Woman finds ‘drug menu’ on son’s phone

An Acadia Parish woman forwarded a text message she found on her son’s cell phone to the Post-Signal.
The message was from a man claiming to be from Maryland who sent the woman’s son a “menu of prescription drugs, their prices with a method of payment and how his ‘products’ could be shipped discretely,” she said.
The woman, who acknowledged that her 16-year-old son was probably trying to purchase the drugs, asked to remain anonymous.
“I just want other parents to know that this type of thing is out there,” she said. “These drugs could have been shipped to my house if I hadn’t seen the message.”
When the Post-Signal called the number that the text was sent from, a man with a heavy Middle Eastern accent answered the phone and quickly said that he only “does business through texting.”
However, he did send a list of the items on his “menu”.
Among the drugs offered were Morphine, Oxycontin, Dilaudid, Adderall, Hydrocodone, Ritalin, Valium, Xanax and Percocet. The price of each of the drugs being offered varied depending the number of pills ordered along with their strength.
For example, Oxycontin was listed as being sold for “$6 for a 20 mg. pill, $8 for a 20 mg. pill, $12 for a 40 mg pill and $15 for an 80 mg. pill.”
At the bottom of the list, there was a statement reading “most other medications, and some ‘party drugs’ are available upon request.”
Asked “Which party drugs were being offered?” the man listed amphetamine powder (which he boasted was “98 percent pure”) and MDMA, which is the active ingredient in ecstasy.
None of the drugs being offered said that they had been approved by the FDA nor did they have an expiration date. And, obviously, none required a prescription from a doctor.
The method for delivery of the drugs was listed as being shipped by UPS — two to three days for $30 and $50 for overnight delivery.
“I still don’t believe that it was this easy,” said the woman. “All I can say is, if you are suspicious about your child’s activities, being ‘nosey’ isn’t a bad thing.
She refused comment on whether her son had used the “service” prior to her finding the message or what drugs he was in the process of ordering.
“We are going to handle the situation with him ourselves,” she said. “He will definitely not have a cell phone for a long time ... maybe until he moves out.”
Paula Lamm, a pharmacist at The Medicine Shoppe in Crowley, looked at the list and recognized a couple of pills that aren’t even made by pharmaceutical companies anymore.
“These drugs are definitely off the black market,” she said. “It can be dangerous because you really don’t know what you’re getting. And even if they are real, it’s obviously illegal to get prescription drugs shipped using the mail.”
When first contacted, Chief of Police K.P. Gibson said that “obviously, any type of prescription medication ordered over the Internet without being prescribed by a doctor is illegal to possess.”
He also reiterated what Lamm said about “not knowing what you’re actually getting.”
“There’s a chance that this person isn’t even where he says he is and that he is just trying to take people’s money,” he said.
It didn’t take Gibson’s officers long to prove his instincts correct as he called the Post-Signal back within 30 minutes.
“Our guys looked into this and it’s definitely a scam,” he said. “When we contacted him, the phone number (which was through a Google account) was not in Maryland and the fact that he wouldn’t accept credit cards and wanted money sent Western Union or Moneygram tells us that he was just after the person’s money.”