Alexis Avello and Peter Colon Lopez, both involved in the Pharmacom International Corp. internet pharmacy prescription case, were sentenced November 25 in an Iowa District Court. Lopez, who pled guilty to one count of illegally distributing prescription drugs and one count of money laundering, was sentenced to nearly two years in prison. Avello received three years for […]
News (Page 5)
A federal judge in Atlanta sentenced Dr. Vladimir Andries to three years probation on Monday for his role in an internet pharmacy operation. Andries, who faced up to two years in federal prison, was indicted in 2006 along with six other doctors for their role in the online pharmacy scheme. In his plea bargain, Andries admitted […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
I have argued in the past that the Ryan Haight Act benefits criminal defendants in pending internet pharmacy federal prosecutions (i.e. those indicted for actions occurring prior to the effective date of the Controlled Substances Act Ryan Haight Amendments). In short, if the Ryan Haight Act attempts to outlaw prescriptions issued by doctors without a physical evaluation via online pharmacies (not falling […]
The DEA wasted no time issuing its press release on President Bush’s signing of the Ryan Haight Act: Cyber-criminals illegally peddling controlled substances over the Internet have invaded households and threatened America’s youth for far too long by supplying pharmaceuticals with a few clicks of a mouse and a credit card number,” Acting Administrator Leonhart […]
According to the text of the Ryan Haight Act, most of its provisions, including the ones outlawing internet pharmacy prescriptions without a doctor’s face to face physical examination, have an effective date of 180 days after the law’s enactment: Except as provided in paragraph (2), the amendments made by this Act shall take effect 180 days after the […]
