Percocet tablets

• Law enforcement finds more and more Percocet, Lorcet and Xanax being used as substitute for more expensive cocaine.

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

Drug detectives across the county are seeing more and more use of Percocet — a powerful pain pill – as a substitute for the expensive forms of powder and crack cocaine.

Reports show users are crushing and snorting Percocet just like they do rows of powder cocaine, and some abusers are managing to melt the tablet so it can be injected straight into a vein with a needle.

“It never ceases to amaze me what a drug addict will try,” Sheriff Chris Batten said last week.
“The illegal use of prescription medicine has quickly caught up with cocaine in the less than five years I’ve been sheriff. And, we’ve made more than 600 felony drug arrests – just my drug officers alone,” Batten pointed out.

“It’s legal to get them, and they’re cheap. That’s the simple reason there’s been such a shift to pain pills and tranquilizers. There are so many people with prescriptions out there who can get 90 to 180 of them a month at little or no cost, because they’re on Medicare or Medicaid.
Tough obstacle

“This big increase is one of our toughest obstacles, simply because they’re legal to sell and possess – if you have a prescription – versus the complete illegal status of cocaine,” the sheriff explained.

Sheriff’s Drug Detective Sgt. Steve Worthington said more than two dozen cases involving illegal use and/or sale of prescription medicine have been made this year by his unit.

“We’re often seeing cases where people who are on Medicare or Medicaid get the pills by paying nothing, and then they sell them wholesale or right on the street. It’s pure profit,” the detective noted.

Worthington said Percocet is the preferred pill used and sold on the street, usually for $6 to $12, depending on the number purchased.

Street prices

The detective said the street cost of Lorcet, a companion pill, is $3 to $6, and Xanax brings $3 to $5 per pop.

“We’ve seen a big increase of people with legitimate prescriptions selling a large part of the number of pills they get every month. Sometimes, the seller will use part of the pills, but sell the bulk of them,” Worthington added.

The detective said there is also an increase in the illegal use of Tuffinix, a Hydrocodone-based cough syrup.

“Percocet is the preferred pill now. There’s been a move away from Lorcet during the past eight to 10 months,” he added.