DOCTORS AND PHARMACISTS: THE NEW DRUG DEALERS
Arrests Mark U.S. Prescription Drug Abuse Crackdown
From Reuters
U.S. authorities arrested 22 people in Florida on Friday, including pharmacists and doctors, in a crackdown against prescription drug abuse that officials say is the nation’s fastest growing drug problem.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the problem had reached “crisis proportions” in Florida, where between 2005 and 2010 the number of oxycodone-related deaths increased by 345%.
The arrests in Orlando and Tampa were the latest steps in successive operations by federal and local authorities to shut down so-called “pill mill” pain clinics, prescription forgery rings and illegal online pharmacies involved in the illegal distribution of prescription drugs such as painkillers.
At a news conference in Tampa, Holder said these operations, dubbed Pill Nation I and II, had led so far to 118 arrests, the seizure of more than $19 million in assets and the closure of at least 40 Florida pain clinics.
“Our targeted, aggressive enforcement actions are sending a clear message that — here in Florida, which has long been the nation’s epicenter for the illegal distribution of prescription drugs — the days of easily acquiring these drugs from corrupt doctors and pharmacists are coming to an end,” Holder said.
He was accompanied by the administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Michele Leonhart, and Florida state officials.
Those arrested in Florida on Friday, who included five doctors and two pharmacists, were charged with illegally diverting controlled substances.
Holder said in prepared remarks the abuse of prescription drugs such as oxycodone and methadone was now the fastest-growing drug problem in the country.
DEA chief Leonhart called it an “epidemic.” Prescription drugs now caused more overdose deaths in the United States than “street drugs” such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
Holder said an estimated 7 million people in the United States regularly used prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes and this abuse contributed to nearly 40,000 deaths and almost $200 billion in healthcare costs annually.
Dr. Pinna says:
It is absolutely remarkable how greed will pervert the brains of normally intelligent and circumspect individuals. Any of these physicians and pharmacists could make an excellent income simply by practicing their profession. But evidently they are determined to risk their careers and jeopardize their souls to satisfy their greed.
I sincerely hope the government treats them worse than ordinary criminals. Their punishment must be as severe as possible.
Morality in the USA in the 21st Century has hit a new low. When we see professionals behaving worse than the lowest criminals it is time to ask ourselves: Why? Is it because American society, on every level, no longer believes in a moral code? Apparently, that is the case.
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