Many federal circuits permit a good faith jury instruction in cases in which doctors are prosecuted under the Controlled Substances Act. Internet pharmacy law cases involving doctors are no different. Below is an illustrative case: U.S. v. Hurwitz, 459 F.3d 463 (2006): The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Dr. William E. Hurtwitz’s conviction due to […]
News (Page 2)
According to the Orlando Sentential and the Daytona Beach News-Journal, JIVE internet pharmacy owner Jude Lacour was found guilty on all counts today, including conspiracy, distribution of a controlled substance and money laundering. Lacour represented himself at trial. Christopher Tobin was also found guilty on all counts charged. The other defendants (Akhil Baranwal, James Pickens and […]
The jury began deliberating in the JIVE online pharmacy network trial yesterday at 3p.m. The content on this post does not constitute legal advice and is for informational purposes only. You should not act upon the information presented on this website without seeking the advice of legal counsel. Should you wish to speak to an experienced […]
Jose Riopedre and Susana Mendez both pled guilty in the District Court for the District of Maryland today to conspiring to distribute more than two million doses of Phentermine via an internet pharmacy. Both agreed to forfeit $1,500,000. Sentencing is scheduled for July 15, 2009. The indictment alleged that between March 2005 and December 2006, the […]
Fritz Brunz pled guilty today in the Northern District of California to owning and operating an Internet pharmacy (healthylifemeds.com) which introduced misbranded drugs (Ritalin, Halcion and Xanax) into interstate commerce. Brunz will be sentenced on July 29, 2009. As I have discussed before, misbranding is essentially a catch all offense under the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, which includes […]
According to the Seattle Times, the home of Dr. Peter Pfeiffer, of Bellingham, Washington, was raided by DEA agents last Friday as a result of his alleged ties to an Internet pharmacy. The search warrant alleged, among other things, that Pfeiffer was: writing “a very large number of prescriptions” for hydrocodone between November and February; […]
Colorado doctor Christian Hageseth was sentenced to nine months in prison by a California judge following his plea of no contest to practicing medicine without a license in California. Hageseth was prosecuted as a result of allegedly prescribing Prozac via an Internet pharmacy to Stanford University student John McKay who later committed suicide. As a reminder, […]
Yesterday was the effective date for a majority of the provisions in the Ryan Haight Act (Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act). It is now part of the Controlled Substances Act. Also effective yesterday was the interim Ryan Haight Act rule promulgated by the DEA, which I have argued does nothing but make internet […]
The AffPower network Internet pharmacy trial began this week in the Southern District of California for the remaining AffPower defendants Dolores Lovin, Mary Aronson, Richard Edward Koch, Philip James Bidwell, Jeffrey A. Light, Tracy ONeal Tyler and Peter P. Bragansa. This case is unique in that the Government seeks to prosecute Internet pharmacy affiliates as well as […]
The final Rule on the “Implementation of the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act” (aka Ryan Haight Act) was published in the Federal Register Monday, April 6, 2009, by the DEA and DOJ. It can be found here. It draws some interesting conclusions with respect to Internet pharmacy law. Simply put, the new Regulations only serve […]
