Old Folks Selling Pills for Cash
Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 • Filed under Drugs
Kentucky police arrested an Dottie Neely, 87 years old, on charges of selling her prescription painkillers for cash. CNN has the story.
Since April 2004, Operation UNITE, a Kentucky anti-drug task force created largely in response to rampant abuse of the powerful and sometimes lethal painkiller OxyContin, has charged more than 40 people 60 or older with selling primarily prescription drugs in the mountains.
Floyd County jailer Roger Webb says:
“When a person is on Social Security, drawing $500 a month, and they can sell their pain pills for $10 apiece, they’ll take half of them for themselves and sell the other half to pay their electric bills or buy groceries.
It used to be a rare occasion to have an elderly inmate. Five years ago it was a rarity.”
It’s good to know we’re getting to the root of the problem. Now we’re one step closer to a drug-free America.