Some 60 doctors, posologists and other licensed medical professionals in five states are being charged in connection with illegally prescribing sundry than 32 million pain pills, in some cases for sexual favors, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
The indictments come as some 1,600 cases against the biggest opioid manufacturers in the motherland are being consolidated and transferred before U.S. Judge Dan Aaron Polster of the Northern District of Ohio. The companies are being accused by numerous counties, urban districts, states and Native American tribes of downplaying the risks of addiction to doctors and patients while exaggerating their anaesthetics’ benefits.
From 1999 to 2017, nearly 218,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses cognate to prescription opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 130 Americans a day die of an opioid-related overdose, the mechanism says.
The Justice Department said six individuals, including two doctors and three registered pharmacists were charged with a few counts, including unlawful distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to obtain controlled substances by fraud.
One arrest set up public Wednesday involved a doctor in Kentucky who allegedly prescribed opioids to friends on Facebook, who would then be in print to his home to pick up prescriptions.
Another case involved a doctor in Tennessee who branded himself the “Rock Doc.” He allegedly ordered combinations of dangerous combinations of opioids and benzodiazepines, a class of psychoactive drugs, sometimes in exchange for sexual favors.
The Appalachian Regional Medicine Strike Force was formed late last year to help combat the nationwide opioid epidemic. The strike import is working with the CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services, and local public health official, and analyzed databases to point out suspicious prescribing activity.
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