Feds work to disrupt heroin, oxycodone, fentanyl traffickers in Oregon

A California physician illegally prescribed more than 12,000 pills of oxycodone to drug traffickers in Oregon, leading to the death of a 22-year-old Gold Hill woman in 2012 and criminal charges against six people involved in the distribution ring in this state.

The federal prosecution marks one part of an ongoing initiative by the Oregon U.S. Attorney's Office to target the rising opioid addiction crisis.

Education is another.

Oregon's U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams spent Wednesday afternoon listening to teenagers talk about their friends' or relatives' addictions at the nonprofit Coos Drop, a drop-in center for young people ages 14 to 25 in North Bend.  On Thursday night, he planned to attend a Coos County town hall focusing on the opioid epidemic.

For Williams, the problem is personal.

His father, a cattle auctioneer, broke his back from a fall in his 30s, underwent at least four surgeries and a spinal fusion and became addicted to painkillers. When confronted, his father would deny he had a problem, responding that his doctor gave him the medication and it eased his significant pain.

"I grew up in and out of my home in part because I knew what was going on, and I didn't like it, and I'd go to stay with friends,'' Williams recalled as his office released its latest compilation of statistics showing the scope of state's drug abuse problem.

His father died at age 81 in 2012 after struggling with nearly five decades of addiction.

In Oregon, the No. 1 drug abuse problem remains methamphetamine, followed by heroin related to opioid use, fentanyl and synthetic opioids, and controlled prescription drugs, according to Oregon narcotics enforcement officers. Many people who are addicted to prescription opioids, such as oxycodone, have switched to heroin because it's easier to get, cheaper and provides a more intense high than most prescription opioids.

In the last six months, federal law enforcement officers and their task force partners have seized 158 pounds of heroin in Oregon, 600 grams of oxycodone and half a pound of fentanyl.

Combined, the seizures remove nearly 3 million individual user doses from state drug-distribution networks, Williams said. The enforcement effort has led to 19 arrests, 17 guilty pleas and nine sentencings of drug traffickers so far.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported that drugs are the leading cause of death in the United States. Drug-related deaths have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle crashes, suicide and homicide since 2011. In 2016, about 174 people died every day from drug poisoning, according to the agency's National Drug Threat Assessment report released this month.

In Oregon, the total number of deaths related to drug use increased from 493 in 2013 to 546 in 2017, or 11 percent, though counts for last year may be incomplete due to delays in toxicology test results, according to a June report by the  Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The death rate was highest for methamphetamine, followed by pharmaceutical opioids, heroin, fentanyl/synthetic opioids and cocaine.

Nearly half of the prescriptions filled at Oregon retail pharmacies in 2017 were for opioids. As a result, Oregon has one of the highest rates of prescription opioid misuse in the country, with an average of three deaths every week from prescription opioid overdose, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In Oregon, there were 312 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016, the latest figures available.

Opioid abuse in Oregon involves a dangerous cocktail of street drugs, including heroin and fentanyl, and prescription medications, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine, according to federal authorities.

"Whether a person starts down the path to addiction on the street or in a doctor's office, the result is equally devastating to the victim's family and community. Because the impact is so significant, the FBI and our partners are prioritizing our work to identify the dealers and doctors who are driving this epidemic," said Renn Cannon, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon.

"The numbers are heart wrenching," said Keith Weis, Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge for the Pacific Northwest. "In a time of unprecedented health risks facing our society, we must respond aggressively head-on in a multi-faceted, community-based strategy that includes law enforcement, prevention and treatment specialists all working hand in hand to help our most vulnerable members facing life or death struggles against addiction. Every person lost in this opioid crisis is one too many."

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com
503-221-8212
@maxoregonian

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