Prescription Drug Abuse
Posted By
admin on Apr 10, 2010 6:44pm PDT
Prescription drugs has a long history of abuse. Its a common theme that we have all heard before. It starts with a legally prescribed drug and often ends with an addiction. Prescription drugs have no consceince....they offer you an equal opportunity addiction...and death. Therefore, doctor's have been placed in charge of your prescriptions. Unfortunately, some abuse prescription drugs too....only they use a pen and a pad. This has led to some high-profile deaths and arrest.
In February 2010, Michael Jackson's doctor was charged with involuntary manslaughter by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutor's allege that Dr. Conrad Murray administered a combination of surgical anesthetic and sedatives that caused the pop star's death in the summer of 2009. The complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court accuses the doctor of causing his death by acting "without due caution and circumspection." The Los Angeles Coroner's Office ruled the death a homicide saying the cause was "acute propofol intoxication" in conjunction with effects of other sedatives Dr. Murray admitted he provided.
In March 2010, Actor Corey Haim died from an overdose of prescription drugs. Just days after his death, California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced that his office was investigating a massive drug ring that provided prescription for Haim. The drug ring operated by using stolen doctor identities to order prescription drug pads from authorized sellers. The prescription forms were then sold on the street to addicts or drug dealers who had them filled at pharmacies. Recently it was reported that right before his death, Haim
went "doctor shopping" and obtained at least 553 pills of powerful prescription drugs from seven doctors and as many different pharmacies. Haim visited physicians at offices, urgent-care facilities and emergency rooms to obtain the deadly collection of prescription pills and on one occasion used an alias name. Investigators released a report confirming that from Feb. 2 to March 5 -- five days before he died -- Haim obtained more than 195 tablets of Valium, 194 tablets of Soma, 149 tablets of Vicodin and 15 tablets of Xanax.
In another, more recent case in a California Federal Court, a doctor pleaded guilty to one count of dispensing oxycodone without a legitimate medical purpose; other counts were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea. Dr. Daniel J. Healy
ordered more than 1 million tablets of hydrocodone in 2008, which was 10 times more than the average American pharmacy. The drug is better known by the brand names Vicodin and Norco, which is an addictive painkiller where there is a thriving black market. Dr. Healy hauled in so much cash that he kept an automatic money-counting machine in his office to sort through the thousands of dollars that came in on a daily basis. Prosecutor's said that Healy had abandoned medicine in pursuit of profits and was "nothing more than a drug dealer in a lab coat who created and nurtured an army of addicted customers." He prescribed drugs to patients he didn't even bother to examine in some cases....with some clients referring to him as "the Candyman."
If you have been charged with unlawful possession of a prescription drug, it's critical that you consult a Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley Criminal Defense Lawyer immediately. Goldstein Law Group has over 46 years of experience in defending clients charged with drug offenses. We have successfully defended hundreds of clients in all Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Van Nuys, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Glendale and Ventura County courthouses.
In a recent case, attorney Michael A. Goldstein obtained a dismissal of charges in a prescription drug case where police seized more than 250,000 oxycontin pills prescribed by same Doctor. During cross-examination, the investigating officer conceded that the pills appeared to be possessed pursuant to a valid prescription and that he did not attempt to contact the prescribing physician to confirm the validity of the prescriptions.
Goldstein Law Group is a Los Angeles criminal defense law firm that has been built on client loyalty and referral since 1975. We strongly believe in personal attention to our clients. To discuss your prescription drug case with one of our attorneys, please contact us at (818) 905-7272. All consultation are free and confidential.