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Opioids

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Bergen County Doc In Fed Pen For Fueling Addiction Crisis Loses License, AG Says Bergen County Doc In Fed Pen For Fueling Addiction Crisis Loses License, AG Says
Bergen County Doc In Fed Pen For Fueling Addiction Crisis Loses License, AG Says A Bergen County doctor serving a federal prison sentence for illegally distributing opioids has permanently lost his medical license, state officials said. Robert Delagente, who ran North Jersey Family Medicine in Oakland, agreed to a permanent license revocation in a consent order filed this week with the State Board of Medical Examiners, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said Thursday, Oct. 23. Delagente, who has been out of practice since June 2019, was sentenced in May 2022 to six years in federal prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to co…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Opioids From India, Dog Fighting Ring, Drug Lab In Basement: NJ Man Busted Again, AG Says Opioids From India, Dog Fighting Ring, Drug Lab In Basement: NJ Man Busted Again, AG Says
Opioids From India, Dog Fighting Ring, Drug Lab In Basement: NJ Man Busted Again, AG Says A 46-year-old Millville man was arrested and charged on Wednesday, June 11, after he was discovered to be manufacturing drugs out of his home, authorities said. Bruce Low, who was charged last year with running a dog fighting ring, was hit with numerous drug offenses after he was found to be in possession of large amounts of opioids, morphine and other drug paraphernalia, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.  An investigation into Low began after a package shipped to his address from India was inspected by Customs and Border Patrol and found to contain six kilograms of Tapentado…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Feds, Cops Take Down Man Selling Morphine Pills, LSD In Bergen County: Prosecutor Feds, Cops Take Down Man Selling Morphine Pills, LSD In Bergen County: Prosecutor
Feds, Cops Take Down Man Selling Morphine Pills, LSD In Bergen County: Prosecutor A 21-year-old Cresskill man has been arrested for selling LSD and opioid pills in Bergen County, authorities said. Jeffrey S. Kishinevskiy was arrested Thursday, April 3 in Tenafly following a month-long undercover investigation, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Detectives from the prosecutor’s Narcotic Task Force and the Paramus Police Department identified Kishinevskiy as a drug dealer after an investigation that began in March 2025, Musella said. Specifically, Kishinevskiy was suspected of selling LSD and opioids in Bergen County, Musella said. Kishinevskiy was tracked down i…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Purdue Pharma To Pay $7B+ In Historic Opioid Settlement: 'A Symbol Of Greed' Purdue Pharma To Pay $7B+ In Historic Opioid Settlement: 'A Symbol Of Greed'
Purdue Pharma To Pay $7B+ In Historic Opioid Settlement: 'A Symbol Of Greed' Purdue Pharma will pay more than $7 billion for the corporation's role in fueling the opioid epidemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. The Sackler family and Purdue Pharma reached a $7.4 billion settlement with attorneys general from 15 states on Thursday, Jan. 23. The Sacklers have owned the company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, for decades. The settlement includes $6.5 billion from the Sackler family, with $1.5 billion to be paid immediately, and nearly $900 million from Purdue Pharma. Funds will be distributed to states, local governments, and victims ov…

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by Chris Spiker
Business
Walgreens Knowingly Filled Millions Of Prescriptions Lacking Legit Medical Purpose, DOJ Says Walgreens Knowingly Filled Millions Of Prescriptions Lacking Legit Medical Purpose, DOJ Says
Walgreens Knowingly Filled Millions Of Prescriptions Lacking Legit Medical Purpose, DOJ Says The Justice Department has filed a nationwide lawsuit against Walgreens, alleging the pharmacy chain filled millions of prescriptions without legitimate medical purposes, particularly involving dangerous opioid combinations, over more than a decade. Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the civil complaint contends Walgreens violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and False Claims Act (FCA) by dispensing prescriptions despite clear red flags and seeking federal reimbursements for these drugs. “This lawsuit seeks to hold Walgreens accountable for the many…

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by Joe Lombardi
Police & Fire
GONE IN 120 SECONDS: Burglars Smash Way Into Glen Rock Pharmacy, Snatch Oxy, Sedatives GONE IN 120 SECONDS: Burglars Smash Way Into Glen Rock Pharmacy, Snatch Oxy, Sedatives
Gone IN 120 Seconds: Burglars Smash Way Into Glen Rock Pharmacy, Snatch Oxy, Sedatives Two burglars smashed their way into a Glen Rock drug store overnight and stole oxycodone and Promethazine, authorities said. The pair were wearing hoodies to conceal their faces when they shattered the glass back door of the Rock Ridge Pharmacy in the central business district at 3:10 a.m. last Tuesday, March 26, Glen Rock Police Chief Dean Ackermann said. They were in and out in two minutes, the chief said. The burglars “ransacked the pharmacist’s work area, forcing open locked drawers, gaining access to and removing narcotics,” Ackermann said. The incident was another in a series of bur…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Neighboring PDs Combine To Nab Fleeing NYC Trio After Brazen Marshalls Heist Neighboring PDs Combine To Nab Fleeing NYC Trio After Brazen Marshalls Heist
Neighboring PDs Combine To Nab Fleeing NYC Trio After Brazen Marshalls Heist Local police in northwest Bergen County who’ve teamed up to fight area crime nabbed a brazen shoplifting crew from New York City moments after they hit a local Marshalls. Wyckoff police issued an alert after witnesses reported seeing a man and two women flee the Boulder Run shopping center off Franklin Avenue in a red 2018 Jeep. The thieves had just pushed shopping carts stuffed with more than $1,000 worth of clothing, toys and fragrances out the door to the vehicle, Wyckoff Police Lt. Joseph Soto said. Franklin Lakes police stopped the Jeep near the border of both towns off the corner of …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
TRAGIC TOP 10: Fentanyl Deaths In NY, NJ, PA, MD Among Highest In Nation, Study Finds TRAGIC TOP 10: Fentanyl Deaths In NY, NJ, PA, MD Among Highest In Nation, Study Finds
Tragic TOP 10: Fentanyl Deaths In NY, NJ, PA, MD Among Highest In Nation, Study Finds New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland were among the 10 states with the most fentanyl deaths last year, a recent study found. All four were also among the states with the most deaths caused by the synthetic opioid since 2015, the non-profit Families Against Fentanyl found. The results led a former chief medical officer of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to urge Washington to "attack fentanyl overdoses with the same vigor and approaches as we do the coronavirus." Bipartisan leaders including former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former CIA Directo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports
Opioids Drive Highest Number Of OD Deaths Ever In US, While NJ Holds Steady, CDC Reports Call it a statistical oddity: Despite an historic spike in drug overdose deaths across the United States last year, the total reported for New Jersey ticked up barely 1% over 2019 – compared with an increase of more than 32% in New York, over 17% in Pennsylvania and more than 10% in Connecticut, the CDC reported. More than 93,000 people across the country died from drug overdoses amid last year’s COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. That total represented a 29.4% increase from the 72,151 deaths projected nationwide for 2019, according to an annual…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Senate Approves Bill Aimed At Preventing OD Deaths NJ Senate Approves Bill Aimed At Preventing OD Deaths
NJ Senate Approves Bill Aimed At Preventing OD Deaths The New Jersey Senate on Thursday approved a proposed law that would require doctors to prescribe Narcan when writing opioid pain management prescriptions for high-risk patients. At least seven states now require co-prescribing Narcan (naloxone) with opioids: Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Laws in California and Ohio require prescribers to offer naloxone co-prescriptions in certain circumstances. “It can make a difference in New Jersey, as well,” said state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco, R-Boonton, a co-sponsor of the measure, which had bi-partisan su…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Police: Smallest Little Whorehouse In Paterson Raided Police: Smallest Little Whorehouse In Paterson Raided
Police: Smallest Little Whorehouse In Paterson Raided At street level it was a typical inner-city storefront, with a ground-floor business that offered travel, tax and mortgage services. But upstairs, Paterson police said, people were selling sex. Responding to complaints from merchants and residents, ABC/Vice Unit members raided the second-floor Main Street apartment, where they said men came and went all hours of the day and night. Two accused hookers were arrested along with an alleged manager. More than $900 in suspected proceeds was seized. Police said they also found a bag of coke and jar of pot. Charged with promoting prostitution and …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Schools
Grant Helps USR-Allendale Coalition Assist Families Dealing With Drugs, Other Youth Issues Grant Helps USR-Allendale Coalition Assist Families Dealing With Drugs, Other Youth Issues
Grant Helps Usr-allendale Coalition Assist Families Dealing With Drugs, Other Youth Issues A unique program aimed at reducing substance abuse while also tackling other troubling issues among young people in Allendale and Upper Saddle River will grow even stronger, thanks to a new federal grant, organizers said. The $625,000 National Drug Control Policy grant will be distributed evenly over five years to the USRA Coalition, said Upper Saddle River Mayor Joanne Minichetti, the group’s chairperson. The money will “both sustain and broaden the USRA Coalition’s programming and education,” Minichetti said. The USRA Coalition was created in 2017 in response to the increase in substan…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Self-Described ‘El Chapo Of Opioids' Doctor From Oakland Indicted Again, This Time By The Feds Self-Described ‘El Chapo Of Opioids' Doctor From Oakland Indicted Again, This Time By The Feds
Self-Described ‘El Chapo Of Opioids' Doctor From Oakland Indicted Again, This Time By The Feds An Oakland physician who already pleaded guilty to state insurance fraud charges has been indicted on federal counts of prescribing opioids without a legitimate medical reason and doctoring records to cover it up. FBI agents in May arrested Robert Delagente -- who they said called himself the “Candy Man” and the “El Chapo of Opioids” – during raids at two of his offices in Oakland. Federal authorities began investigating Delagente, 45, after two former employees accused him of firing them because they didn’t want to participate in his schemes. Delagente routinely prescribed oxycodone, Perc…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
FBI: Self-Described 'Candy Man,' 'El Chapo Of Opioids' Doctor From Oakland Busted FBI: Self-Described 'Candy Man,' 'El Chapo Of Opioids' Doctor From Oakland Busted
FBI: Self-Described 'Candy Man,' 'El Chapo Of Opioids' Doctor From Oakland Busted An Oakland doctor who authorities said called himself the “Candy Man” and the “El Chapo of Opioids” was arrested by the FBI and charged with prescribing oxycodone, Percocet and other pain medication without a legitimate medical reason -- and cooking the books to cover it up. FBI agents Monday morning raided the offices of Robert Delagente, 45, at North Jersey Family Medicine (NJFM) and High Mountain Health in Oakland, telling arriving patients to call back to make an appointment. Federal authorities began investigating Delagente after two former employees accused them of firing them because…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Schools
USRA Coalition: Doctors To Warn Northern Highlands Parents Of Opioid Danger USRA Coalition: Doctors To Warn Northern Highlands Parents Of Opioid Danger
Usra Coalition: Doctors To Warn Northern Highlands Parents Of Opioid Danger ALLENDALE, N.J. -- Addiction doesn't always begin at a party -- it could start in the family medicine chest. Experts will tell parents what to consider before their teens have surgery or treatment for chronic pain during a "Physician's Perspective on Drugs and Opiods" at Northern Highlands Regional High School later this month. Sponsored by the Upper Saddle River/Allendale Coalition, the boards of health from each town and Hackensack University Medical Center, the free April 25 event features panelists: Michael Kelly, the chairman of orthopedic surgery at Hackensack University M…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: Couple Caught In Paterson Selling 'Oxy' Pills That Were Really Heroin Feds: Couple Caught In Paterson Selling 'Oxy' Pills That Were Really Heroin
Feds: Couple Caught In Paterson Selling 'Oxy' Pills That Were Really Heroin PATERSON, N.J. -- DEA agents seized a Pennsylvania couple who they said sold tens of thousands of what looked like oxycodone tablets that actually contained heroin to an undercover investigator in Paterson. A federal judge in Newark on Thursday ordered Francisco Perez, 31, detained and 33-year-old Nadia Moronta Pena released on a $150,000 unsecured bond. The Hazleton, PA couple are charged with conspiring to distribute heroin in bulk. Investigators pursuing the manufacture and sale of opioids and other drugs in New Jersey got a tip that Perez was illegally selling oxy, U.S. Attorney Craig …

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by Jerry DeMarco