Seroquel hits the black market.

October 27, 2009 3:51 PM

Seroquel hits the black market.
I've consistently expressed concerns in mental health threads on Mefi about the frequency with which the anti-psychotic medication Seroquel is prescribed off label for minor disorders like insomnia. Now, the drug is turning up on the streets in Philly.

I've previously written about the Pill Hill section of North Philadelphia hightlighted in the Daily Beast story. Including my own experience copping OxyContin there and also some observations from working in the neighborhood as a social worker after getting clean. I put together a piece of supplemental coverage to enhance the Daily Beast story that looks at how gentrification may put Pill Hill permanently out of business.

posted by The Straightener (4 comments total)

Have you thought about visually tracking its presence?
posted by infini at 6:04 AM on October 30, 2009

Good work.
posted by fuq at 9:45 AM on November 1, 2009

Welp, now I've gotta try it.
posted by telstar at 12:11 AM on November 2, 2009

Ha, telstar, the narcotics officer who comments in this story contacted me back in 2006 after the story about copping OxyContin ran in the local alt-weekly. He was like, "Great story, I read it after I took the paper off this kid I busted on Pill Hill yesterday." He said for the next week after the story ran their were young white kids literally standing on the corner of 17th and Jefferson with a copy of the paper in hand asking random passersby where the Oxys were at. So I guess these types of stories make different types of impressions on different types of people. Have fun but be careful, I guess!
posted by The Straightener at 5:35 AM on November 2, 2009