37 Busted in FBI Raid on Boeing Plant

Kermit, West Virginia, home to die-hard addicts

(NEWSER) - A tiny coal-mining town of barely 300 people and no supermarket is home to one booming business: pharmacies. In Kermit, West Virginia, two Sav-Rites alone moved 3.2 million doses of hydrocodone in 2006—a tad more than the 97,000 doses the average pharmacy sells in a year, reports Salon . Their customers were pill addicts from all over the Eastern seaboard. Now prosecutors have closed the Sav-Rites, but more "pill mills" are cropping up in a game of Whac-A-Mole against America's biggest drug menace today: prescription medicine. More»

Medical records will be subpoenaed

(NEWSER) - The investigation into Whitney Houston's death is now turning to her doctors and pharmacies. Investigators are expected in the next few days to serve subpoenas on the singer's physicians and the pharmacies where Houston obtained multiple prescription drugs, reports the Los Angeles Times . Officials aim to determine whether the drugs were dispensed properly, and if the singer was receiving too many prescriptions, a source tells the newspaper. Investigators will likely pore over a state-created database of controlled substances prescribed in California. Tracking celebrity prescription drug use can be complicated because they may regularly use drugs prescribed to aides, according to law enforcement authorities. More»

Lawyer says the dog has 'never been the same'

(NEWSER) - A lawyer for an alleged mobster is asking a judge for leniency in sentencing, saying his client's small Maltese puppy was traumatized when an FBI team stormed into his Staten Island home and tossed concussion grenades. The dog was thrown across the room by the blast and "has not been the same since," the attorney says in a court filing, calling the arrest "an operation worthy of an honorable mention next to the recent and well-publicized Navy SEAL commando raid in Pakistan." More»

Friends say addiction not plausible

(NEWSER) - Speculation is swirling around the death of surfing great Andy Irons after police found a variety of prescription drugs in his Dallas hotel room. Police reports indicate that Irons had generic versions of Ambien and Xanax, and the county medical examiner told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that one of the bottles actually contained methadone. But friends and family say the phenom didn’t have a drug problem. More»

It's the most-prescribed psychiatric medication

(NEWSER) - Xanax is king in America—the anti-anxiety drug was prescribed more than any psychiatric medication in 2009, according to PsychCentral . We're a "zonked out" nation, observes Hamilton Nolan at Gawker , noting that the "first speed prescription" (amphetamine salts) doesn't show up until No. 11. Here's the top 10:

1. Xanax
2. Lexapro
3. Ativan
4. Zoloft
5. Prozac