By Roger Alford, The Associated Press
Hazard, Ken. (AP) -- Authorities in eastern Kentucky began arresting more than 200 suspected drug dealers Tuesday in the state’s biggest crackdown yet on Oxycontin, the powerful prescription painkiller blamed for scores of deaths.
More than 100 officers from local, state and federal agencies began the roundup at daybreak, taking suspects straight from their beds.
Police expect to arrest about 210 people over the next few days, said Dan Smoot, head of law enforcement for the anti-drug task force Operation UNITE in Hazard.
The raids came as authorities brace for an increase in Oxycontin trafficking when a generic version of the drug hits the market.
“I’m afraid we’re going to see a resurgence in its use with the lower-priced generic form,” Smoot said.
Authorities blame abuse of OxyContin for scores of overdose deaths in the Appalachian region and beyond.
If taken properly, the drug is released slowly into the body. But abusers circumvent the time-release by crushing the pills and inhaling or injecting the powder to get a heroin-like high.
OxyContin is also blamed for a rise in crime across the region.
“It’s an ongoing, vicious cycle,” Smoot said. “People stealing from family and friends and then total strangers, to support their habits.”
The maker of OxyContin, Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma, contributed $1.2 million in 2003 to law-enforcement efforts to prosecute drug dealers, said J. Aaron Graham, vice president of corporate security.
About half the money went to Kentucky, he said.
“There was a problem, we recognized it, and we want to be part of the solution,” Graham said.