60 people, including 31 doctors, eight nurses and seven pharmacists were charged with schemes to illegally distribute millions of pain pills. Two Ohio and three Kentucky doctors are included in this indictment as well, which was unsealed downtown in federal court yesterday (April 17).
Opioid prescriptions were exchanged for sex in some cases, and for cash with an added “concierge fee” in others. One doctor was accused of routinely prescribing opioids to friends on Facebook. (NY Times)
Brian Benczkowski, an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said at a news conference yesterday: “These cases involve approximately 350,000 opioid prescriptions and more than 32 million pills — the equivalent of a dose of opioids for every man, woman and child across the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia combined.”
Allegedly, a Dayton, Ohio pharmacy is responsible for dispensing more than 1.75 million pills.
