Resource Center

Stories

The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast.

These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need.

Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:



Search results for "Narcotics" ...

  • Methadone and the Politics of Pain

    Since 2003, at least 2,173 people have fatally overdosed on methadone, a narcotic painkiller that is both cheap and unpredictable. Washington steers people with state-subsidized healthcare -- most notably, Medicaid patients -- toward the drug in order to save money.

    Tags: methadone; Medicaid; poverty; drugs; overdose

    By MIchael D. Berens, Ken Armstrong

    Seattle Times

    2011

  • WestNet

    An investigation of West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team (WestNet), a drug-enforcement task force based in Kitsap County, Washington with a history of sloppy busts and screwed-up cases.

    Tags: Narcotics

    By Sean Robinson

    News Tribune (Tacoma

    2011

  • Methadone and the Politics of Pain

    The Seattle Times has found that since 2003, at least 2,173 people in Washington have fatally overdosed on methadone, a narcotic that is both cheap and unpredictable. More so, Medicaid recipients account for about 8% of Washington's adult population but 48% of the methadone deaths.

    Tags: methadone; Medicaid

    By Michael J. Berens; Ken Armstrong

    The Seattle Times

    2011

  • Marijuana Inc.

    Flying over northern California, you will see row upon row of marijuana fields. These rows are worth multi-millions and are left in plain sight. This is “evidence of a lucrative, but also increasingly violent, underground pot industry”. This industry has become a large part of that county’s economy. Many people in this industry are turning to guns as protection, robberies in search of drug stashes, and arrival of Mexican drug cartels.

    Tags: Mendocino County; Emerald Triangle; narcotics; growers; pot brokers; business; trade; Federal Drug Enforcement Administration

    By Mitch Weitzner; Jonathan Dann; Lauren Farrelly; Lauren Kesner; David Dellaria; David Baumgardner; Atticus Brady; Joi De Leon; Christie Gripenburg

    CNBC (Fort Lee, N.J.)

    2009

  • Tainted Justice

    The police department is believed to have tainted police jobs, which are caused by lies and motivated by power, greed, and money. Furthermore, the squads are suspected of looting mom-and-pop stores, terrorizing hard-working immigrant merchants, preying on women, and fabricating evidence. These submissions could reopen and potentially overturn hundreds of cases.

    Tags: police; justice system; justice department; protection; cops; squad; officers; narcotics; drugs; police department

    By Wendy Ruderman; Barbara Laker

    Philadelphia Daily News

    2009

  • Afghanistan: Corrupted by Drugs

    The three-part series tracks the distribution of heroin and opium out of Afghanistan throughout Central Asia. The narcotic industry in Afghanistan exists securely under the foster care of U.S. forces while feeding the epidemic-sized hunger for heroin in Russia.

    Tags: Tom Lasseter; narcotics; Russia; Afghanistan; Asia; heroin; opium; drugs; economy; trade; military; Tajik;

    By Tom Lasseter

    McClatchy - Washington Bureau

    2009

  • Undercover Inside Ghana's "Mad House"

    A reporter spends seven months undercover in Ghana's major psychiatric hospital. In a series of four stories, he uncovers the "neglect and abuse" of patients by the staff, as well as the purchase and distribution of narcotics within the hospital walls.

    Tags: mental; patients; psychiatric; hospital; Burkina

    By Anas Aremeyaw Anas

    The Crusading Guide (Ghana)

    2009

  • The New Addiction

    Nevada per capita are the nation's number one users of hydrocodone, the narcotic in Vicodin and Lortab. The amount of painkiller abuse in the state was found after analyzing the Drug Enforcement Administration's controlled substance database.

    Tags: prescription drugs; medicine; pharmaceuticals; methadone; oxycodone; DEA;

    By Marshall Allen; Alex Richards

    Sun (Las Vegas, Nev.)

    2009

  • World of Pain

    “Retail sales of five leading painkillers nearly doubled from 1997 to 2005, reflecting a surge in use by patients nationwide who are living in a world of pain, according to a new Associated Press analysis of federal drug prescription data. The analysis reveals that oxycodone usage is migrating out of Appalachia to areas such as Columbus, Ohio, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and significant numbers of codeine users are living in many suburban neighborhoods around the country.”

    Tags: prescription drugs; oxycodone; federal prescription drug data; codeine; Drug Enforcement Administration; painkillers; prescription; drug abuse; narcotics; ARCOS; Census Bureau

    By Bass, Frank

    Associated Press

    2007

  • Illegal Methadone Sales

    Fox Undercover found that methadone was being "openly sold and consumed on a Camden New Jersey Street right in front of a methadone clinic and just yards away from the Camden County Prosecutor's Office."

    Tags: methadone; narcotics; drugs; dealer; methadone clinic; illegal drug; security

    By Jeff Cole; Mark LaValla; John Campbell; Gary Scurka

    WTXF-TV (Philadelphia)

    2007