ROGERSVILLE — A Hawkins County woman allegedly admitted to “cooking” the painkiller Opana so she could shoot it up shortly before police found her stopped in a vehicle at a busy intersection just south of Rogersville.
Around 9 p.m. Friday, Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Wesley Seals was dispatched to the area of Route 66-S and Old Route 70 on a complaint of a woman using drugs in her vehicle.
Seals said that upon his arrival, he observed a 1994 Ford Aspire stopped at that intersection that matched the description given by the complainant.
“I then pulled behind the vehicle and observed the driver open the door and throw a metal, ‘casket-shaped’ container underneath the car,” Seals said.
The driver was identified as Patricia Marie Ward, 42, 321 Boyd Street Apt. 13, Rogersville.
Seals said Ward was “nervous and fidgeting.”
The metal container allegedly contained “a large quantity of syringes, aluminum foil with melted substances, and arm wraps to shoot up with.”
Upon searching the vehicle, Seals allegedly found a pill identified as Opana under the driver’s seat beside a spoon containing a melted substance Ward allegedly identified as Opana.
Opana contains oxymorphone, which is a strong combination of the painkillers oxycodone and morphine.
Police say Opana is one of the most highly addictive and highly abused narcotics, not only in Hawkins County, but across the country.
“Ward stated the melted substance in the spoon was Opana and she just got done cooking it up so she could shoot it up approximately 30 minutes prior to being stopped,” Seals said.
Ward allegedly admitted to owning the paraphernalia in the metal container.
She was also allegedly found in possession four white oval pills identified as phentermine — an amphetamine used medically as an appetite suppressant.
Ward was charged with possession of Schedule II narcotics, possession of Schedule IV narcotics, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving on a suspended license and failure to show proof of insurance.
Ward was arraigned Monday in Hawkins County Sessions Court and as of Monday evening remained held in the Hawkins County Jail on $50,000. Her trial date was set for March 27.
