A young man armed with a hunting knife jumped a pharmacy counter in Guilford a couple of weeks ago and, after threatening the pharmacist, got away with a large amount of narcotics.
Pharmacy robberies — nonexistent several years ago — are dramatically increasing in Maine. There were 24 last year and eight already in the first three months of 2012.
The number of robberies has risen so fast that U.S. Attorney for Maine Thomas E. Delahanty II took notice and in mid-2010 spearheaded a multi-agency effort to review all such robberies to see if they qualify for federal prosecution.
“There was in 2010 a substantial increase, almost threefold, of armed robberies or nighttime break-ins at pharmacies, mostly for OxyContin or other painkillers,“ Delahanty said. “There is a demand for the prescription drugs, especially painkillers. I think some people see them as an easy target. They know they have the product.”
Maine drug addicts want prescription painkillers — OxyContin was the No. 1 choice for years and recently has been replaced by oxycodone — and the ones who arm themselves and rob pharmacies often are desperate junkies “feeding an opiate addiction,” said Mike Wardrop, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration resident agent for Maine.
“It’s bad business. It’s dangerous business,” he said.
There were two pharmacy robberies in 2008. In 2009, the year the DEA and Delahanty started collecting data, the number jumped to eight. It rose to 21 in 2010.
Most of the drugstores hit are located in southern Maine, but each county — except for Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo and Washington — has been hit at least once in the last three years.
Portland was the only Maine community to see double digits, with Biddeford, Augusta, Lewiston, South Portland, Westbrook, Stonington, Camden, Millinocket, Bingham, Kittery, Saco and Sanford with at least two drugstore robberies since 2009, Delahanty’s data show.
The rise of OxyContin
“Pills were always an abused form of drug, but when doctors started to prescribe OxyContin, it took over. We were done,” Portland police Lt. Gary Rogers said.
Purdue Pharma began making OxyContin in the United States in 1996 and touted the time-release pain medication as a miracle drug that required only two pills a day for pain management, Wardrop said.
“We were the first state where Pharma marketed OxyContin and we never recovered,” the DEA agent said.
Users thought that “if a doctor prescribes it — it’s OK,” Wardrop said of OxyContin. “It’s dangerous. It’s in the same family as heroin.”
OxyContin, oxycodone and other prescription pills can be fatal if abused, with nearly 97 percent of all drug-related deaths in Maine connected to pharmaceuticals, according to state officials.
When someone is addicted to a drug, he “oftentimes resorts to other crimes, be it robbery or burglary, to continue that dependence on that drug,” observed Maine Drug Enforcement Agency director Roy McKinney.
But pharmacy robberies often are “purely profit-driven — it’s not to feed that addiction,” he said.
Robberies this year
This year’s first pharmacy robbery took place Jan. 2 at the Rite Aid in Gardiner. It was followed by drugstore robberies in Corinth on Jan. 4, Portland on Jan. 13, Saco on Feb. 19, Augusta on Feb. 13 and Feb. 20, Portland on March 6 and Guilford on March 10.
Whether the two most recent armed pharmacy robberies involved addicts or just people willing to risk their freedom for a quick buck is not known, but both are considered brazen crimes by law enforcement.
The pharmacy robber with the hunting knife jumped the counter at Rite Aid in Guilford at noon Saturday, March 10, and was seen on a video surveillance camera taking what police called a “considerable amount” of narcotics. The Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department is still looking for him.
A few days before that, two brothers — wearing Halloween masks and aided by a lookout man — went into a CVS pharmacy in Portland just before 8 p.m. They were armed with knives and threatened the clerk and pharmacist in order to get drugs.
“It was particularly violent,” Rogers said.
The trio reportedly fled with the stolen narcotics in a silver minivan to South Portland, where they were caught after a brief standoff.
Since diverted prescription pills sell on the streets of Maine for about $1 a milligram, “It doesn’t take much to make it worthwhile,” Rogers said.
“It’s a huge moneymaker,” Wardrop agreed.
‘A shared responsibility’
With the increased number of robberies, it only makes sense for local, state and federal agencies — and pharmacies — to work together to educate, monitor and enforce the laws, Wardrop said.
“It’s a shared responsibility,” the DEA agent said. “No one agency is going to be able to do this alone. We are making headway.”
Stopping the supply of diverted prescription drugs from getting into the hands of users is the DEA’s and the MDEA’s main goal, and that means catching and prosecuting pharmacy robbers, McKinney and Wardrop said.
The MDEA seized roughly 10,000 doses of controlled prescription drugs in 2009, more than 44,000 doses in 2010 — nearly half of which came from one pharmacy burglary — and in excess of 18,700 doses last year, McKinney said.
Delahanty has worked hand in hand with representatives of the DEA and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to establish the new pharmacy robbery review policy.
“Just because it’s a pharmacy doesn’t mean it falls under federal jurisdiction,” the U.S. attorney explained.
If a firearm is used in a drugstore robbery, however, ATF can step forward, or if the amount of drugs stolen exceeds $500, the DEA can get involved, he said, adding that local law enforcement or prosecutors also must request assistance.
“We wanted them to know we’re here and ready to help out as a resource,” Delahanty said.
“We have to partner with state and local agencies to get the best bang for our buck,” said Wardrop, who has offices in both Portland and Bangor. “We’re all one team. We’re all focused on catching the bad guy.”
While it is good that new policies are in place to prosecute serious offenders and steps are being taken to protect pharmacies and the people who work there, McKinney said he still worries about the drug addicts committing the crimes.
“If someone is going to arm themselves and commit a violent act, that is a sign of desperation,” the MDEA director said.
Addicts and drug dealers who break the law by possession and drug trafficking are just the tip of the iceberg of drug-related crimes, Wardrop noted.
“There is a ripple effect,” the federal drug agent said. “People are breaking into cars, breaking into houses, breaking into businesses, doing pharmacy robberies.”
Pharmacies react
In addition to the new federal drugstore robbery review policy, other precautions have been put in place in recent years, including a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program put online in July 2004, and state-mandated surveillance cameras at all pharmacies.
“We have become very offensive rather than defensive,” said Bill Miller, owner of Miller Drug in Bangor. “Everybody that walks into this store is on camera.”
The family-run store became a pharmacy in 1957 and never has been robbed, the second-generation pharmacist said, attributing that fact to having educated and aware employees.
“We’ve alerted our employees to look for certain signs,” Miller said. “We have a policy on procedures, if the store is robbed, and I also don’t mind saying we also have a direct line to the police station.”
Chester “Chet” Hibbard, owner and pharmacist at E.W. Moore and Son Pharmacy in Bingham, has not been so lucky. Three armed robberies have occurred in recent years at Hibbard’s pharmacy, which has been at the same location since 1890 and has been owned by him since 1994.
A man with a handgun robbed the Bingham pharmacy in 2006, knives were used in July 2010, and on Sept. 12, 2011, Hibbard and three other employees were bound with zip ties while a man armed with a shotgun took more than $12,000 worth of prescription pills.
“That one got picked up by the feds because of the loaded weapon and everyone being tied up,” Hibbard said.
The federal government also is prosecuting the armed robbery of a Millinocket pharmacy that took place in August 2011 involving a man with a 9 mm handgun, thanks to the new review policy, Delahanty said.
After his first robbery, Hibbard stopped carrying OxyContin and other painkillers, but having a sign clearly advertising the lack of narcotics does not stop desperate people with robbery on their minds, he said.
“If they’re coming in for that, it’s not going to make any difference,” Hibbard said. “I think they know most pharmacies want them in and out quickly.”
The Somerset County pharmacist, who has been doling out lifesaving medicines since the late 1970s, said he is seriously considering getting a concealed weapons permit for protection.
“Some friends of mine who are pharmacists, who have weapons, they can’t understand why I don’t,” Hibbard said. “I don’t think I’d ever want to shoot someone.”
Some pharmacies prohibit customers who are wearing hoodies, hats and dark glasses from entering, and others have installed quick exit doors near their pickup counters as precautionary measures to protect customers.
Hibbard said he has added security equipment and cameras, which has led to arrests.
“Everyone that has robbed us has been caught,” the Bingham pharmacy owner said.
A piece of good news is that even with the increase in armed robberies of Maine pharmacies, no one has been seriously hurt, Delahanty said.
“I think we have been extremely fortunate that in these there have been no injuries and no one has actually done any shooting,” he said.
This is what happens with they can simply walk in and leap behind the counter.
There is nothing that prevents them from doing so and until there is, this will continue to happen.
This is also what happens when pharmaceutical companies are allowed to legally peddle drugs which were previously reserved only for those who were desperately in pain and usually on their deathbed. Now, everyone (regardless of what other less harmful drugs are available) needs to pop a pill to feel better – the more powerful the better.
Oh well, I guess it keeps the privately-owned, for profit, methadone clinics in the green.
And the clinics owned by EMMC (Acadia). Either way, the State make a lot of money, which is the only reason it’s legal.
What about the doctors who prescribe them? You can’t buy the drugs without one…
Yup.
Still, we also need to assume responsibility to not go running to them and demand the latest magic potion to help us cope. Laws have been passed to allow people to sue them for NOT adequately control pain.
It’s ridiculous how much common sense is dead now.
I agree and in the end we have ourselves (public demand) to blame for drug problems. If we didn’t want to get high, there would be no market.
Duh!!! Hard to believe it took this long to wake up…
Signals to me that the Doctors are finally waking up and not prescribing like the good ol days.
Which is it? That it was good to be able to get a prescription you really needed in “the good ol days.” That now, they’re “waking up,” to not prescribing to people who abuse drugs – when it was possible to track that for decades now, and they didn’t? So, people who need an Rx will not be given it if a patient doesn’t appear to be all, pardon the expression, ‘white’.
I don’t understand your meaning?
“Maine” is not addicted. Some people in Maine have additions. A cheap and erroneous headline.
Sorry, but Maine is addicted. I know it’s not a popular thing to say, but Maine is also fat and poor.
I’m “Maine” and I’m neither addicted nor poor, nor fat. There are many of us.
I wish the BDN would do a better job of explaining the history of the relationship between prescription opiates and the State of Maine. Maine was a prime target for marketing the emerging opiate pain-killers developed in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, because Mainer’s tend to have jobs that are manual in nature (fishermen, factory workers, builders, welders, etc), they often get hurt, they rarely have insurance and , subsequently, they rely on whatever form of healthcare they can get.
Then the unlicensed, unregulated, under-educated, drug-dealers employed by the pharmaceutical companies were trained to push Maine’s prescription-writers to sell the new opiates by offering them CEU’s and Olive Garden salads (if you don’t believe me, just ask the receptionist at any medical practice). And, sadly, Maine’s prescriber’s decided to listen to these salesmen, while accepting their free salads and convincing themselves that CEU’s given to them by drug companies were valid and not corrupt.
Once that happened, the Drug Dealers (Reps as they like to call themselves) threw in free samples for Maine’s prescribers to give to patients, in the same way that a heroin dealer offers a free hit to a budding junkie.
Fast forward to 2012: Maine is drowning in (one of) the most severe prescription opiate addictions in the United States. While major cities have struggled with ” Heroin users” for decades, Maine is becoming buried under the new wave of heroin, that is now supplied by prescribers who are attracted to medications that are sold with a side of Italian dressing and pushed by salesmen who couldn’t get into to medical school.
The people of Maine, who are addicted to the pills that the Government fails to regulate are no different than the junkies lying in the streets of every metropolis. We need to do a much better job of helping the people in this State who are hooked on opiates, and a much better job of monitoring and regulating the people who are hooking them.
Blame the dug makers, blame the doctors all you want, but in the end, demand is the problem. That’s why the “war on drugs” is a failure: going after the dealers doesn’t stop demand!
Until we take a good look in the mirror, and stop blaming others for our problems, we’ll never solve this issue.
These drugs are regulated. If the people responsible for safeguarding did their jobs, there would be no issue.
Pills, heroin, doesn’t matter. The addicts want to get high and they’ll take whatever is available. More regulation won’t reduce drug abuse, just change which drugs are used.
It’s no different than blaming the cartels and farmers for our crack problem. There would be no cartel if WE didn’t want to get high so badly…
Good luck with that. Junkies never look in the mirror – in fact, looking in the mirror would be exactly what they’re trying to avoid when they’re doing drugs.
I agree with what you’re saying, but it simply will not happen. Pushers are pushers. The only difference between the “fine upstanding public servant” ( who was recently killed by while running drugs from Florida) and Big Pharma, is that Big Pharma can get away with it.
Actually – they get away with on both ends – that fine upstanding public servant was running Big Pharma’s pills up here. They provide off the illegal market just as much as from the legal one.
Um, these drugs do have a very legitimate use. When my father was dying of cancer, strong opiates brought him relief and I’m thankful they were available.
If you want to blame suppliers, blame the crooked doctors who write the scripts and patients who sell their drugs.
And I hope you were mindful of who was around your father everyday, as those pills have a way of dissapearing around vistors.
Every heard of the ‘oxy express’? That’s the kind of stuff they need to crack down on, not legitimate doctors trying to help real patients.
Agreed.
and the enablers in their lives, will take the mirror off the wall, clean it off and hand it to them to snort a line on.
I agree.
This was such a comprehensive, intelligent piece of writing, it is too bad that your additional comments lessen its impact and reason.
Give me a break. I have been prescribed Oxy-whatever a few times, generally following surgery. Took it as directed for maybe a day or two, then went back to OTC stuff like Ibuprofen. The Oxy can be perfectly safe if taken as directed. Unfortunately, too many losers want to take advantage of it and get a quick high so they crush it and snort it. And now because of the losers, we have to have methadone clinics and MaineCare subsidies to pay for the treatments.
Good for you, me too. Unfortunately most of our addicts were turned on to drugs in elementary and middle school. They weren’t old enough to make an educated decision.
Good point. A lot of them couldn’t sit still, so instead of offering them an extra paltry 10 minute recess to run around and burn off energy (when they were younger) we shut them up by feeding them speed.
Now we wonder why there’s such a problem with prescription drugs? Guess what Ritalin is? Guess what one of the other diverted prescription drugs are? Ritalin, and since practically everyone is “diagnosed” with “anxiety” now we add Xanax, Klonopin, and any number of combo meds to help them cope.
You need to understand ADHD. Children who TRULY have ADHD aren’t cured by an extra 10-min of running around. ADHD is a problem with a neurotransmitter imbalance in the brain. Ritalin, and other medications, aren’t to blame for the drug problems. It’s the myriad of disfunctional people in this world who turn to mind-altering drugs to deal with their problems who things difficult for the people who really need them.
ADHD. a neurotranmitter imbalance in the brain…………………..thank you
That’s what addiction/dependancy is as you already know
Yes, but people with ADHD are more likely to have issues with dependency because they can tend to be impulsive and have behavior problems-hence leading to risky behavor (drinking, drug use, unsafe sex). Treating ADHD early can help aleviate the impulsivity, and may actually prevent addiction in the future. Stimulant medications for those who need it vs those who want it needs to be distinguished. People properly treated with stimulant medication are monitored for useage, dosing, etc. The addict is constantly searching for that next, better high and takes more and more of a substance to get the affect because they develop tolerance. I may be misinterpreting what you are saying, but do you think ADHD and dependency are the same thing?
Yes, I agree with that (as I noted that there are indeed people who need medication). The problem I have is when a prescription is written well before any tests to definitively diagnose ADHD are done and before other cognitive behavioral therapy is attempted.
In other words, a quick fix.
Elementary school? Wow… that’s really sad. What’s wrong with the people who give these young children these drugs? It’s bad enough that older children and adults are exposed to this crap but young children? I sure hope the law allows prosecution of the criminal who gives a 12 year old or younger drugs to be a lot harsher. That’s not to say I think they should go easy on older children or adults… I don’t. I think there needs to be stiffer penalties all the way around and law enforcement needs to see this crime as a big deal – even when the drug of choice is alcohol or marijuana, particularly when it comes to young children. Elementary age children, that really bothers me… that is just so sick. Like you said, they are way too young to make educated decisions.
I can remember when kids were given paragoric just to shut up and go to sleep, after the discovery that it stopped tooth pain
“discovery” ??? It’s OPIUM. It was “discovered” thousands of years ago
They won’t prosecute because prescription drugs are legal. People are trying to do what’s best for their children and/or for some reason or another, can’t control them (a REAL diagnosis of ADHD aside as there are legitimate cases of ADHD). If a doctor prescribes it, it must be good right? Not necessarily. But a lot of people don’t question it. I think we forget that children are not mini adults sometimes.
This link explains it more. http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec01/medicating.aspx
These drugs are not simple aspirins. They are powerful medications which have really not been studied (with the exception of clinical trials brought to you by Big Pharma) on developing bodies. I often wonder do we not realize that we are setting children up for a lifelong struggle with addiction when a growing child changes by the minute during puberty?
“In her study, LeFever found that 84 percent of children with ADHD received medication at some point in time, and 70 percent were receiving it at the time of the survey–which spanned the summer months during which a medication hiatus is often recommended. The only children who had never received drug treatment were uninsured, she found.
In addition, 28 percent of the elementary school students who were medicated for ADHD in LeFever’s study received two or more psychotropic drugs simultaneously. For many of them, treatment began during preschool or early childhood years.”
You will have to start prosecuting the schools. They are instrumental in having more and more children diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, etc. The drug of choice to bring calm to a classroom seems to be ritilin, but there are other mood altering drugs that are being prescribed. Is it any wonder that popping pills seems pretty normal? Before these kids get to HS they are convinced tht they can’t function without medications of one form or the other. Which makes them more vulnerable to the street drug pedlers who are more than eager to turn them onto pain killers and the whole spectrum of illegal non-prescription drugs.
You may ask why the parents aren’t objecting to this cycle. The fact is that we are well into the 3rd generation of controling school children with mood altering drugs. We have stopped teaching self discipline to our children. We are teaching them that for every mood there is a pill. Most of these children, when they reach adulthood are so far removed from feeling normal that they have no idea what normal is.
We need to look at our society as a whole. Everything has turned to high-speed instant gratification. Drive throughs, video games, tv/commercials, music, etc. It’s no wonder children are being overstumulated at a time when their brains are forming, and I believe, altering their brain development.
nice to hear from an RN
It may also be of interest to consider some information presented by the (Camden) author, Charlotte Thompson Iserbyt’s book:
“The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America”
Iserbyt: former Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/pages/author.htm
PS
My Signature Motto:
ANY politician – even down to the “select”man /person level – who will not participate in the education and pursuit of Monetary Reform – is not worth the paper their election ballot is printed on…
because THIS is an issue that underlies everything else in our world … please take notice.
Kind of like people who think it was cute to give their kid a little sip of beer here and there.
Very similar. The younger a person is exposed to these mood altering drugs (alcohol is a drug), the more vulnerable they are to addiction.
Yep. Good point.
Thats why they call it abuse.
…or sell them for $80. each.
beats working.
$80.?
If you mean an oxycontin 80 mg try going up at least $20.00 if not more.
You’re behind the times
This may have been the case in the past but not so much now.
Purdue Pharma reformulated Oxycontin and now drug addicts no longer want it as they can’t insulfate (snort) it or inject it without some effort.
Nothing is 100% abuse proof)
The drug of choice for these people now is Oxycodone preferably the larger doses 15 & 30mg.
I have been informed of this first hand when I have had to deal with overdose calls
Yep. I’ve been on it and other strong meds post-op and never developed an addiction. If it wasn’t oxy, they’d go after something else.
The Canadian pipe line has been cut, in that Canada finally smartened up and made the Pharmas come up with pain killer that can’t be broken down and snorted. Amazing how a country with a population that is the 10th of that of the US can manage to control not only pricing but tell the pharma’s how they want their drugs deliverd.
It can’t be snorted, but it can be injected, even thugh there is a little more effort.
They can also be smoked .
Where there is a will there is a way.
It can be broken down and snorted, when crushed it just doesn’t make as fine a powder.
Make everyone safer and makes these available without a prescription. Another example of government prohibition leading to violence.
This is b.s. The problem is that lots of people want to make a quick buck. This article is completely misleading if you believe that all the pharmacies are robbed by desperate addicts seeking their fix. What they are really after is the money they make selling the pills. Why do you think Perdomo came up here from FL?
The cost of your prescriptions are going to double because the pharmacy will have to bend to a new federal law !
“Some pharmacies prohibit customers who are wearing hoodies, hats and dark glasses from entering, and others have installed quick exit doors near their pickup counters as precautionary measures to protect customers”.
Anyone hear about the guy in Florida that shot and killed the 17 year old african american male walking down the road looking the same as what the pharmacies are prohibiting. I am sorry but I think this might be going a little too far. I’ll tell you, I had the flu recently, was laid up for 3 days. I had chills that were uncontrollable, shaking, puking, sweating, burning up and freezing at the same time. I gathered, barely, the strength to get out of bed and go to the pharmacy for some Nyquil, I wore a hooded sweatshirt, hood up over a hat and my glasses are dark until they get used to interior light. I also had black sweats on and slippers. I looked like a total moron, sick to boot, but I didn’t think my attaire was prohibited. Oh, I also had my 38 featherlight revolver in the front of the sweatshirt, with my concealed firearm permit in my wallet of course. I guess I have a little catching p to do on dress code at the pharmacy.
One thing I do when picking up my prescriptions is to ask that they be put in a BAG right at the pharmacy. SO…when you are walking out people don’t notice you have a little white bag. A few years ago I witnessed an elderly lady have her little white bags stolen right in the parking lot…the guy was scoping her out, just waiting for her bend down to put her groceries in the car and he grabbed it. This was before the video cameras were set up everywhere and he got away. To some people STEALING is their full time job :/ sad but true. It is a shame that the actual pharmacies are getting held up… :(
I feel incidents like this will only increase. I help take care of my elderly mother who has chronic pain from back and knee surgeries, arthritis, among her other ailments. I was helping her go through her mail yesterday and she received a letter from DHS about Maine Care cuts. The cuts to the prescription coverage stated that there will be a 45 day limit for meds like oxy-codone and other opiates. It’s going to lead to addicts finding other ways to get them. It’s scary what pills can turn someone into. Just my thought…
I am impressed BDN could connect these dots: Rise in pharmacy robberies signals Maine’s addiction to prescription drugs
which makes sense that we cut funds for substance abuse treatment.
The war on drugs has created this problem, like it is an american marketing strategy and Perdue Pharma Inc. has the most wanted drug on the market. This a deliberate attempt to create chaos and undermine the stability of our country; its a terrorist activity as these robberies show a deterioration in the breakdown of american culture. End the war and stop the madness.
Treworgy Pharmachy in Calais has a sign on the door stating that they do NOT keep Oxycontin is stock, that it has be be ordered 24-hours before it can be sent to the pharmacy and the the Rx filled.
Wonder if this deterent works. They have not been robbed, but none of the pharmacies in Washington cunty have been hit. Guess that could change anytime.
Opiate based drugs are derived from the OPIUM POPPY.
Afghanistan now produces 90% of the worlds opium.
This number was 60% when the Taliban controlled the country.
Afghani leader Karzai’s brother is the largest Opium dealer there.
The US Military and all its might allows this deadly business to flourish.
Plane loads of drugs and cash fly out of there on a daily basis.
So……. the war in Afghanistan accomplished what , exactly.
The US hasnt won a war , of any sort , for a very long time.
The current US policies , foreign and domestic , are clear failures of the highest magnitude.
Does anyone expect Obama or whomever to be of any help?
Im tired of supporting junkies. Here and there.
How much do you actually pay toward these programs? 8 bucks a year? You make it sound like you are funding the whole program. The Taliban put all the opium farmers out of business in afghanistan. When we eradicated the Taliban, for the most part, the poppy farmers popped back up becuase it is such a lucrative business. Talk about ironic.
I’ sure their robbing more than Oxy…I have taken Oxy before and it did’nt make me high but it did relieve some of the pain.
This is all bull crap
of course you for all the opiates you can get as well as a good supply of Benzodiazapines like Xanax and Klonipin.
“Rise in pharmacy robberies signals Maine’s addiction to prescription drugs”
It’s comforting to know that the authorities are on top of this and have figured this out before the prescription drug problem gets out of control.
Visit Maine “The Way Life Should Be”
Visit Washington County aka Pillville “The Way Life Really is”
I think there has been too much money spent already for these so called drug abuse clinics and special programs. It baffles my mind that the state of Maine through Maine care pay an outrageous amount each month for prescriptions each month for such drugs as suboxone and methadone. Time and time again you see people getting prescribed suboxone and methadone that walk out of the pharmacy and start raking in the cash. Seems to me this would show maine care just how much this program really means to so me people. And one thing to be proud of here in aroostook county is the fact we have no methadone clinics here. Methadone clinics in the Southern part of the state have managed to create an epidemic. By having these clinics some of the women get pregnant which creates hundreds of thousands of dollar’s spent for the medical care and neonatal intensive care bills that are acquired by babies born addicted to methadone. Thing’s need to change signifigantly in this state. Now as a result we have created havoc here resulting in people robbing and stealing prescription drugs to feed their habits.
The only reason the methadone treatment issue is getting alot of notice these days is because of Maine Care payments. If treatment was only by self pay, none of us would be having this big hooplah about BIG BAD METHADONE.
Treatment choices need to be of a wide variety as addiction treatment methods are is not a “one size fits all”.
Drug addiction in Maine is on the rise. Pharmacy theft is on the rise.
So lets do the logical thing and make it impossible for Methadone treatment to be successful in Maine. Lets get the addicts that were in Methadone treatment back on the street. This is a great idea…..
and they WILL be back on the street, you can count on it after LD 1840 passes.
And it will pass. Any ideas yet when it will pass? Makes me sick to my stomach. They need to get some education on addiction treatment and medicaly what works. People don’t even realize the benefits not only for the patient in Methadone treatment but also the community.
These days I get nervous going into a pharmacy the way I used to get inside a bank. I find myself checking who’s behind me on line. You just never know who’s on what and not thinking rationally.
I’m lucky ,all I have are blood pressure pills.
Beer is still cheap enough , so I aint worried.
Or eyeballing your prescriptions. Oh, that guy has a cast? I’ll bet he’s filling some good stuff….
And then open up even more Methadone clinics to keep addicts addicted even longer and feed their addictions with taxpayer money. I have an novel idea. Let the families who failed to keep them off drugs and failed to get them off drugs take care of them!
There must be someone out there that can address this. Hey parents!!!
HowdyNeighbor is saying that because of YOUR failure as a parent it’s your fault that your child kept using drugs.
He’s saying that you did not care when your child was going throughh the revolving door of the ER, maimed in a car accident, maimed someone else in that same accident ,robbed you blind, watched blood run down their arms from injecting, puked and crapped and finally died unoticed on a floor somewhere .
This is all your fault because somehow you were supposed to stop them.
That’s right. The #1 prevention for drug use and abuse is at home. Parents who pay babysitters and daycare centers to raise their children, and who then think schools are 100% responsible for educating children about everything (including sex and drugs) are the opposite of helicopter parents. They’re invisible parents. And, yes, they are to blame for their kids experimenting with and the getting hooked on drugs. It’s always funny when people try to blame society and then want society to pay to fix their kids’ problems. It ALL starts in the home and the families are the ones who should be paying for the treatment, not taxpayers.
Believe it or not, many parents do the very best with their kids and they still end up as addicts.
I guess those parents need to be punished somehow, huh?
They shouldn’t expect taxpayers to take care of their kids, young or adult.
You need to realize that the state government have investments in Big Pharm. This is why it is available through state programs. If we didn’t have these programs there would be even more crime, foster care would rise, and so on. What do you suggest?
Giving drugs to drug addicts does not work. When the government and big pharma do that, they are extending the addict’s period of illness. When the government pays for methodone, taxpayers pay for Methodone. Big Pharma lobbies the government to pay them (Big Pharma) to provide drugs to drug addicts. How can any part of that puzzle be acceptable?
So, taxpayers are paying addicts to remain addicted. Those addicts keep committing crimes. Giving them “legal” drugs doesn’t stop that.It just keeps them high. I lived near a guy on Methodone and he was constantly in a state of a drug-induced stupor. He had no job and the government paid him to sit at home, drugged up, and doing nothing. You call that “treatment?!” Coddling drug addicts with drugs in the hopes they won’t commit a crime someday?!
Cut them off cold turkey and put them in a treatment facility. If they fail, tough. Ship them all to an island somewhere rather than forcing the rest of society to deal with people who have been given assistance but who refuse to stay clean.
If the penalties were that stiff, I bet a LOT more people would be clean and sober.
I think it is because their Doctors have to go on Vacation some time. No one to write the script for them…
They could cut down on robberies if they just had a scipt pad on the counters and they could write their own.
Good one. ;)
It also signals the desperation of people in Maine who live day to day trying to survive. With Governor LePage’s new “War on the Poor” you will see this become an everyday thing in Maine, along with a spike in new cases of addiction as people, already on the edge, lose all hope. This rise in crime only accounts for the drug addicts….wait until all of his “cuts” take effect…there won’t be a safe street in Maine anymore. Don’t worry though…I’m sure the Tea Party will reimburse everyone who’s had everything they worked for stolen by desperate poor people who are hungry thanks to their radical “political” methods. Great job Pauly !
This is a reply made by “foreveryreason” who had the intelligent comment regarding my comment to methadone. It does not matter to me that Maine Care if footing the bill, or self pay. The problem is that suboxone and especially methadone is a life time commitment. Which means that people are not drug free. Just cause you don’t go and buy pills off the street you are hooked on methadone instead! This makes sense. In numerous other states people have had naltrexon pumps implanted, as oral naltraxon and they managed to be drug free and no side affects from naltrexon withdrawl and let’s be honest people are not lining up for that procedure but your methadone clinic lines are sure full. Having worked at an office that the physician prescribed methadone and suboxone I can tell you this……. Even the doctor has day’s when he is sorry he started doing this to start with. Not to mention that the Ronald Mcdonald house in Bangor is constantly full and lot of the people that stay there are young mother’s who have preemie babies and are born addicted to methadone, as well as the mother having to go to the methadone clinic for her daily dose. And last but not least you have this last attribute everybody that is going to a methadone clinic has to go each and every day for your methadone. For the few lucky ones after 90 day’s you can take home a day’s worth every other day…………. given the fact that the clinics are mostly down to the southern portions of the state this means that after recieving your pretty strong does of methadone you get to get in your car and drive back home now that really makes more sense!
It is not a lifetime commitment. The problem with methadone is the clinics don’t do enough to get you off of it. the new 2 year cap on methadone treatment through Mainecare should help people move along with their lives. You can certainly drive on methadone but the high doses they prescribe are dangerous. Naltrexon is one way, but how much does it cost? There is also Ibugain. Either way you are going to be paying something through social programs.
Recent and growing … robberies … signal Maine’s addiction ??
Maine has been top on the list of prescription medication abuse for a while now. I have observed this for over twenty years.
I Thought it was bad – seeing it in Massachusetts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Yet that was NOTHING compared to what I’ve seen, here in “God’s Country” for the 30+ years (since those old … “hippie” … times).
ABUSE and TRAUMA are THE main instigators for peoples’ urge to “mood-alter” – NO matter whether that’s with drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, sex-abuse, porn, pedophilia, money, TV, “workaholic” tendencies, “domestic” violence, the “gaming” fetishes, etc., etc., etc. … the list is large and includes many “common” things that might otherwise be considered “normal”.
Well, normal does NOT always mean healthy. It’s ALL about hiding from Fear and the Pain – which so often go ignored, unrecognized, un-attended and even standardized, made “OK” through pass-the-buck, cop-out run-away attitudes.
The (so-called) “health CARE” industry covers its backside, but largely just goes ALONG for the ride – and their PROFIT$ (our Corporate “instead-of-healing” industry).
Then we have (so-called) legislators who ENCOURAGE such behavior types BY the promoting and the championing of the “state” BOOZE-of-choice and the sugar-addicting “state” favorite-snack (poison) and the “state” encouragement of the GAMBLING industry.
WAKE UP, Dope-Heads, Drunks, Tee-Vee Zombies: AND … our (so-CALLED) … legislators … legislators … legislators.
“If you keep on doing what you’re doing, you’re likely to keep on getting what you’re getting. Is that what you want? If you do nothing, nothing will happen. If you do something, something may happen.” ~ Raymon Grace
PS.
-Signature Motto-
ANY politician – even down to the “select”man /person level – who will not participate in the education and pursuit of Monetary Reform – is not worth the paper their election ballot is printed on.
ABUSE and TRAUMA are THE main instigators for peoples’ urge to “mood-alter” – NO matter whether that’s with drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, sex-abuse, porn, pedophilia, money, TV, “workaholic” tendencies, “domestic” violence, the “gaming” fetishes, etc., etc., etc. … the list is large and includes many “common” things that might otherwise be considered “normal”.
I love what you said. Therapy needs to be mandated when people show up at their provider’s offices looking for antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds, etc. Treat what’s causing the problem in the first place. Don’t just mask it.