By Holly Menino

LANE COUNTY, Ore. -- Prescription drug abuse is nothing new to law enforcement nor to the doctors and pharmacies that deal with its backlash.  But as police crack down, dealers and addicts are getting more creative when it comes to obtaining their drug of choice.

Slightly stronger than Vicodin, but not quite as potent as Oxycontin, Norco has become the choice for some prescription forgers.

"It's always the same drug and always the same quantity," said Charlie Conrad, Springfield Police Detective.

They want Norco in a quantity of 90, and police believe two people are behind that request.  They don't know who they are, but they hope someone out there will.

"If the pharmacist does anything to stall them, they're gone.  They'll come up with some excuse and quickly leave the store," Conrad said.

They target several different pharmacies throughout Lane County, from Safeway on Pioneer Parkway to Hiron's on Franklin, and even to the Walgreens on Coburg Road.  They make requests under similar patient names and dates of birth.  They've requested at least 20 prescriptions and have been successful five times.

"A male's calling local pharmacies, various chains, and he's reporting to be from a doctor's office.  He's using four different doctor's offices who are legitimate doctors in the area," Conrad said.

Two of those doctors work at Slocum Orthopedics.  Dr. Thomas Wuest says prescription forgery is a big problem.

"We have seen an increase specifically in our practice two of our physicians names as well as my name has been used and my DEA number, the Drug Enforcement Agency number, has been duplicated," said Dr. Wuest.

A physician's DEA number is extra insurance that a prescription is legitimate.  But somehow forgers have gotten their hands on those numbers, making a pharmacist's and doctor's job even more difficult.

"Your licenser or ability to prescribe those prescription may become in jeopardy if the DEA targets you as someone who is doing this very inappropriately," Dr. Wuest said.

Prescription forgery also puts a major kink in the daily operations of a pharmacy or doctor's office and impacts the ability of both to treat patients.

"Potentially an increasing problem for us because trying to protect what we do professionally. As usual, the victim is the person who needs the medication and their ability to get an appropriate prescribed medicine is impacted by the forgist," Dr. Wuest said.

Police are looking for these two people.  The man was caught on camera in the Safeway on Pioneer Parkway in Springfield, and cameras captured the image of the woman in the Walgreens in Cottage Grove

If you know who they are, call the Crimestoppers line at 1-877-876-TIPS.  You could earn up to a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.