Cancer Patients Sell Their Pain Pills

COLUMBIA, S.C. —  Dying cancer patients have been raising money by selling their pain pills to a drug ring, authorities say.

“It’s a pitiful sight,” said Sgt. Raymond Lee, a narcotics investigator with the West Columbia Police Department. “They’re so poor they’re willing to take an aspirin and put up with the pain.”

Five people were arrested in the case, police said Sunday.

Drug dealers befriended other patients who refused to sell their pills, called Dilaudid, and then stole the medicine from them, Lee said last week. Other times, relatives of patients stole the pills and sold them for about $25 each to the drug dealers, he said.

The patients usually are given Dilaudid to ease the suffering during their final days.

The dealers sold the tiny yellow pills to heroin addicts for about $40 each, Lee said. The addicts pound the pills into a powder, which they inject into their veins.