such people, let us not forget...

An actress in the school play. Two star high school football players. The cute hostess at a local restaurant. Two busy workers behind the counter at the pharmacy. All teenagers with promise in an affluent triangle of eastern Morris County towns. But all were criminally charged last week in a drug bust coordinated by the Morris County Prosecutor's Office. Operation Painkiller nabbed 47 adults and seven juveniles, including some current students and a host of alumni of Whippany Park High School in Hanover. Police said they seized more than $70,000 in cash and drugs, including 4 ounces of heroin with...

Register-Herald Editorial 8/27/02 The death of Rebecca Allen of Fairlea was tragic, but the circumstances do not warrant a lawsuit filed by her widowed husband, Brian Allen. That was the ruling of Greenbrier County Circuit Judge James Rowe in a suit Brian Allen filed against Purdue Pharma L.P. of Connecticut, as well as several other companies. The target of the suit was the drug OxyContin, which generally is administered in time-release capsule form. Rebecca Allen broke open the capsules, crushed them and injected them into her veins. The judge ruled that Rebecca Allen died at age 41 because she and...

N E W O R L E A N S, July 17 — A Louisiana judge who is the subject of a federal investigation into possible judicial corruption in suburban New Orleans was indicted Wednesday on federal drug charges. A grand jury indicted District Judge Ronald Bodenheimer and an alleged accomplice on one count of conspiracy to possess and distribute oxycodone and three other charges. Oxycontin is a version of the narcotic. The judge is accused of plotting to plant drugs on a man who had complained about permits and zoning problems with a marina Bodenheimer owns in New Orleans....