hold for applausus h holfor applause.. slow froroupup fe, out. i ovoversesedthen i flat lined. n nowhey've become the latest street drugs boughtht and sold r cold cash in broad d dayghght. where wowoul ants of the dea as they crackdown? t kids can sosoet highight home. yoyour home, or they y n n ju g online. t t internetetisis kind of le ththe 2121t centntyy drug deale. > j jus got robbed. >> desperate junkies cmit desperate crim. a wild west gang that terroriz four statesnd scores of drugstores. >> i saw an opportunity, i took it. >> prescription drug abuse, a new erican epidemic.

prescription drugsre a modern miracle, they literay bring people bck from therink of ath, extend life, and enhance the quality. t there is a dark side to the equation, because whabused, they can be addicve and dely. according to experts, prescription drug abusehas become an epidemic aecting mo thamillion americans in anyiven month, more than heroin, cocae, tt ose any genels. now it'secome a top priority for the governmt's drug enforcement agency, the dea. >> todaye' going to make a couple of undercoveruys. for those wh aren't familia with lexingt market,ou could buy anything froscript to heroin.

today we're ing to focus on percocets. >> they ca it operation fe market. this morning, they're under cover you see will pchase pill on the reet. 'v obscured his face at the dea's request. >> you walk down that way, people are goi t be calling out different scripts d pills. >>f you ed, you say hey, i need it, they'll say hey, so and so has it up the street. this chi express, intel tells us that's pretty much like gang-relat area. if i hear any type of distress, i'll let everyone know, eryone is responsib for our people. okay. wel pack it up a go downhe basent, get everything geth and we'll rockn'oll. ro in nice andeasy. no screeching of t wheels or

anything like tha arrest them, tell them ty're under arrest. i'll call a carin, we'll ship em back here for processing. >> is this still dangerous? is this still -- >> yes, sir. >> any time you put drugs and money together, it's a dangerous situation. they won't think twice to rob $100. >> right out there on the reet? broad daylht? day's mission is tang place in inner cit baltimore but many of the burs may travel in from nrby suburbs and small tos. it's that profile. in no time at all, he' approached. >> did you hear that? good conversation. we have good competionith another dividual. possibly three people.

they're negotiing now. what type pills are we talking? xanax. >> fst he buys two pills for $10 through this middle n. >> all right, ys. pulling out thcash. >> t midman tells the uc he can find more pls but before he has a ance another guy a parked car calls out and the deal gs down. the hands over $80 bucks for pills. >> here you go. perfect. >>ake it. take it down. >> all right. comen. >> target's t a bum leg. checking for weapons now >> you got a wpons? >> no. >> guns? >> no. >> needles? >> no. >> turns out t seller actually has a ript. it's a popular generic pain ll but the seller apparentl prefers profit to in relief for his bum le >> it's a quick watoake money. unfortunately they're sellg to kids in off the suburbs or anyone off the strt who could go and overdose on these drugs i overdosed and flatlined and they broug me back.

>> my parents hano idea. way they found out. is the on >> y're under arrest. we're going toandcuff you. you get in there. he'll go to the doctoand get the esiption filled and then comes down here tsell it for a profit. >> when we target the doctors and pharmaes we see the impa. >> so the pot this exercise is findinghe people up the chain. >> right. >> moskids don't start out buying frostreet pushers. many get their first hit right at home out ofhe family medicine chest >> we asked teenwhe do you get thprescription drugs you abe? one-thirird say get them from their homes.s. m momcan i take a lipitor? > se.e. > tir world is awash withth pills. eyeyatch television night t after night and theyeyeeee a thesadadof take this pill. lieve your pain.

u'll be able to sleep. > arereatight. seven to e eightouou of restful slsleep. >>y y e time you're 12 or 1313 oror4 4 yoare convinced there's a pill for eveve i ill pilllls n n donything. >> i was aboutut 1anand was a percocet. >> i itatart off using vicodin. wh i started doing escription drugs i wasasbobout 13. and then you have a fririend. he says, youou kw,w, ts oxycontin, this is greatat stu.. you'llll g a a hh. and y y . >> you mentioned oxyxycont.. is t thaththe st dangerous drug out there kids are abusising? >> 80% o of e e tes abusing drugs are abususinpapain killers ---- oxyntnt, vicodin are the premiere onenes. >> i had a friend doing g oxycontin and i thouout t itas okokay bauau it's not heroin. it's the same exacacfefeelg as hein, same exact feelingngsasame exact highgh.

>> they're time releleasedruru. ey last all day. these kids take thememcrcrus them, and get a trtrenendo high. and suddenly, , th'r're oked on oxoxononti i mean, it's very addidiivive. >> dea tries to get all l kindof prescription pillsls offhehe rereetut just a few hours after this morning's b bust,hehe pushers are right baba a at . soso deaasasnlisted local law enforcemenenasas aartner. baltimore's cicity wchch susurvllance system has ininalalleover 100 cameras in e downtown area alone.e. >> number one male. bobothf them are dirty. they s sululd coming your way in less thanannene mute. >> yeah i got them. >>hehe electronic eyes in ththe sky pan the streetet the jujump o t tm is on the case anthth take down a dealer inin the act. >> all right. come on. coco on.

>> hey.. you wantnt to t t ? >>hihis ntinues to go on day in and dayay o f fro8:00 a.m. til about 4:00 p.m. itithuhuts down same person may be pututti o out ererhundreds of pills at a a time. ok. the indivividuale e st arrested idid hhad nothing on him andnd isis ia prescription bottle. he had this today fromom 9 tablets of x xaxax a two mimilligm m rs and he was selling them for $4 4 babar. so he got ththem fleletoday and the'e's obably maybe 15 left ouof the 90. not a bad day's workrk he could jusust ctctorhop and go anywhere and get a anoerer rill and he rocks and rollsls ands s ready to go.o. >> would this ququalifasas public h heah h cris? >> we e inink 's a public health crcris. these drugs do serioususamamagto kids. wewe he a tremendous increase en overdose d dthths d you look at so o othe celebrity problems -- heath ledgdg a ando ba t to vis presley and marilyn monroeoe

their overdoses s inlvlved prescriptiti d dru. >> n nowhehe csis has reached main street. r kids, generation rx. >> a lot of bad d iningsike robbing g peop. . i didn't really care e whi i huhu i in e process. i didn't really ththinababou anybody elelseutut melf and me getting high. . >> i've donene l lotf things i regret for jusust onhihi that i didn't eveverereal need. >> desperatete cris.s. >> a a psoson o is doing ararma robberies for oxycontnt is not goioing tstst until he or e e isaught. > a a a dperate criminal. >> hang g on tirirvery --

>> 's's dember 8th, 2007. a quiet saturday morningng athth maple leaf drug g orore north seattle. pharmamaci b bere bowman is alone behind the couount u unare hehes about to become a vivict

in a strtrinofofobberies. > iawaw person completely coveved d fr head to foot with a gupointed straight at mymyeaead abouout reree et from me. the first thining s sd was, i want all of your oxycocont a an don't give me the genenec.c. i idid, ne. no proroemem. but we don't carry mucuch anand name. looked in the drawer r d d he started stuffifingototes of pilllls toto h pocket. he was getting agigitad d en he snsn'tinding things he wantete while you're going thrhrou t ts whole ththinyoyou' thinking, please, don't let him shoooot .. >> operator 14. . > iust got robbed. >> okay. did they use a weapopon? >> yeah. he shohowea a n. >> whahat ppppen at the maple af is part of a growing trtren all across thehe cntntryundreds and hundreds of pharmamaci a a beg g bbed by desperados strungng o o on ycontin and

other prescrcripononrugs. mostst oththe me they skip the cash and makakofoff th the ash. >> a person doininphpharcy roeries for oxycontin isisotot going to stop ununtiheher she is cacaug.. why? the addiction n iso o erpowering that t ty y wi do anything they cacato go out and get the e do.. >> okay. keep m mpopost as to what hahapps s th it. > dective mike magan has s years ofof hh h prile cases under his belt. in december, 2007, h he d d th ininststigion into a rampage of eieit robberies in eight d dayof pharmamaeses iand around seseate.e. >> it was clearly the sameme sususpt with the same m.o. committing a s sers s ofobberies th a hand gun. >>e e ren't getting fingerprinin a at e scene. he wasas gveve masked. ththe lyly tng people were eing was his eyes. >>he fear factor was higig poliliceetet ua swat team hoping

to stake out s stos s th were lilily targets and catch t the perp in the act.t. en on december 11th they g got lucky. >> robbery in prprogsssst the tannermamas s phmacy, armed with a ndnd g, white man 25 to 30.. st went out the back d dr.r. >> my radio went o offndnd rerespded down to the scene e e small mom and pop phpharcycy. in this robbereri i thk he pipick t t wrong victim. >> this s b bevly. may i i he y y? >> beverly has been n phpharcist for over 30 yeyear all of t theririghhere at katterman's. >> we had two o pelelenter the ste e anthey were not the usual pharmacy customer.r. they acted abnormal.l. i was suspspicusus tt they lingereded slolo. ththeyerere to no good. >> that's the pharmacicisthehe. >> rigighterere. >> yes. >> and i think she at ththatoioi is actualllly arare ey're being caseseouout. >>hese two people left the store e anababt an hour later

the male came backck. >> he's got a backpackckvever s shoulder.. the e ishe gun down at his side there. he gets right bebehi t the counter, v vy y coy, gets the gun n ou g getthe gun in the ctim's face and demands ththe drugs. >>e specifically asked for oxycontin 80. we spepecicacay do not stock oxycontiti8080 smy response to his s mamandas, we don't have ananoxycontin 80. so then he said, welel g givme mething. by that time he knew w whahad calleded t p pice and so he left in disgust. >> butute e le behind a major ueue f the comes. there was hihis mamask face smsmk dab on the store surveillance video. mamagi p putut a video and wiinineconds they had entified their likely y pe a as nicholas dent, agege 2 >etetecve magan came to my house that nigightndndad mug shots of mr. dent. i was able to idenenti h h. he told memegogood we'll l gorrrrt him tonight.

>> fearingnghahat nt was armed, high, , anpopossly out of corol they had a swat team o on and by at his house. >ouou cld look up in the window and s s h himnd he was sayingngh,h, gz, what did i do, what did i get myselelf toto? u know he's becoming very y paranoid, very frantnt, , afr a few miminus.s. i think he realized efefrtrts resist pololicwowoulbe futile and hehe tn n d the presence of mimindo say, okay. i'done. he gave up. >>ick dent ftsts the prfifi to a t. younung,hihiteale in his 20s ting alone. wh t t police search dent's s home and car they fofod d hi backpack, the e clhehehe wore, aselell his pistol. itururneout to be a fake but loededxactly like magan's owown glglk k seautomatic. >> what kind o of asasof drugs d he have? >n n 22ears of experience ve never seen one persrsonavave ththe ugug sre that he had.

ththateant to me he was bothth using g ansesellg. >> there were ththoundndof pills, a lot of oxycononti p plu methadone, m morinin and more. all together the streeeevavaluof dent's week-k-lo c cme spree? clclostoto100,000. >> you get him d dowtotohe poce station. whwhatappens then? > is s minutes after the hour of 1:00. today's s tete i-- >> he questioned ourur ahohori to even compel hisis denenon. >> what t evenenceo you have to arstst m sir? t t surveillance photograraph and the photo momoagage. >> a surveillancnce ototogph of whatat basically, we have a a ncnch unsosolv r robries. bubut only have him, literaray, r one robbery. ayay? and if i c c't't g in that room and get a confesesonon, e other robbereriegogonsolved even thgh we know he did it.. so my job is to go i iththerand do w whaititakes to get a confession.. >> take this a awa t thiaway, is away.

what proof do you haha?? >s you can see there hehe tes to takakththe otos. ififouou d't have this you don't hahavenything. he was belligerent. >> and manipulative. >> i i'musussaying, how can you identify this guguy? >> we have the proofofececau you're sitting r rig h herand yore going to tell us the truth about the proof. wiwillhow you on lot numbersrs that are p prentnt othe bottles. tell us what hapapnened. >> as the interrogogatn n drs on dent tries to hold out.. the tension n ununts >> you k knowhwhat i sat t rere f an hour and a half and askskedouou qstions and yoyou ill get away. right herere oththe mera tell ereryo who will see this that we got the wrong guyuy. i i sa, , ck, can you do that? nick canan'to o it >> the tide e filllly rns when thcops tell dent his own parents have identififd d th ststasofof dgs as his.

>> you tried to handnd itotoour m?m? >> really. y y. >>s that what my parentstsolold you? >>eses >> really. >> you want to hear r thr r statements >> yes i do. >> tell me what t heasasaying as hehe hded you that bag. i got to get rid of t thi >> you gotta g g r ridf these. u u tta get rid of this. >> a jurury llllang on their eveversingle word especiallyly when i c comupup rht behind emem. >> when you're dealilingitith memeonstrung out you need to peck at thth a andeck at them until they finalal c cra. > eryryay of my life. itit'so bad. >> why did it fallllpapart > ian't go to prison. >s that why you won't t telme the trtrh?h? is that why you wowon'tetelle the truth? >> it's nonojujustbout that. it's b becsese ian't go to prpris. i llll gnuts in prison. you see this perpetrarar r bawling like a babab y youhink okay. i think wewe g a a st at this. > o y yea on the outside i i'mymymthetic. on the insnsidi'i'hungry to get more. nene that confession. >> how long have you hadad t

adctctn? >> a year. >> a year? >> yes. >> what haha y youone to support yo h hit? >> i had $30,000 i h hadavav up from hard work.. itit'sonon >>enenwas actually a top raed car salesman until he became a junkie and wawas rere for selling to h hiso-o-rkers. >> it's sasa his s cresesre acts of spsperion. >> at sosomeoioi, something in ninick mind, the switch flipipd. he decides that hehe c caut. >>ottom line is this.. you wantnt ttete us the truth and you have to tellllt t alnot just part. >> i'll tell y youheheruth. about all the robbeririesyeyes or no? o oer robberies that i wawas involved in. it'll determrminththnext 20

years of my life. > aunlikely felon. >> f falallysomebody stopped me frfr this madness. a and nurse who ripped off f her own patients. >> the patient wenent t the hospital and i jusust okokt. but we also speak k mp s s you can flfly g gastations. inin ctctwe speak mpmpgsoso fently, we can say onee more thing. the new ford fusion isis e most-fuel-efficientt midsize sedan in america. anand atat something no o onelse can say. s spe the 2010 rdrd fion. get in... andd drive one.

>> oxycontinin >> when oxycontin addict n nic dent robbed eight phpharcici in eit t da he committed a federal crcrimththatould have landed him in prison for 2 20 years. in fact t henlnly t five because when c caut t confessed. robbing a pharmacy at gunun point t ishahat would chararteteri as a stupid crime cacae not that there are s sma onon b buthis is particularly ststid because the successss re in terms of catching a p pern n and convicting thehe psosois osose a hundred percent. so this is d dum >> for the past few w arars,on friedman h hasorord together thth d seattle to crack downwn on crimes related toto escription drug abuse.e.

he hasaseeeen rst hand how pills cacaravage some unlikely addicts. > sebeby told me when i was college that i was going g to becoco a a dg addict and rob a pharmacy i wououldavavtold them they wererouout their mind. >> josh boyd w wasn n al amamican, small town kid f fro monroe, washington.. i i srted playing baseball and got really into itit my l le e evtually just revolved ound that. >> in colllle,e, t talented soututh w w drmed of playing for the majors untntile e gohurt. >> collided with the shoho stop and separatat m my rve that ru f froyour spine through your deltoid. >> boyd was x-raraye g giv pain pipis, and sent on his wayay. >> vicodin andnd iveventlly ran out of those and whateter r i could get frfromy y frnds becacae e itas 24 hours a day papain >> his b basalalcareer was over and so was cololle.. once i didn't have ththat anymorori i ki of didn't know who i was.

but if i w wasatatg pills all day long it minimized d evytytng el that was going on deeee inside me. >> nothihingolollong you at all. > nonone uld touch me. noththg g cod hurt me. >> for josh h bo t theescent into oblblivn n s gradual. hehe mededack home, got married, went to o wo f foris dad. but he kept gettininhihigh. >> it went from just thohose vicodin to oxycocont a a once i to it to that level, i w w g go searching to get higigh l l e ti.. i s doing probably ten to 1515, 80 mg a day. the street priri o on at is like $70 to $ $. . >> which meant j josbobo's habit was costininhihim much as $8,000 a week. five days s afr r ck dent got busted and just a fefemimileaway josh b bd d enred a rite-aid elelng a pellet gun. i i rember it clear.

i rememberer psising note, pay attention. stay calm. do what i say.y. i wiwillhohootou and her if you do something stupid.d. enen wn i was doing it, i remember goingng, atat a you doinin >> a call to 91111 a a a srt fofoothase later, boyd was taled by the cops. ananththatas that. >> i was sitting in the e ba o o the cop cacar d d ju like had isis pce all of a sudden. nally. somebody stopped me e fr t ts madness.s. >> despipiteetetng busted, josh boyd and nick k ntnt a the lucky oneses. they surviviveththeiaddiction with a a cncncto reclaim their ves. others h havmemet different fate. inhehe sttle area alone, deaths involving prescriptptio pain killers h havmomorehan doubled since e 20.. but it's not only despererat strung out youngng m w w are breaeaki t theaw. >> we e meme trealize that this imime d these controlled substances being distrtribeded unlawfully, it w w h hapning at

all levels and there were e medical professionalalinincling doctors who o rere vlating the law as welelinin tir practices. >> 15:52 hours. didia a laaster. >> e evea a rse was convicted named diana a ncncasr who was ripping ofoff r r owpatients at the nursrsinhoho where she rkrked the local police receiveded formation that someonenerorom th f facity was stealing patient drugs and selling g th.. soso wininoduced an undercover her and she sold pilllltoto him. >>hehe uercover had been busted so he copped a a eaea a agagre to a hidden camera. lancncteter s a pill popper herself but seseem t tget high onheft as well as drugs.s. > iadadhe sweater set. oh, yeah. i stole this f froththe dewalk sale. i stole this frorom nnnn's. this froropepenn's.

my underwear drawer, i p pic things out thahat wawantnd then gogo io the back to try on and e e on that i want i tear thth tabs off and wear themem i i mahahavewo or three bras on at one time. i put my clothes over r th a and walk out. . >> after bragging ababouhehe skill at stealalg g laaster gets downwn tbubuness. > swhwhato you want? >> as mamanyrarazone and what not as you can. . >> she wasas reaeadly stealing drugs from the nursingngomome. she would take it frfromataties' trayay >>hat i did is a patient wenent the hospital and theyeyadad a cart of them and i j justotookhe rd. >> she would takake f frothe narcotots s canet, in any way, shape, or form thahashshe uld. >> i is atatnough? because i neneedo o ve some for . . >> yeaea ththesinin he? > yh. ey're 150 apiece and that t shouldldnonockou out. don't do more e anan t of them. d d't do more than two? all right. >> because you'r're t t us to it i i n do two. >> just take one t thehelpe

sleep? if all you want is to h hel you sleep you u cod d brk one of these into threeee 50 will help youou sepep a hundred d llll p you down. >> and then 150 will - -- > 1 is -- >>nd you take two of thehe >> i take two of thehe > s w w finally arrested on the dadaofof h arrest i think e e poce made a deliberate decision to o st h hers she was aving work just on thehe o chance. and sure enough,h, wn n ey arched her incident to arrrres her body and her p pur w w just stked with stuff that she wawas taking just thatat d.. >> i'm very, very y rrrry r what i did and i'm m loining wards recocoryry. thank you. >> the patieientththatou were supposed to take care of.. you say anything to t tm?m? >> a burglary gang t that ripp off phararcies uand down the westoast. >e were successful for r tw and d hahalfthree years. the average heist wouou b be about $100,000 s strt t lue. >> andow they finally got busted.

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i'm christina wn, here's what's happeng. more than 1.6 million peoe are waiting toearn if they'll receive tickets fromichael jajackson's morial tuesday. ,000 tickets haveeen made availato the public through a lottery syst. and the monorail at walt disney world is out of service following a tragic crash. two trainsollided sunday night killing e of the drivers authorits are now investigating e cause of the de. now ck to al roker reporting >> while the use of illicit drugs like coke and eed has opped significantly especially among older teenand young adults ase of prescription drugs has risen. accordg to the federal government today more first-me users turn to prescrtion pills for their high than marijuana. that means a steady dema. as we all know iour market economy e there's demand suly will follow.

seattle, washingto landf lattes, microsoft, and mount rainier. but benning in 2004, the pacifinorthwest became known r something else entirely. agents of the dea were the fir to notice. >> the dea brought to my attention that we were having an alming nber of pharmacy bularies. washington led the country in arcy burglaries. >> under law, any eft of controlledubstances must be reported to dea. >> dea showed me, every time a pharmacy is burglethis is what's being ten. it's all being dumped on yr streets, into your neighborhoods, allver the state. it wasn't just washington. up and down the west coast plotted out scoresf pharmacies in oregon, idaho, and liforn that we being hit as well. in late 2005, the feds launedperation midnight sweep and began to gher intelligence. >> the pple doing the burgries were all using the

same m.o. >> all of the burglariess we began to looat thewere committed in a specific way. it was aunusual way. it was a highly sophistited way. and that became their fingerprint, because they ner left any fingerprints. they never lefanevidence. they were ner on any videos. there s nothing. >> but there was a tell ta pattern. >> one of the ma tngs this group did was they would cut the phone lines at the junction box outside the pharcies. w whathat does is cuts off f all telephone power to thehe pharmacy. that mns the remote alarm is not going to work anymore. >> they would also listen to the police scaer to make sure the s no police activity in the area. >> finly, th called the phphmamacyrom their cell phone ju to triple check that ththe alararm warerely dead and the coast was clear.r. only t thewowoulthey break in. >> we were prettttmumuch ccccsful at what we did fofor about two o d d a lf, three yeyears. >> knynyraham was one of the kiki pins of this latter d day

wild west gang. >>asasally we were mostly looking for oxycontin.n. it was the first priorory y wh we went inin thehahaacy and we'd get vickk vicodin, percocet, rphine, basically the narcotics. >heheseuys were fast weren't they? >> o oncththeyent in and got the door open and got in they wod be in and out thinive minutete >> cash register was ope ththey dn't take a dollar. they didn't ta t. they didn't ke ipods. all they took was all of the significant controlleded substances inside the pharmacy. it was as if they worked at e pharmacy. they kneexactly where to go. >> basically aft i was doing it so long could just walk by ansee the colors of the bottles standing out, the shapes, sizes. itamnatural. st an instinct. >> what kindf cash value are we talking aboutn drugthey would steal? >> most of theimes they hit an averagist would be about a hundred thousand dolrs street value. kennyraham says he persally burgled at least 20

pharmaci a made about a half a miion dollars. that's heady stuff f a sma town, blueollar boy. by early 2006, theeds were virtually certain that the perps were a group of childhood friends from marysville, washington. joshua james was the rinleader and an addict himself ke most ofhe others. he broug in key as well as the ng's main distributor, another old pal named coli waey who operated out of his garage. >> it was a armacyn a garage. he had a huge safe the had the drugs organized in the safe in alphabetical order. >> if you commit cris ng enough you'll get caught. sooner or latethe nature of the work is you make some miake. >> like using their owown cell onesnstead of disposables which allowed the feds to trk all those midd of the night calls to pharmacies. or josh james'ake i.d. complete with photo plusis image captured on a hol security cam.

the same night and rig next door to a rgled pharmacy. anthen there was the east valley drug store in concret washingt. >> he's actulyooking. >> right at the camera. >> now he realizes. there's a deo cara. >> and he smashes the cara. this is one ofheistakes they make. because he didn't get rid of the film. >> finally, the gang made a fatefumistakdown in pendleton,regon. there waa burglary at the cal rite-aid. when police rived the next morning they found a tarp onhe telephone junction box. >> they were ablto trace as amazing ast is this tarp and determine it hadeen purchased at 12:06 a.m. th nightf the bulary at a walmart right there in pendlon. noonly that but they had surveillance film that sho at 12:06 a.m. there is a llow who operates a tatooarlor up in masville named michael hinkel. >> he had a prominent tattoo on

his neck making him easto identify. what'sore pendleton tete-a had video and guess who had been casing the e jot t a w hos before the burglary? >> sururenenou there's footage of tm walking around the armacy in pendleton. now we k knoththerwas enough evidence to indictct tm m fothat pendleton burglary. after pendleton, opererioion midnight sweep went t in h hig gear. dea crunched all t the d da and tracked ththe ngngn live time and tightened the noose.e. >> in the fall of f '0i i ote a tter to michael hinkel. here are the crimes you u cabebe chgeged th. you're goioingo o beharged. if you would l liktoto he an impact upon what h hpepenso you, this is s yo c cnce. advise you to get a l lawr r and coco i intthe u.s. attotorn's'sffice. hinkel came inin a s sooafter at we made the decisioion g go straight for joshua jas.s. and then he cacamen.n. the next thing youounonow re people gotot ltete. then more pepelele g letters.

>> the dea finallyly p everything togetetr r anstarted mimi down to our little grgrou based out t ofasasngton and just got ahold of everybobodyndndust that was it. i in e end they all confessss and the feds c conctct 24 members of the burglary y ri a a put all ofofhehem hind bars. key y gram got five and a halflf years. >> it was an easy opoprtrtuny. i just took itit. instead of working foror ianand wawaining get it and these are the consequeueeses iave to deal wiwithowow >> prescription drugugavavaible at the click of a a moe.e. >> today's intntert t a pharmaceceicicalandy store for kids. >> you may b be ococd how easy i is. anand xixic cktails that can kill. >> all i i couldo was scream and i fell to the floooor. i could get upasr, like now, that i tk ale.

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>> i received a phone call fro a hospital in nerk and they said your son s brought into the emergency room last night and you need to come down here. >> all i could do wascam and i fell to the floor. >> mark and linda had lived every pare's wor nightmare. on decbe17th, 2003, their -year-old son jason, a healthy,trapping college phomore, was found unresponven his dorm room, the vict of a drug overdose. >> when i walked into the emergency ro that s the first time iad ever learned anything aut his drug use. there was a combinion of vicodin, oxycontinand xanax in his system when ied. >> jason didn't have to nture e mean streets to procure his stash.

for him d countless others like him there was ah right at home lurking thin his own comper. >> the internet we cracterize as the 21st century drug dler. >> today's interneas pharmaceuticalandy store for kids. >> joseph runs the nional cent f addiction and subsnce abuse at columbia university. >> kids go on the internet they can bang vicodin without a presipon, buy oxycontin witht a prescription. all they need asredit card and a click of a mouse and they can order it. it's that easy. >> it's that easy. >> i'm going to type i affordable xanax. let's see. what do we get? you get a price list. nax. order 30 pls, 25 mg, $43.97. okay. let me see if we click on two milligram, ten pills, 3.97. okay. eck out. and then there's -- >> first name, last name, mail address.

shipping address. cred card. >> if i fill this t and it says date of birth, must be er 18 to order. >> that's right. now, how do they check tha all you have to do is put a date of birth a puts you over 18. >> then please list almedical conditionslist medications you plan to take. list your primary care if physician. >> y can list any physician. >> review and confm orde you filled all thiout. bang. you hit it and you've got >> you've got . you have your xanax. >> t first internet pharmacies appeared in 1999. they'vbeen tracking them since 2003. while some are 1% legitimate hundre of others are anything but. for instance, the research found that 85% othe sites selling drugs don't even ruire a prescrtion from the patient's doctor. >> type in symptoms and they prescribe you medication forhe symptoms. they don't he be real sytoms. you just te in whatever. >>e had situation where a

doctor sitting in frof a computer screen miles or state away frowhere the pharmacy is is wting hdreds and hundreds of prescriptions a day people he'never examined. clearly, that is not within the scope of legitimate dical practice. >> after jason'seath his parents found handwritten note with a ur i.d. and the cost of so pills he procured ovethe internet. it was only then they realized how clless they had been. though linda has worked sutance abuse prevention since jason was 6 years old. we have a household where we talked about drugs a alcohol a lot more than most pents, most families do. it never occurred to us that prescription drugs were a problem. >> wve taken the street peddler inhese situations and brout him right into the bedroom. we really have. that's a problem and what dea is all about focusi on. >> chris, why don't you wa us through this morning. >> once everody is there then we'll roll to e target

pharmacy. >> for the past several years, dea has been cracking down on >> for the past sel years, dehas been cracking down o electronic drug alers who peddle their wares to kids like jason. in 2007, nbc news we alongs dea raided an internharmacy near tampa, flida, for selling pain killers illegally. boxes and boxes of hydrocodone we cted off. >> this isestined for people all across the count who have ordered this onle. >> since 2005, in flora alone, 38 of these roe internet pharmacies have gone outf business as a resu of dea tion. >> police. open the door! dea! open the door! >> we're trying to put pressur on the pharmacies that if you do

this, you very well could goo jail. >> online pharcies that flout thlaw use the internet as their safe hse to elude detectn. >> these sithange very qukl you y see these sites today d three days later they're not. they're other sis. the site from which you orde the drugs y not be the place from which therugs a shipped. it's very hard to police. >> in the lateststueuestpeople noonly buy their pills o oinine, they a alsgogo tre to swap adcece ohow to heighten the high. i ta two 10 milligramam viuium. within 2 20 nunutei'm feeling prettyty goobebeuse i'm also doing a coldldataterxtraction on codin tabs. >> jason s sfefed e web in just th w w. check tt www.[ mumute].org, perhaps thehe b bt website in t world for what we likeke i always c che i it t before i t it up my nose or in mymy mouth. >ronically, jason hopeded t

become a pharmacacis >> because he was s a phmama ststudt, he considered himsese quite adept at researcrc i don't think he r reazezed at he was facing g at a.. jason was brought t up ithth suburbs withth allf f e trappings of a 2 21st ntnty kid anan you know, piano lessosonsnd odods d everything else. it couldld hapn n anyone. >> in late 2008, presidedent bh signed the onlnlinphpharcy consumum p proction act. with limitedexcceponons,hat lalawiwill m manda n-n-peon doctor/patientnt exaororn internetet sipipt be valid. experts say it's a g gre f fir stepututoes nothing to stop foreign sitetes. as one p psoson the dea put it, crcrimis only l limid d the imagaginioion the criminals. > don t tnk about taking a pill, chopoppi i it and drawing the line, snorting it.t. >>ououngives ravaged by

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it was ery day, ju using, waking , f finding someing to ususe. i i dn't en see anything wrong with this and i was actually looking for more. >> youet that feelg. you'rejust like, damn, this feels good. st keep doing itit. >> i felt likee iwas safe, people getet prescribibhem to them. people get t tse medicications given n to the to help with ther problems. >>here really is a perceptionon amongur children and o teenagers that tse thihings a essentiaially safe >> the doctors are preribing it s so, heyi want to take it. >> experts sasa that young p pee are ofteten lullele into a fals nse of secuty, which feedss the epimic of pscription pipill abe. >> my lfe is on pause while

was usinin drugs.. that's how i take it. was just stuck in tat momet, doing thee same thing,g,ver and over again. >> these kidid are fortunate. they lalaed at a r residenal trtrtment cility for teenagers new jersey. they m have flirted with death, butut escaped wiwi tir lilis. yet the overall statistics arer chilling. dr overdodo deaths from pis like oxycontin, viocdinin, methadone annothers have skyrocketed, killiling mo americanss than roin and cocaine mbined. what's more,e, the federal governmentnteportethree quarters off a million prescription drugelated visits to ergency rooms during 200606 alone. >> that's an e extraornary nuer. so, yeah, it's a real seriouous problem. >> after josh boyd was s rested for robbingng a pharmama, he wa forced tgo coldturkey.y. >> it's a nightmare. i lid in the bed in jail and

squied for three nhts and sweaeated and puked and you can explain it. yocan't e explain it. it's just misery.. >> and yet boyd describ his arst and conviction as a blessing. > i wou still be getting high riright ow. orf i would haveveot away with it, the i would have had -- i woulhave od'd. >> instead, bobo is in lo-term in p pient rehab a and slowlyly fifiting h way back. >> it't's intense, om theinute yoyou wake up, it's the hardede thing i've e er done, byy far. >> the daytotop teteens are wki that same lon road back briety. > i stillave the mental obseion. like i'll thihink about taking a pill, cpping it up and drawinin a line and snorting it. i'll still hahave tha mentall obsessn in m m headad. just thinking aboutt doin itit. and th i'll snapout of it. >> i don't w want to be that hig

because ththe'sot that nextt time tha i can survive. like, i alreadady ha my ance. >> i i just care about getting ean and staying ean, because i r realiz that my lifee was heading noere. i knowhat now. >> did younow the first refence to p pills in history datetes all the way back t ancient egegypt. inin fact, one famous paa pie r is fied with medical remedies, plant powdersrs or r active ingredies were mixed with substances like e ead dough, ney, or grease andnd little bolls or pills woulde formeded with the finrs. that w a measured doo cou be delilivered. seem like we've co a long way. yeyet wherour kids are concernened, experts totoy say might just want to padldlock th mecine chest the w ourur parents ed to lock up the liquor cabet. is somomhing wth thinking about. i'm al rokerer.