Political Quotes

“I rise to speak about the prescription drug abuse epidemic sweeping my State and the Nation. The rampant abuse and trafficking of prescription drugs represents a major threat to public health and to law enforcement. In recent years, more Ohioans have died from prescription drug overdoses than car accidents-- legal prescription drug overdoses, obtained illegally in many cases. In 2008, statistics show oxycodone and other prescription drugs-- namely morphine-based drugs, such as Oxycontin and Percocet--caused more overdoses in Ohio that year than heroin and cocaine combined. Simply put, prescription drug abuse is one of the fastest growing drug problems in the Nation, resulting in ever increasing rates of robberies and other attendant crimes. Yesterday, I was in the Cleveland suburb of Fairview Park at Ohliger Drugs. That store has been a target in the last couple of years. I spoke with Tom Ohliger, the fourth generation owner of this drugstore, and he described being held up at gunpoint on more than one occasion. There is a new report showing drug users and addicts are now targeting seniors for help getting pain killers to feed their addiction. There is also a rise in the outright theft and stealing of these drugs. We are seeing over and over on newscasts and in newspapers across the State stories of addicts and criminals targeting pharmacies to obtain pain killers and prescription drugs.…”