After 7th Death, DEA Takes Over Search For Fentanyl Pills In Sacramento
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/03/31/after-7th-death-dea-takes-over-search-for-fentanyl-pills-in-sacramento/
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The Drug Enforcement Administration is taking over an investigation into how fentanyl ended up in drugs in the Sacramento area after a seventh person is believed to have been killed by the drug.
The family of Jerome Butler says he was taken off life support on Wednesday afternoon, just three days after his mother said he took a pill for chronic stomach pain he didn’t know had been laced with Fentanyl.
The drug is also believed to be responsible for 21 other hospitalizations.
CBS13 has learned recession budget cuts claimed narcotics teams in the Sacramento area who would track down drugs like Fentanyl.
Assemblyman Jim Cooper was once an undercover cop who busted drug dealers daily. He established Sacramento County’s first street narcotics team in 1988.
“It was turn and burn; you go out arrest someone, and get the next one,” he said.
His unit was dedicated to finding the guys dealing prescription pills like the ones now being blamed for multiple deaths in Sacramento County.
“It’s unfortunate, because those folks—the actual dealers selling out there right now—they’re out there unimpeded. They could do whatever they want,” he said.
The recession claimed the sheriff’s department’s team in 2008, while the Sacramento Police Department got rid of theirs in 2011. Neither has been restored.
Both agencies declined on-camera interviews, but defend their current operations. They say high-level drug task forces now pick up the slack.
“There’s lots of task forces in Sacramento, but they work on high-level drug dealers, but the street teams, they go out every night for that purpose, arresting drug dealers,” Cooper said.
He hopes the pill problem could be solved with a bill that would make locking pill bottles available to people with prescriptions, making it harder for addicts to steal the drugs.
For now, he hopes to see street teams back on the street deterring drug dealers and their deadly combinations.
“Otherwise you’re going to see more deaths with this,” he said
Filed under: General Problems
This doesn’t make sense I know a friend in drug enforcement that told me street pushers don’t have the ability to manufacture Fentanyl into Norco looking pills to sell. Norco sell for pennies on the street compared to fentanyl. There is no way to make a profit doing that.
A Bill for locking pill bottles to deter theft really? The stupidity of that remark is so ridiculous I refuse to even remark any further on it.
“He hopes the pill problem could be solved with a bill that would make locking pill bottles available to people with prescriptions, making it harder for addicts to steal the drugs.”
I literally snorted out loud when I read this. Is he serious? Does he have a clue? (Never mind .. that was a stupid question.) Our legislators, bureaucrats and the other idiots we pay with our tax dollars created this entire mess. Over the years, they’ve sat by doing nothing while the DEA continues getting more powerful each day. Bureaucratic agencies making “guidelines” telling the doctor I’ve been going to for over 10 years how to treat my pain. Never mind the fact that these guidelines have no proven scientific evidence backing them. Governors and state legislators passing ridiculous laws that affect so many of us. Seriously, our elected officials have literally lost touch with the people they work for (us). Both major parties are worthless, but nothing will keep me from voting.
Yeah right. Wake up. You opened up a new market for pill diversion when doctors were managing it quite well. Idiots.