Florida Walgreens Part of Oxy Epidemic

By Attorney David Engler

In Jupiter, Florida the local Walgreen’s has been having a great couple of years. This means however that hundreds of mostly younger 20 to 40 year olds are hopelessly hooked on life ruining oxycodone. And when the Oxy’s run out or they can’t steal from Grandma’s prescription anymore then the next best cheapest high is heroin.

The DEA filed an affidavit that allowed for the search warrant at the Jupiter Walgreen last month. The Walgreens affidavit showed sharp increases in oxycodone purchases at each of the pharmacies under investigation in southern Florida. For example, a pharmacy in Fort Myers went from selling 95,800 units of oxycodone in 2009 to more than 2.1 million units in 2011 – good for 67 percent of all the oxycodone purchased by pharmacies in that same zip code in 2011.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/06/2735265/dea-searches-fla-walgreens-in.html#storylink=cpy

In the first two months of this year, the DEA added, 53 Walgreens pharmacies are listed in the agency’s top 100 purchasers of oxycodone. In 2009, none were on the list.

Earlier this year, the DEA released figures showing that Florida may be losing its distinction as the nation’s leading illicit source for painkillers because of the ongoing law enforcement crackdown and several new laws. Florida also last year began operating a prescription drug tracking system and database aimed at combating illegal diversion of the drugs.

The abuse of prescription drugs is epidemic in the country. This is a clear example of where there needs to be a national database so a doctor or law enforcement can type in a name to see if the patient has been pill shopping. Also warnings can be built into the system to show hot spots of pharmacy and pill mills that are complicit in this plague. 70% of all of my custody cases involve someone using opioids.

It started in Appalachia, caught fire in Tennessee, then Florida and now all states.

The guy that cleans your carpets may be taking from the medicine cabinet or maybe it is the grandson. $15 on the streets for one pill is a powerful motivator.

Attorney David Engler
Phone: 330-729-9777
http://www.DavidEngler.com Attorney Engler’s website

Areas of Practice: Family Law, Elder Law, Domestic Relations, Bankruptcy, Criminal Law

Also published on Family Fault Lines Blog http://familyfaultlines.com//

The World’s First Commencement Address Delivered by Twitter!

On Monday, June 6, 2011, I had the privilege of delivering the Commencement Address for the 2011 Graduating Class of The Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.

I wanted to do something that would be remembered by the graduates, have significance to them and keep their attention. I chose to deliver my comments by Twitter! While I spoke, the live feed from my Twitter account was projected using an overhead projector so they and the audience could see my words as they were delivered.

As I thought about this event, it occured to me that it might actually be the first time such a speech was delivered by Twitter. So I checked on Bing! and Google and could not find a prior event of this sort. My public relations people wrote up the press release below:

June 7, 2011

For Immediate Release

The World’s First Commencement Speech delivered on Twitter!
In what may be the world’s first commencement speech delivered using the online social media Twitter.com, Attorney David L. Engler, President of Mahoning County Career and Technical Center’s Board, gave several pieces of advice to the Center’s 285 graduates in 20 separate tweets. Using twitter-speak abbreviations, his speech was simultaneously delivered to the assembled audience through overhead projection of his live Twitter feed, as he spoke.

Using current and topical humor, mixed with typical graduation speech wisdom, Attorney Engler captured the graduating audience’s attention while making it a speech that will probably be remembered as much for its brevity as its unique delivery. The graduation ceremony was held at the Center this past Monday.

Attorney Engler, who practices in Elder Law and Domestic/Family Law, is also a board member of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center as well as being a board member of Unlimited Classrooms, a public online charter school in Ohio.

He may be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/legalfight. His Twitter user name is Legalfight.

The text of his speech follows, each individual bullet point was a separate tweet.

Attorney David L. Engler’s speech delivered on the occasion of the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center’s 2011 Commencement:
• My job 2mrw as Pres of MCCTC bd is 2 offer a few remarks that mean something to 285 18 yr olds…not easy
• If I do it in 20 tweets it is guaranteed to be short and to the point
• Maybe this will be the first grad speech given entirely in tweets…it will not be the last.
• R grads are given an opportunity to use the best technology available 2 help them learn mechanics, health care, law, trades & multi media
• We hope the tools delivered by teachers make u leaders whether it’s college, military, fixing a car, caring 4 people or wiring a bldg
• Your world will be shaped by social media and the ability to quickly get exactly the information u want when u need it.
• Tweets, FB friends, angry birds, YouTube, and texting more than u talk isn’t a fad but the future. Those who master these tools will excel.
• Don’t text while u drive , it is at least as dangerous as drinking while driving
• As we grow more connected by the electrons we move learn all our actions virtual or real have consequences
• I have represented people accused of murder because of My Space and have seen marriages end because of Facebook.
• Words sting even more after hitting the send button. Live with humility but strive to be extraordinary
• Never tweet pictures of yourself in underwear …it’s always a bad idea. Employers and your future wife might not be so keen to see you.
• U r born in remarkable times. There’s a fine line between success & failure. Ignore the barrage of messages u get thru media. Its not real.
• Do listen 2 your parents and grandparents. Time grants wisdom learned through failure and triumph. Do as I say & not as I do
• Never fail to take an extra trip from the car to house. You’ll be happy when you don’t break things.
• The ability to tweet and FB came about because people need to connect.
• Teach grandma to FB. When you continue to socialize u continue to thrive.
• most important lesson learned in 10 years on board is that students don’t fail… we fail the students. We can do better.
• We need to be more transparent in everything we do. We cannot be harmed by truthful data. Our students r watching
• I said 20 and meant it. We r proud of u. Go be extraordinary, do good, hug the people you love and connect everything.

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For further information please contact Attorney David L. Engler directly at 330-402-9290 or by email at DavidEngler@DavidEngler.com

Attorney David Engler
Phone: 330-729-9777
http://www.DavidEngler.com Attorney Engler’s website
Areas of Practice: Family Law, Elder Law, Domestic Relations, Bankruptcy, Criminal