BALTIMORE — Officials say the amount of drugs looted from Baltimore pharmacies during riots last year was substantially higher than initially reported.
An U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official tells The Baltimore Sun (https://bsun.md/2bmIBMF) that 80 percent more doses of drugs were taken than previously thought during the riots following the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who was critically injured while in police custody.
Authorities initially said 175,000 doses of drugs were looted. Officials have since revised that total to nearly 315,000. Over 40 percent were Schedule II opioids such as methadone, oxycodone and fentanyl.
Don Hibbert, the DEA’s assistant special agent in charge for Baltimore, says the drugs likely were sold long ago.
Epidemiologist Debra Furr-Holden says the influx of opiates likely shook up the existing drug markets, sparking violence.
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