Big Brother Winner Nabbed for Peddling Oxy

Pharmacies sold equivalent of 69 tons of pure oxycodone in 2010

(NEWSER) - Prescription painkiller addiction is a problem that's only getting uglier, reports the AP after analyzing a slew of DEA and pharmaceutical figures. The report focuses on sales of America's leading two prescription painkillers: oxycodone (the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet, and Percodan) and hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco, and Lortab). Among its more stunning findings:

• Addiction, long rooted in Appalachia and tony suburbs, has begun to spread well beyond those two centers; hydrocodone sales are specifically increasing in the Midwest

And one member beat up fiancée, too!

(NEWSER) - Two former Big Brother contestants parlayed their reality show alliance into a real-life drug ring, and now they’re paying the price. Adam Jasinski, who won season nine, allegedly used his $500,000 prize to get into the oxycodone game, and was arrested in October. Yesterday, his former housemate and ally Matthew McDonald was also indicted for allegedly participating in the ring, TMZ reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Michael Jackson's personal doctor lacks a license to prescribe controlled medicines in California, federal authorities tell Fox News. Conrad Murray didn't register with the DEA in the singer's home state, officials say, meaning it would have been illegal for him to prescribe or administer Demerol, OxyContin, or even strong cough syrup to Jackson. More»

Staten Island leads the way

(NEWSER) - New York City's special narcotics prosecutor unveiled some eye-popping numbers about prescription drugs in the Big Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal :

• One million prescriptions for the pain reliever oxycodone—the generic name for Oxycontin—were filled in 2010. That's enough for 1 in 8 residents of the five boroughs, or 13% of the population.
• The percentage is 28% in Staten Island. Add in Vicodin, and it's 33%.
• The 1 million figure has doubled since 2007.

Oxycodone sellers licked

(NEWSER) - In New York City's Staten Island, oxycodone addicts were more enthusiastic than little kids about the arrival of the Lickety Split ice cream truck: Some 31 people have been indicted for running a drug ring that investigators say used the ice cream truck to sell the addictive prescription painkiller—and that pulled in $1 million, reports the New York Daily News . More»