To continue with our cruel and sadistic drug war is the daily crime. The only way out is to decriminalize all drugs, treat, repair and, somehow, atone for lawmakers’ and the judicial system’s half-century assault on their own citizens.
drugs
After 50 Calls for Service, Cops Shut Down “Drug House’ and Arrest 3 ‘Frequent Fliers’ at Mondex Property
Tessa Lilly, Gage Watts and Jessica McBryde, all three convicted felons, were re-arrested at at 5000 Palm Avenue in Bunnell’s Mondex, a property the sheriff’s office says was used for drug trafficking.
Fact Check: Surgeon General’s Marijuana Warning of ‘Gateway Effect’ Revives Controversial Claim
Whether marijuana can “prime your brain for addiction” elicits responses all over the map — reflecting just how contested this issue is and how difficult it is to speak definitively about marijuana’s impact.
Some 33 Pounds of Cocaine Wash Up on the Beach Near Surfside Condos in North Flagler
The dark gym bag was dark and covered in barnacles and seaweed, and the 15 bricks within were covered in sand and seashells, suggesting that the bag had been in the ocean a long time.
Opioid-Related Deaths Decline By 34% in Flagler’s 3-County District in 1st Part of 2018
The decline is far more pronounced in the Flagler region than in the state, strongly suggesting that the introduction of front-line life-saving measures, combined with stricter state rules on prescription drugs, is having an effect.
40 Warrants, 23 Arrests in Latest Drug Sweep Across Flagler, This Time With Pleas For Treatment
The warrants target almost exclusively Flagler and Palm Coast residents, one of them a Waste Pro employee alleged to have been selling heroin while on the job on his route.
Suicide Prevention Set To Become Part of Minimum Standard of Care At Addiction Centers
Rising opioids use and rising suicide rates: Suicide prevention advocates have been pushing the addiction treatment community to address the substantial overlap by adopting new standards of care. That starts in June.
Lawsuit Allegations Detail How The Sackler Family Built An OxyContin Fortune
This is the first lawsuit among hundreds of others that were previously filed across the country to charge the Sacklers with personally profiting from the harm and death of people taking the company’s opioids.
How Fentanyl, in 56% of Florida’s Overdose Deaths, Changes the Opioid Equation
With lethal amounts of fentanyl showing up in heroin and other drug supplies throughout the country, active drug users are at a greater risk of dying than ever before.
Thefts, Hit-and-Run With Injury and Graham Swamp Search Lead to Arrest of Frequent Felon
Jonathan DeMartino, 37, faces four felony counts after a run of alleged property and other crimes, one of them injuring a woman in a Palm Coast Parkway hit-and-run.
In Two Days in Flagler, Two Overdoses, Three Incidents With Opioids, One Involving a 1-Year-Old
A 48-hour period in Flagler and Palm Coast saw the varied aspects of opioids’ effects–in overdoses, in arrests, in court–pointing to signs of an epidemic’s spread.
Palm Coast’s Daryl Jowais, 49, Found Dead of Apparent Drug Overdose
Daryl Jowais, 49, of Zacharias Place in Palm Coast, was found dead after locking himself in his bathroom. His supplier is unknown. The case is under investigation.
Clarence Murphy Is Sentenced To Life In Prison, No Parole, In Murder of Cousin Ahmad Laster
Clarence Murphy Jr. shot his cousin Ahmed Rashad Laster on Palm Coast’s Parkview Drive last September during an argument, and soon confessed.
In Lawsuit, Pam Bondi Accuses Pill Manufacturers of Causing Opioid Crisis
Bondi filed a civil suit accusing five of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers and four distributors of causing the opioid crisis that is killing an average 15 Floridians daily.
Applicants Line Up Concert-Style For Florida’s Dozens of New Methadone-Treatment Licenses
Florida officials this summer decided to double the number of methadone clinics in the state as part of a $27 million federal grant aimed at curbing opioid addiction and overdoses.
Man at Wheel of Truck in Crash That Killed 10-Year-Old Arrested on Drug Charges; Cited 3 Times in Last 6 Months For No License
Thomas Rando, the Palm Coast man at the wheel of an SUV that crashed Friday, killing 10-year-old Hannah Beard, was arrested Sunday trying to leave a house allegedly with backpacks of drugs and has a long history of driving without license.
Florida Lawmakers Looking To Add Treatment Programs To Fight Opioid Epidemic
A combination of short-term intensive treatment beds, long-term outpatient services and medically assisted treatment could be the blueprint for a solution, a powerful lawmaker says.
Florida Lawmakers Hear Grim Picture of Worsening Opioid Crisis and Lack of Treatment
In the first six months of 2016, deaths caused by fentanyl increased by nearly 140 percent, deaths from heroin overdoses jumped by 25 percent, compared to the same period in 2015.
21-Month-Old Boy Tests Positive For Cocaine, Palm Coast Mom Charged With Child Neglect
Ashley Estepp, the 23-year-old Palm Coast mother of a young boy, had taken him to the ER fearing he’d ingested a prescription pill, but he tested positive for cocaine.
Prescription-Drug Overdoses Swamp Medical Examiners, Putting Accuracy In Question
The concern is that performing more than the recommended limit of 325 autopsies in a year, in addition to other duties such as testifying in court, could result in errors.
Palm Coast Pill House: “You’re Using Drugs?” “No Mom, I’m Selling Drugs.”
A 30-year-old woman was arrested while her 5-year-old son slept in a bedroom sheriff’s deputies said was stashed with hundreds of oxycodone pills, bags of pot and close to $9,000 in cash.
Governments Mull Way To Fight Prescription-Drug Crisis That Worked With Tobacco: Taxes
California, Alaska and the US Congress are considering taxing prescription drugs to raise money for treatment and discourage their use, but the amounts of the taxes would be relatively small.
With Rising Death Toll From Opioids, Florida Still Gropes For Effective Answers
State officials have few responses as the death rate from synthetic opioids other than methadone increased 72.2 percent from 2014 to 2015, to 3,228 deaths by overdose in Florida.
Flagler Beach Police Department Now Permanent Site To Get Rid of Unwanted Prescription Drugs
No questions asked: You don’t have to wait for drug take-back days to drop off your unwanted prescription drugs anymore. The department’s new Drug Collection Unit is accessible daily from 8 to 5.
America’s Other Doping Problem: Drugging Up the Elderly in Hospitals
An increasing number of elderly patients are on multiple medications, raising chances of dangerous drug interactions. Often the drugs are prescribed by different specialists who don’t communicate, and hospital doctors add to the list of drugs, sometimes unnecessarily or unsuitably.
Prince’s Reminder: Opioid Epidemic Intensifies But Steps to Curb It Face Challenges
There is broad consensus on the need for more treatment options, more education, more careful prescribing by doctors. But there’s still much debate about the details—and funding–for each of those steps.
Poison Flush: Drug Take-Back Day in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach on Saturday, No Questions Asked
Residents can stop at four locations in Palm Coast and one in Flagler Beach to privately return expired or unwanted prescription, over-the-counter meds, vitamin or herbal remedies as well as veterinary medications.
Sheriff Manfre Proposes De-Criminalizing Pot Possession; County Officials and State Attorney Open to Idea
Following in the steps of three Florida counties and some 20 states, Sheriff Jim Manfre wants to replace criminal penalties for small amounts of pot with civil fines. State Attorney R.J. Larizza and county officials are willing to explore the new approach.
Risks You Didn’t Know About Tylenol, Because Its Marketing Campaign Didn’t Convey Them
Internal company documents that have emerged in a New Jersey trial that ended Friday make clear that marketing for Tylenol did not convey doctors’ concerns about its risks.
Florida Teens’ Taste for E-Cigarettes Now More than Double That of Tobacco Sticks
Some 6.9 percent of Florida high-school students smoke cigarettes, but 15.8 percent use electronic cigarettes, which allow inhalation of vaporized nicotine.
Florida’s Foster Children Are Still Being Medicated Without Proper Oversight
Just a fifth of the 2,434 children in state foster care had proper consent-form and other requirements to be subjected to psychotropic drugs, according to UF research.
Doctors and Pharmacists Complain: Patients Aren’t Getting Their Pain Meds Fast Enough
Pharmacists complain that distributors are limiting their supply of powerful narcotics, forcing the pharmacists to ration their limited stock to their regular patients.
Cashing In on Pot: How Business Is Getting High on Marijuana’s Potential
The industry totaled $2.66 billion in U.S. sales in 2014, up 74 percent from $1.53 billion the year before, with expectations that the market will expand exponentially as more states legalize marijuana for both medical and recreational use.
Sedated We Stand: Medicare Paid for Nearly 40 Million Tranquilizer Prescriptions in 2013
Florida had more doctors who prescribed large amounts of benzodiazepines than anywhere else in the country with some 144 Florida doctors wrote at least 2,000 prescriptions for them to Medicare patients.
Palm Coast Resident Accused of Operating A Crack-and-Pot Operation in Bunnell
Tyrone Patterson, a 37-year-old resident of Palm Coast’s R-section who was charged with child abuse in March, is being held on $720,000 bond for trafficking cocaine and growing pot near Carver Gym in Bunnell.
Drugs, Weapons and Child Porn Lead to 3 Separate Arrests in Palm Coast and Bunnell
The Palm Coast teen had transmitted items flagged as child porn by the social media site Whisper, then was found to have 10 short videos of explicit sexual acts between adult men and pre-pubescent girls.
Heroin Overdoses Spike After Florida
Cracks Down on Prescription Pill Abuse
Five years ago, Florida was the prescription drug capital of the U.S. Seven people died every day from overdoses. The state cracked down, but this year, heroin overdose deaths are expected to be double those number four years before.
Sheriff’s K-9 Units Sniff 2 Drug Busts; Unusual Heroin Arrest Echoes National Crisis
Two Palm Coast residents arrested in separate traffic stops were arrested on numerous drug-trafficking charges, including, in one case, heroin trafficking, which reflects the rise in the use of the drug nationally.
Cash, Crack, Pot and Pills: Drug Sweep in Palm Coast and Bunnell Yields 16 Arrests
Most of the arrests were the result of under-cover drug buys conducted in November, leading to search and arrest warrants that SWAT teams and other cops served today. There were no arrests in Flagler Beach.
Judge Throws Out Florida’s Medical Marijuana Rules, Calling Them Vague and “Unbridled”
Administrative Law Judge W. David Watkins sided with Miami-based Costa Farms and others that objected to the Department of Health’s use of a lottery to pick five licensees that will grow, process and distribute strains of non-euphoric marijuana authorized by the Legislature and approved by Gov. Rick Scott earlier this year.
“You Are the Shining Stars,” Flagler’s Drug Court Graduates Are Told at Inspirational Ceremony
Five graduates joined today the 101 who have graduated from Flagler County Drug Court at a ceremony before Judge J. David Walsh, where emotions, celebrations and relief gripped much of the full house.
Backing Down From Stricter Rules, State Regulators Would Allow Mobile Pot Delivery
Florida pot dispensers could truck their product to patients, under a revised rule proposed by health regulators in advance of a workshop Friday about the state’s move to a limited type of medical marijuana.
Regulators Draw Sharp Criticism Over Controls On Florida’s New Pot Industry
At the top of the complaint list: concerns about a proposed lottery system to award five organizations the chance to grow, manufacture and dispense a type of medical marijuana approved by Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature this spring.
At Flagler Drug Court Graduation, Gratefulness Humbled By Clean Living’s Demands
Graduating in a ceremony at the Flagler County Courthouse Friday, drug court participants–most had suffered of prescription-drug abuse–spoke of lives changed by the demanding program, which keeps two-thirds of participants from re-offending.
Jitter Echo: Opponents of Amendment 2 Launch “Don’t Let Florida Go to Pot” Campaign
Opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana launched the “Don’t Let Florida Go to Pot” campaign Tuesday, warning that passing the measure would lead to widespread abuse. Proponents of the measure are discrediting the campaign.
Evidence of “Mobile” Meth Lab Uncovered In Woods Within Palm Harbor Golf Club
A woman half naked and screaming that her skin was on fire from the deck of the Palm Harbor Golf Club led deputies to what they determined to be various wars used to cook methamphetamine in the woods in and around the golf club Thursday evening. No arrests were made.
The Dangers of Problematic Prescribing: A Double Dose of Warnings
Two new reports from the CDC show the dangers of overprescribing narcotics and antibiotics. Is there a way for doctors and consumers to make better decisions? An instructive set of answers.
Seeking Cool Whip High at Publix, A Couple Is Charged With Inhaling
Gretchen Wentworth, 35, and David Collins, 34, residents of 609 North Ocean Shore Boulevard in Flagler Beach, were arrested for inhaling cool whip. That is, the nitrous oxide that powers the cream out of its canister. They were arrested for allegedly doing so at the Flagler Beach Publix, after they’d aggravated other customers.
Senate President Says No to More Authority and Prescription Power For Nurse Practitioners
A House bill would give advanced-practice nurses more authority, including prescribing of controlled substances, and set up a pathway to independent practice, not supervised by physicians. But Senate President Don Gaetz opposes it.
3 Minor Traffic Stops Lead to 3 Arrests on Crack Charges as Detectives Point to Cocaine Uptick
Three separate and unrelated traffic stops for minor infractions over the weekend led to three arrests on cocaine possession charge, an indication, according to the Sheriff’s Office, of a noticeable rise in the drug’s circulation, and in reaction to the crackdown on prescription drugs.