HispanicBusiness

The tragic death of Corey Haim is shining a light on a massive drug ring in Southern California that sells pills using the stolen prescription pads of doctors.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced the scam in a Friday statement, saying a "major crackdown" is needed on the ring.

"They can go to one pharmacy after another and get tens of thousands of pills and now you're talking a multimillion-dollar scam," he said.

Brown said on at least one occasion an unauthorized prescription of the painkiller OxyContin was sold Haim from a vendor in San Diego.

The pads are often sold on the street -- like heroin or cocaine -- to prescription-drug addicts, Brown said. They are also sometimes sold to the people who fill the prescription, who in turn sell the drugs on the underground market.

Brown said the investigation has thus far uncovered up to 5,000 fraudulent prescriptions.

In April of 2009, Brown's office arrested five college-aged individuals who had allegedly conspired to illegally obtain thousands of prescription drugs.

"Prescription-drug abuse can have serious public safety consequences, as many of the top abusers hold down regular jobs including truck drivers, transit operators and medical practitioners," the statement said.