State: More hospital Rx forms missing

The state Department of Health Thursday announced it was investigating the theft of some 14,000 blank prescription forms from a "downstate hospital."

The latest loss comes two weeks after Newsday reported that an internal department memo from July said that as many as 1.4 million blank prescription forms had been stolen. A spokesman in late October said at most several thousand appeared to be missing.

The forms were taken from New York City hospitals and were being trafficked by criminal gangs to drug users seeking prescription painkillers.

Yesterday, the Health Department spokesman declined to say which downstate hospital the 14,000 forms were taken from or when the theft occurred.

The thefts were reported to the state Tuesday, according to a department news release.

"Crimes involving the illegal use and distribution of prescription drugs are a public health threat, and we will use all the resources at our disposal to combat the illegal diversion of prescriptions," Dr. Nirav Shah, the state health commissioner, said in the release.

Thieves with a laser printer and laptop can use the state-issued forms to forge prescriptions for controlled substances like oxycodone, a powerful opiate linked to more overdose deaths on the Island than heroin.

The blank forms can fetch between $100 and $300 each on the street, according to Health Department documents.

Starting in 2008, the blank forms started disappearing from New York City hospitals, according to department documents. At the time, department officials thought the losses were isolated incidents.

The Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement -- the Health Department's drug watchdog -- realized this summer that the thefts were more widespread.

"BNE has identified a large nationwide organized crime gang known to traffic in illicit and legal drugs as being involved in the distribution of stolen prescription forms," according to a Health Department memo.

Law enforcement sources familiar with the case told Newsday it appeared that the Latin Kings gang, which operates nationwide, was involved in trafficking the forms.