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Nov 24, 2009 7:56 pm US/Eastern
Public Defender Arrested On Drug Charges
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
Joseph J. Imperato, a Miami-Dade Assistant Public Defender, was arrested and charged for the illegal possession and intent to distribute Oxycodone. Imperato is a 28-year-veteran of the public defender's office in Miami-Dade County.
Federal authorities said Imperato was arrested by local law enforcement and federal agents at his North Miami Beach home on November 20. Imperato was later released on bond and should be arraigned on December 9.
The arrest comes at the same time that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported that Broward County led the state in overdoses involving prescription medications. Through the first six months of 2009, Broward had the most fatal overdoses in Florida linked to Xanax and the county ranked second in deaths blamed on either Valium or the painkiller Oxycodone, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Oxycodone has become the drug of choice for many and is easily available through many of the pain clinics in Broward County. A majority of the deaths are the result of drug users taking multiple medications at once. For example, taking a pain killer like Oxycodone along with a medication like Xanax or Valium can have serious consequences because they all impact the central nervous system and can cause multiple problems.
The news wasn't all bad, Miami-Dade County, which has the most citizens of any Florida county, saw only single-digit numbers in most prescription drug death categories, according to the Sentinel.
The Florida Medical Examiners Commission Report on Drug deaths in Florida showed that over 4,000 Floridians died with one or more drugs in their bodies. The report found that the most common drugs found in the bodies were prescription drugs instead of illegal drugs.
According to the report, the four most frequently occurring drugs found in dead bodies were: Ethyl Alcohol (drinking alcohol), benzodiazepines (drugs similar to Xanax, Valium, and Ativan), oxycodone, and cocaine. The drugs that caused the most deaths were: Oxycodone, benzodiazepines (with Xanax accounting for the majority of the deaths), methadone, ethyl alcohol, cocaine, and morphine.
Heroin remained the most lethal drug named in the state of Florida. The deaths caused by Heroin increased by 20.5 percent over the last half of 2008. But the report said prescription drugs continued to be found more often than illicit drugs. Prescription drugs accounted for 79 percent of all drug occurrences in the report when alcohol was excluded.
"It is evident in this report that the abuse of prescription drugs continue to be a lethal problem in our state," FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey said in a press release. "FDLE continues to work with our criminal justice partners to prevent the unfortunate and unnecessary deaths caused by these drugs."
In the report, medical examiners across the state specifically collected data on the following drugs: Alcohol, Amphetamines, Methamphetamines, Ecstasy, MDA, MDEA, Alprazolam (Xanax), Diazepam (Valium), Rohypnol, other Benzodiazepines, Marijuana, Carisoprodol/Meprobamate, Cocaine, GHB, Inhalants, Ketamine (Special K), Fentanyl, Heroin, Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, Meperidine (Demerol), Methadone, Morphine, Oxycodone, Propoxyphene (Darvon/Darvocet), Tramadol, and Phencyclidine (PCP).
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