Troopers Seize Hundreds Of Painkillers In Three Counties

Ohio troopers have seized prescription painkillers and other drugs worth about $35,000 in three highway traffic stops over a 14-hour period. Police have long identified highways in the state as drug pipelines, and prescription painkillers have become one of Ohio's most heavily trafficked narcotics. The Ohio State Highway Patrol says Oxycontin, Percocet and Xanax tablets were seized Thursday evening on U.S. 23 in Ross County. The patrol says more than 1,000 Hydrocodone tablets were sized about an hour later on Interstate 75 in Wood County. The patrol says Xanax, Suboxone and Morphine Sulfate tablets were seized in a third stop early Friday on I-75 in Hancock County. Drug overdose deaths spurred by painkiller addiction are now the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio, surpassing car wrecks.