Crime & Safety
Pill Mill Prevention Spreading County-wide
In an attempt to keep pill mills out of Cherokee County entirely, the county's narcotic division is cracking down in a high-tech way.
As municipalities across Cherokee consider measures to regulate pill mills, the county's narcotics division has been chosen for a program that will make it easier for them to identify prescription drugs in the field.
Field agents with the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad will carry portable, battery-operated devices to accurately identify drugs they encounter on raids.
They are equipped to identify drug chemicals in less than 10 seconds.
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Centice Corporation in Morrisville, NC, developed the PASS Rx and PINPOINT Rx technology for prescription drug verification in pharmacies and drug identification in hospitals.
"Extending our technology to the most challenging law enforcement applications is a natural fit," Centice Corporation CTO Prasant Potuluri, PhD said in a press release. "We are very excited to see the potential of our device to transform how law enforcement manages the increasing workload at crime scenes."
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"Centice’s device is exactly what our agents need," narcotics Commander Phillip Price said in the release. "Identifying drugs can take time and not knowing the exact substances found during investigation can derail proper procedure."
Earlier this week, the .
City officials said that the move is necessary to weed out legitimate clinics from those that aren't.
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