BANGOR, Maine — One was found with a diverted 30 milligram oxycodone pill and the other one had needles and a tin with what police say was oxycodone prepared for injection, Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards said Monday.
Michael J. Nickerson, 23, and his female passenger, Nicole Dupont, 22, both of Holden, were caught with the drugs and drug paraphernalia at around 5 p.m. Friday after someone called police to report two people in a car using drugs, the sergeant said.
Officers Joe Baillargeon and Jason Stuart found the two in the parking lot of the Rite Aid on Union Street. Nickerson and Dupont were searched.
“Mr. Nickerson was in possession of a 30 mg oxycodone pill that was tightly wrapped in a napkin, and Ms. Dupont was in possession of hypodermic needles and a small tin lid that dented inwards which contained a bluish watery substance later allegedly determined to be a crushed oxycodone pill that is consistent with being intravenously injected,” Edwards said in a statement.
When oxycodone is prepared for injection, it is crushed, heated and becomes a bluish liquid that can be drawn into a needle, Edwards explained.
Police do not know where the diverted prescription pill was purchased, but “she bought the hypodermic needles at the Rite Aid,” the sergeant said, referring to Dupont.
It is not uncommon for people to call police and report drug use, Edwards said.
“We do get calls occasionally of drug abuse in vehicles, and I’ve seen a few in pharmacy parking lots,” the sergeant said.
Both Nickerson and Dupont were charged with unlawful possession of a scheduled drug.
Nickerson was convicted last year of operating a vehicle while under influence of intoxicants and failing to stop, remain and provide information to police, according to court listings printed in the Bangor Daily News. (Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN)
Very sad – hope the two young people can get some help before something worse happens.
very sad. future’s just looking dimmer and dimmer for the young people.
Why is his mug shot on here but not hers?
That mug shot was probably from the last time Nickerson was in the paper. They probably don’t have the new editions in yet.
Why does it matter if either one of them are shown? haha…
Not sure about others but I remember faces better than names.
I can’t believe someone took Tom’s post off – between the two, I think her picture would have been posted first given the charges.
It should be illegal to sell
hypodermic needles over the counter. There are few reasons why anyone would need to use them outside of the hospital setting. Type one diabetes is probably the most common followed by severe asthma and maybe even severe allergies. Obviously if people want to get the needles they will get them legally or illegally one way or the other but it should not just as easy as walking into the neighborhood pharmacy to get hypodermic needles. Just a thought…
I dont believe it is. I believe needles require a prescription. I may be wrong.
no RX required, just an ID at the counter, and also they have a needle “exchange” in downtown bangor that people are allowed to bring in dirty needles, and this place gives them a clean one, and everything else needed to stab them selves to get high, sad really… But i’d rather they have a place to bring the dirty ones, than be walking through chapin park and finding 13 dirty needles in a bag on the ground while i’m walking through it with my daughter (march 13th 2012)… more needs to be done with the epidemic plaguing our city and state
Thanks for clarifying that for me. I cant imagine not needing a prescription from a doctor to get needles. In my opinion, the only ones that would need them would be people who had demonstrated a legitimate medical need to have them in their possession, people like Diabetics or people with specific medical conditions.
I’m sure that these drug users are very responsible and turn in those nasty dirty needles. Right? Easier to believe it’s the people who “stumble” upon them who turn them in.
Under Maine law, a person who is 18 years of age or older may purchase a “hypodermic apparatus,” such as a hypodermic syringe and needle, from a pharmacist and other authorized sellers. An individual, however, may not lawfully purchase or possess more than ten “hypodermic apparatuses” at any one time, unless otherwise authorized by law (such as a physician acting within the scope of employment).
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They sell needles so that STD’s do not spread by addicts–it’s actually a good thing.
Or don’t do DRUGS!
STDs are not just spread by needle usage.
With the plethora of technology availed to us today, there should be far better ways to keep track of who’s buying them IMO. While I understand the need for needle exchanges, I find it sad that we have allowed this miserable epidemic to grow so much that there is a need for it at all.
I know it’s very easy for those who aren’t addicted to simply yell “Don’t do drugs!” but once addicts are hooked, they’re hooked (and for whatever reason they stepped off the train of common sense and did them in the first place).
At some point I’d like to see this poison stopped (either at the border or by severly drying up the number of uses these now have here). These drugs were, once upon a time, reserved only for those who were literally dying and in pain. They should go back to that.
I don’t believe for a minute that Big Pharma can’t come up with another nonnarcotic pain reliever for everyday use and go back to using oxys for the last ditch effort (and/or not indefinitely).
On the lighter side – people need to find something better to do that stare at cars all day hoping to see someone doing drugs.
Could you please cut, paste and post here the part of the article that says someone was staring at cars all day “hoping to see someone doing drugs” because I’m darned if I could find it. That is what we call ‘creative reading’ where I’m from.
Maybe, just maybe, if MORE people paid attention to what was going on around them there would be less drug use, crime and wrong doing. The problem is that to many people look away because they either don’t want to get involved, it’s not thier business or they just don’t care. Most of the population complains that society is going down the crapper but when someone tries to make it better someone else always has to complain. Wish more people would be bold enough to make a simple phone call when they see something wrong. Time to bring back the morals our elders once talked about and make the place we live in better. Now THAT”S common sense!!
Careful Trish,you might say something that upsets people……the truth !! I agree with you. And the way I feel about it is if you arent working towards changes for the better….just shut up
And people that do that are 9 times out of 10 wrong about what they saw and we would waste the police’s time going to a parking lot or following the car while there could be some other more important thing going on besides some people getting their fix? No thanks
There is also the needle exchange programs. I don’t think it should be illegal. I’m glad people can access clean needles. Better than using the same ones over and over or sharing them and spreading disease. Not saying it’s a good habit to get into, just would rather people be safe about it.
If you sare going to inject illegal drugs, be sure to do it safely.
Now there’s an oxymoron.
Clean syringes help curb the spread of AIDS and Hepatitis in your society, Sillygoose. Contaminated syringes are the number one way to spread Hepatitis and other diseases. Half of all needle users have Hep C, which is a very serious often lethal liver disease. Needle exchange programs do much more good than harm for society.
Well alot of blame should be with the doctors who prescribe this drug to people who dont need it and they turn around and it sell it on the streets. There is always going to be a way to find this stuff because it’s out there but the doctors need to stop prescribing this stuff when there are other treatments available that dont involve drugs. I can see them prescribing it for a short period of time for a major surgery or cancer but they prescribe this stuff for everything.
Most of the large amounts of illegally obtained narcotics come up the pike.
Search the papers for drug busts and see where the people are from, it’s FL, MA and NY 99% of the time. For every large bust made, you can figure another 99 loads make it through without the runner getting popped.
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With the plethora of technology availed to us today, there should be far better ways to keep track of who’s buying needles and oxys IMO.
While I understand the need for needle exchanges, I find it sad that we have allowed this miserable epidemic to grow so much that there is a need for it at all.
I know it’s very easy for those who aren’t addicted to simply yell “Don’t do drugs!” but once addicts are hooked, they’re hooked (and for whatever reason they stepped off the train of common sense and did them in the first place).
At some point I’d like to see this poison stopped (either at the border or by severly drying up the number of uses these now have here). These drugs were, once upon a time, reserved only for those who were literally dying and in pain. They should go back to that.
I don’t believe for a minute that Big Pharma can’t come up with another nonnarcotic pain reliever for everyday use and go back to using oxys for the last ditch effort (and/or not indefinitely).