MORE THAN 30 DRUG SUSPECTS ARRESTED

Eight Charged with Engaging in 'Doctor Shopping'

FOLEY -- The Baldwin County Sheriff's Department announced Tuesday the
arrests of more than 30 people on drug charges, including eight accused of
engaging in a form of prescription drug fraud known as "doctor shopping."

Baldwin County Drug Task Force investigators contend that the eight, who
have been indicted by a grand jury on charges of possession of a controlled
substance, are accused of having different doctors write prescriptions for
pain medication and then filling the prescriptions at area pharmacies.

Investigators pointed to the arrests as the latest evidence of Baldwin's
growing problem with illegally obtained prescription drugs, a trend that
prosecutors blamed for a rise in drug overdose deaths.

"The most common thing we see as far as drug abuse is prescription drugs --
by far," said Sgt. Neil Holcombe of the Drug Task Force. "It beats crack
cocaine, marijuana or any other drug on the street."

District Attorney David Whetstone, who said he has tried to focus attention
on OxyContin and other addictive pain medicines in recent months, said
eight prescription drug indictments from a single grand jury term would
have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

"We thought methampheta mines was going to be the drug of choice of the new
millennium," he said. "And, although it is a problem, it is legal drugs
that are gaining ground faster than crystal meth."

Holcombe said law officers did not seek charges against any doctors or
pharmacists in connection with the "doctor shopping" arrests. But Whetstone
said authorities are investigating at least one health care professional.

Whetstone said patients sometimes develop addictions for painkillers that
they originally get for legitimate reasons.

"Most of these people that are arrested are hooked," he said.

Holcombe said some of the suspects likely obtain the drugs for personal
use. But he added that the vast quantity of pills found on some of the
suspects suggested others were motivated by profit.

"It would just be common sense to believe that they are either selling them
or giving them to people," he said.

In addition to the "doctor shopping" arrests, the Sheriff's Department
arrested 18 adults and five juveniles on drug-related charges in connection
with purchases made by undercover officers. The Sheriff's Department is
seeking the arrests of about 10 additional suspects, and three others were
arrested Tuesday on non-drug charges, Holcombe said.

Most of the suspects are mid-to low-level street dealers, Holcombe said,
mainly concentrated in the low-income Aaronville, Beulah Heights and Mills
neighborhoods of Foley. He said investi gators targeted those communities
because of the high number of complaints from residents.

Holcombe said removing a large number of dealers will improve the areas but
will by no means solve the drug problem.

"We would like to think it made a significant impact in south Baldwin
County," he said. "We know from experience there will probably be people
back out in the street again selling drugs tonight."

Whetstone said periodic stings are necessary to keep illegal drug dealing
from spiraling out of control and must be repeated again and again.

"It's kind of like preparing for a hurricane," he said.