Cuomo appoints new narcotics prosecutor

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo appointed New York City narcotics prosecutor Terence O'Leary Tuesday to head the state bureau that investigates and regulates controlled prescription drugs.

O'Leary, 36, will be the new director of the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement within the state Department of Health.

"Crimes involving the illegal use and distribution of prescription drugs are a public health threat that demands the investigative and prosecutorial experience that Terence O'Leary brings to this position," Cuomo said in a news release. It said O'Leary has "a proven track record in fighting illicit drug trafficking and an understanding of the need for new public health strategies to combat these crimes."

O'Leary has worked for the city Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for 10 years, most recently as senior investigative counsel. He has supervised investigations into drug trafficking and money laundering.

The appointment follows a report in Newsday last month that as many as 1.4 million prescription forms have been stolen from hospitals since 2008 and are ending up in the hands of criminal drug gangs.

Earlier this year the narcotics enforcement bureau started to expand efforts to collect health records and prescription drug data to identify the movement of controlled substances to abusers.

"It's something we've always used," said health department spokesman Jeffrey Gordon. "We've developed more sophisticated tools to use the data."

The bureau provides official state prescription pads to more than 95,000 medical practitioners so that pharmacists know the prescriptions are legitimate and so they can be tracked.