Georgia recovers stolen pain relievers

Stolen pain relievers six to eight times stronger than morphine were recovered by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the bureau's major theft unit said. The GBI said it received an anonymous tip that led investigators to $170,000 worth of hydromorphone stolen from a tractor-trailer truck during the Labor Day holiday weekend, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Truck driver Sammy Rogers told DeKalb County police the drugs were taken Sunday night or early Monday while he was sleeping in the cab of his truck at a travel center in Atlanta. GBI spokesman John Bankhead said the Major Theft Unit was established in 2009 to deal with a large number of cargo thefts occurring in Georgia. Recovering the drug was a "public safety issue," said Bankhead, adding 13 Georgia residents died in 2011 from hydromorphone overdoses. The potent pain reliever can prove deadly if mixed with alcohol, the Food and Drug Administration said.