From the category archives:

Online Consultations

While most of the news coverage on the Ohio steroid possession indictment two weeks ago concerned the fact that the drug prescriptions were allegedly obtained online from Dr. Ramon Scruggs (i.e. an “internet pharmacy”), the method of obtaining drugs does not appear to be legally relevant under Ohio law (after a brief, cursory inspection of [...]

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A Cuyahoga County grand jury in Ohio returned a state indictment against police officer Anthony Tuleta, former firefighter Craig Romey and former EMS paramedic Angel Otero for the possession of steroids purchased from an internet pharmacy.  Also indicted was Dr. Ramon Scruggs of California.  Dr. Scruggs faces 13 counts of drug trafficking.
According to Cleveland.com, “Tuleta, Romey and [...]

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Since I have written quite a bit more on internet pharmacy law and strategy related to the Ryan Haight Act and criminal defense law after my last outline, I figured I would update it and attempt to present it in a more organized fashion.  Below please find a catalogue of some of my most popular articles [...]

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Doctor Juan Antonio Ibanez of Tampa, Florida pled guilty to selling over 50 million hydrocodone pills from 2003-2007 via a number of internet pharmacy websites, including foxfamilymeds.com, medsforpain.com, prescriptiondrugplanet.com, sunshinefamilymeds.com and online-scripts.com.
The Tampa Tribune recounts a portion of the plea hearing:
“During this process, did you act knowingly and intentionally with due disregard for the law?” U.S. Magistrate Mark [...]

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I previously wrote about the legal difficulties of convicting an internet pharmacy or pharmacist pre and post Ryan Haight Act.  Specifically, I noted the hurdles to persuading a jury that a pharmacist knew (as required by the Controlled Substances Act) that he or she was filling illegal prescriptions beyond a reasonable doubt.
One of the ways prosecutors seek to prove [...]

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One of the justifications for the Ryan Haight Act was that doctors performing face to face examinations can determine the veracity of a patient’s claim of chronic pain before prescribing medication much better than an internet pharmacy doctor performing an online consultation.  This is likely true with respect to internet pharmacies that do not require medical records [...]

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