AG Brown Goes After Prescription Drug Addicts
Posted on October 6, 2008
Filed Under Criminal Law, Drugs, Felonies, Law, News, misdemeanor |
Prescription drug abuse is reaching epidemic proportions in the U.S. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates that 20% to 30% of California’s drug abusers are addicted to prescription drugs. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimates that 48 million Americans have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons. Abuse of prescription drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin has increased dramatically by teens and seniors in recent years. In 2005, abuse of prescription drugs accounted for more than half a million emergency room visits in California, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network.
Addicts often visit multiple doctors and hospital emergency rooms seeking multiple prescriptions to feed their habit. One California man visited 183 doctors and 47 pharmacies to obtain dangerous painkillers. Over the course of one year, this man used multiple prescriptions to obtain 4,830 hydrocodone tablets, 2,210 oxycodone tablets, 156 OxyContin and a smorgasbord of additional addictive painkillers.
California Attorney General Edmund Brown recently announced a crackdown on such rampant prescription drug fraud in California. He noted that the top 50 prescription drug abusers average more than 100 doctor and pharmacy visits per person to gain the drugs they need.
“These prescription drug addicts are abusing the system, draining time and money from hundreds of doctors and pharmacies who are there to help real sick people, not con artists,” Brown said in announcing a statewide crackdown on the most aggressive prescription drug addicts. “We want to end these dangerous cycles of fraud and abuse.”
The crackdown has already resulted in the arrests of dozens of suspects. Brown said the aggressive pursuit of prescription drug addicts is driven both by the egregious drain on California’s medical resources and a concern for public safety. He expressed concern that many prescription drug abusers hold jobs as transit operators, medical practitioners, truck drivers and others whose drug use puts the public at risk.
An important component of Brown’s plan to stop prescription drug abuse is implementation of a computer network that would give doctors and pharmacists real-time internet access to patient prescription drug histories. He recommended that insurance companies develop similar systems to prevent drug fraud. The possession, sale or purchase of prescription drugs for non-medical use is a crime in California and carries significant penalties.
-LegalPro
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