US NEWS DRUGS-EPIDEMIC-EXCLUSIVE 3 LA-585

Sheriff's Deputy Grace Schmidt, member of the Los Angeles County Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force, books evidence from an undercover prescription drug sting operation on a downtown Los Angeles, California, street. Deputies arrested half a dozen suspected prescription drug sellers and confiscated several pharmacy bottles labeled Vicodin, carisoprodol, clonazepam, Zyprexa, Abilify, Risperdal and celphlaxin, as well as a few vials of what the deputies call "Skittles," assorted unlabeled pills. Most of the bottles have labels showing the drugs were prescribed by physicians to the sellers. (Liz O. Baylen/Los Angeles Times/MCT)