Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: On average, one American dies of a drug overdose every 11 minutes.

Many of the deaths are linked to the abuse of prescription painkillers.

The FBI is proactively addressing the opioid epidemic through its prescription drug initiative, which was established one year ago this month.

Supervisory Special Agent Steven Blaum says the majority of medical professionals are trustworthy, but…

Steven Blaum: Our efforts to enhance our investigations, to surge resources, to link intelligence is different in this area because it really is about saving the lives of patients who are at their most vulnerable and being preyed upon by physicians who are the folks they trust the most. That's the piece of this that's new and different and terrifying when you think about it.

Halpern: The FBI and its partners also investigate patients who are often solicited and recruited to sell their prescriptions to drug trafficking organizations.

Blaum: We have had instances where the local gangs have taken up shop right outside the doorway, and they send people in, get the scripts, go to the next-door pharmacy that the same company owns, gets the pill, and sell them on the street.

Halpern: Learn more about how the FBI combats health care fraud at FBI.gov. With FBI This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.