TRAVEL
August 8, 2004 | Kathleen Doheny, Healthy Traveler
For many travelers crossing the border to Mexico, the lower prices of prescription drugs are just too tempting to resist, despite the recent imprisonment of U.S. citizens who bought drugs in Mexico and last month's warning from the Food and Drug Administration about counterfeit drugs in Mexico. Raymond Lindell, a 66-year-old Phoenix retiree, was arrested in May on charges of buying 270 Valium pills without a Mexican prescription at a Mexican pharmacy in Nogales. He was released in mid-July, and charges were dismissed.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 17, 1999
Re "FDA Moves to Reduce Accidental Drug Deaths," May 10: Perhaps the fact that "more than 100,000 Americans are inadvertently killed every year by prescription drugs" needs to be on billboards rather than pharmaceutical company ads. Different segments of the media (as well as some physicians) need to look at their role in this: New medications are often presented as gifts directly from heaven. Nevermind that the benefits of most new drugs are often overblown and potential problems may arise that are not anticipated.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 27, 2009 | Harriet Ryan and Kimi Yoshino
With initial autopsy results inconclusive, the investigation into Michael Jackson's death focused Friday on whether the pop icon, who had struggled with painkiller addiction in the past, overdosed on prescription drugs. "We know he was taking some prescription medication," Craig Harvey, a spokesman for the L.A. County coroner's office, said at a news conference announcing the completion of the autopsy.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
March 31, 2013 | By Bryce Alderton, Times Community News, This post has been corrected, as noted below.
Irvine police arrested a man for allegedly selling prescription drugs Friday, concluding a three-month investigation. Detectives arrested Anaheim resident Anthony Risberg, 37, for sales and transportation of a controlled substance and weapons violations, police said. Police said detectives witnessed Risberg selling drugs and then arrested him. His bail was set at $25,000. After the arrest, detectives searched Risberg's vehicle and found about 150 oxycodone pills, two loaded handguns and two magazines for a weapon not in the vehicle.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 22, 2013 | By Jeff Gottlieb
Katherine Jackson testified Monday that her pop star son denied he was using prescription drugs when she asked him about rumors she had heard. Testifying for the second day in her family's wrongful-death suit against entertainment giant AEG Live, the family matriarch said the conversation occurred as she was getting ready to leave her son's house in Las Vegas, where Michael Jackson lived from 2006 to 2008. She said she told Michael that she had heard he was using prescription drugs and that she didn't want him to end up "like all the others.
NEWS
April 28, 2011 | By Marissa Cevallos, HealthKey
Old prescription drugs in the medicine cabinet are fair game for spring cleaning — in fact, law-enforcement officials want to do it for you. Police departments across the country are hosting National Take Back Day on Saturday for people to drop off their unused, expired or otherwise unwanted prescription drugs. Find a collection site near you by checking this website hosted by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Last year, the first National Take Back Day , some 3,000 sites gathered 121 tons of pills. The second year of the national drug collection comes as the federal government launches a new initiative against what it calls the “growing epidemic” of prescription drug abuse, especially of opioid painkillers. Last week, the government called for tighter monitoring of abusers who “doctor shop” for prescription painkillers and of “pill mills” — shady pain clinics — that willingly dispense the medication.