Fla. School Bus Drivers, Employees Among 29 Charged In Oxycontin Ring August 4, 2005 MIAMI -- School bus drivers, attendants and other school employees were among 29 people charged Thursday by federal prosecutors with taking part in an illegal drug ring involving the powerful painkiller Oxycontin. Although no teachers were involved and no evidence has surfaced of sales to children, U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta told reporters it was important to arrest those allegedly involved before Miami-Dade County schools open Monday. "As school starts, we felt it prudent and necessary to take action with the information we already had," Acosta told reporters. Of those charged in a grand jury indictment, five are Miami-Dade school bus drivers and 13 are school bus attendants. Two school custodians, a cook and a cashier were also charged, along with a Miami doctor and five other people. According to the indictment, the ring involved the use of more than 100 forged or fraudulent prescriptions to obtain thousands of tablets of Oxycontin from pharmacies in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The Miami-Dade school employees were recruited to use their United Healthcare insurance cards as part of the scheme, prosecutors said. Oxycontin is legal if prescribed for treatment of severe chronic pain. But it has become an increasing problem on the black market because crushing the time-release tablets and snorting or injecting the powder yields an immediate, heroin-like high. Hundreds of deaths are blamed each year on overdoses. Those charged in the 84-count indictment case face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each count of possession of Oxycontin with intent to distribute, as well as additional prison time for fraud charges, prosecutors said. http://www.local6.com/education/4809472/detail.html     Back To Guvment Skool Page 8 COPYRIGHT "DUHMAG.COM" 2005