County Deploys High-Tech Weapon Against Pill Mills

As municipalities across Cherokee consider measures to regulate pill mills, the county's narcotics division is joining a program that will make it easier to identify prescription drugs in the field.

Field agents with the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad will carry battery-operated devices to accurately identify drugs they encounter on raids. The devices can identify drug chemicals in less than 10 seconds.

Centice Corp. of Morrisville, N.C., developed the PASS Rx and PINPOINT Rx technology for prescription drug verification in pharmacies and drug identification in hospitals.

"Extending our technology to the most challenging law enforcement applications is a natural fit," Centice Chief Technology Officer Prasant Potuluri said in a press release. "We are very excited to see the potential of our device to transform how law enforcement manages the increasing workload at crime scenes."

"Centice’s device is exactly what our agents need," the narcotics unit's commander, Phillip Price, said in the release. "Identifying drugs can take time, and not knowing the exact substances found during investigation can derail proper procedure."

On Monday, the that would require all prospective pain management clinics to go through a uniform evaluation and application process.

City officials said the move is necessary to weed out legitimate clinics from those that aren't.

This video is from the March 7 Holly Springs City Council work session.