Prescription crimes: Rx for jail

It's been only six months that an officer with the local drug task force has worked the pill patrol. In that time, 40 people have been arrested.

"It's definitely not rocket science," said Sheriff's Deputy Bob Provo, who is probably the only task-force officer in the state assigned specifically to prescription-drug cases.

Most pharmaceutical frauds involve people collecting prescriptions from doctors for painkillers and then blanketing pharmacies with the orders. A pharmacist wouldn't necessarily know that the person in his or her store just got the same prescription filled down the street.

"In the past, basically the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing," said Kevin Burns, director of the task force.

"I began to sense the frustration between doctors and pharmacists and us that enough wasn't being done … We needed someone to work this specifically," Burns said.

He picked Provo because he's an aggressive officer with strong skills in working with people, he said.

What Provo found is that people either abuse the drugs themselves or sell them. Some people trade prescription drugs for methamphetamine or marijuana, Burns said.

"There is a huge illicit market," Kalispell Police Chief Frank Garner said. "I think it's bigger than a lot of people think."

Garner credits Sheriff Jim Dupont for assigning an officer to investigate prescription fraud.

It's a lucrative business, Provo said. Sixty 80-milligram pills of OxyContin sell for about $2,800 on the street, he said.

"There's a market for it," Provo said.

In one recent case, Whitefish police recovered about $18,500 worth of painkillers they say were stolen from a pharmacy. About 2,620 tablets of Lortab were found in a wooded area north of Columbia Falls.

Provo organized a formal network that allows local professionals to exchange information about people engaged in illegal prescription activity.

Now, for example, a pharmacist will have the name and aliases of someone who shows up at the counter with the fourth prescription in a month for Lortab, spread out among four pharmacies.

"We're not going to look at anybody's private business," Provo said. "There has got to be some indication they're breaking the law."

Doctors and emergency rooms also are in the loop. Provo works with Medicaid, too. A patient who sells prescription drugs is supplementing his or her income, amounting to Medicaid fraud.

"A lot of people [engaged in illegal prescription trafficking] are on public assistance," usually for disabilities, said Kalispell policeman Kevin McCarvel with the drug team.

But prescription criminals come "all across the board" in age and income, he said. He recently gave a talk at Columbia Falls Junior High School, where students told him how easy it is for them to obtain prescription drugs.

There's a big population of middle-aged users, too, he said.

"It's huge. It's right up there with meth" in popularity, McCarvel said.

It's different than investigating and arresting people for methamphetamine.

"You get that mindset that it's legal," Provo said, because the drugs are legitimate medical products if used correctly. Insurance companies even pay for them.

But selling or abusing them is not legal, Burns said.

People who are arrested for prescription drugs differ from other drug criminals in other ways, Provo said.

Most admit their crimes and addictions, he said.

"When I show them what I've got" to substantiate the criminal charges, "they don't lie to me," Provo said.

Most are professional, working-class people, he said.

"A lot of these guys aren't bad people," Provo said. Some have thanked him later for forcing them to get help for their addictions.

Mostly, it's OxyContin, Lortab, morphine and oxycodone that are illegally obtained, Burns said. Percocet, Xanax and Darvocet also are on the local black market, he said.

Provo, who attended a two-week training course given by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, also will work with the DEA's compliance checks of physicians. Those checks include making sure that prescription pads are secure.

The days of patients stealing prescription forms and forging drug orders are pretty much past, Burns said, although some addicts still try.

Burns said pharmacists are grateful for the system.

One is Elizabeth Alama, the pharmacy manager at Tidyman's.

"I can't believe how many people are out there doing this," she said of prescription fraud.

"We can't tell from the prescription they hand us that they are doing something wrong," she said. But with Provo connecting the dots of prescriptions handed to one pharmacist here and another there for the same controlled substance, the pattern becomes clear.

"It's working," Alama said.

Pharmacists have the option to refuse to sell to patients if they think something is wrong. They also have partial liability, intended to force them to make sure the narcotics they sell are used for a legitimate, medical purpose.

With Provo's help, pharmacists such as Alama have some legal support, she said.

"It used to be we would catch one guy maybe every couple of months," she said. "I'm very happy."

Burns said Montana needs a statewide system, like other states have, so patients aren't able to go from community to community obtaining prescription drugs illegally.

The Flathead's aggressive stance is working locally, though, and is a good start, he said.

"This has been an outstanding program," Burns said.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com