DrugBuyers.Com: E-mail "Source" Arrested

High-tech drug trade hits Louisiana courts

The e-mail from [Email][email protected] February posed a single question: Are the pain pills still for sale?

mailto:[email protected] arrived the very next day, according to a federal indictment -- along with the latest price list, shipping fees, Western Union instructions and the minimum required order.

The customer requested 20 morphine, 60 oxycodone, 30 hydrocodone, 40 Skelaxin and 20 Percocet pills. He then drove to the Circle K on Old Hammond Highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and wired $222.75 via Western Union.

Hours later and 2,500 miles away, a University of Idaho student left his room at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house and drove to a Safeway in the town of Moscow.

He picked up the money, investigators say -- but he never mailed the pills.

It's the kind of crime that might have gone unreported had the customer not been FBI Special Agent P. Michael Gordon, who was working for the New Orleans, Louisiana -based Cyber Squad.

A federal grand jury in Baton Rouge, Louisiana has indicted 20-year-old Ryan Matthew Haney of Moscow, Idaho, on three counts of wire fraud in connection with the incident. Haney -- a sophomore business major -- will appear later this week before U.S. Magistrate Christine Noland to hear the charges against him.

The indictment accuses Haney of using his personal computer in the frat house to post messages on a bulletin board owned by http://www.healthboards.com, advertising the sale of prescription pain pills.

The Baton Rouge, Louisiana case, authorities say, is just one example of a growing worldwide online illegal trade in pharmaceuticals and related fraud. Unsolicited e-mails promising everything from allergy medicine to Viagra "shipped overnight" and free prescriptions by licensed physicians are little more than a click and a pop up away.

It's simply a high-tech version of an old street crime: The buying and selling of illegal drugs.

"The issue of consumers purchasing controlled substances over the Internet has serious legal and public health implications," said DEA Drug Operations Chief Betsy Willis.

"It is a method of self-medication without the safeguard of an experienced medical diagnosis and monitoring by a trained and licensed physician. Just as we don't allow consumers to purchase controlled substances without a valid prescription, we don't allow this to take place on the Internet."

The trend, Louisiana authorities say, is driven not just by drug abusers seeking new avenues for narcotics -- but also by patients with legitimately diagnosed conditions desperate for more affordable medications.

Americans are spending more money than ever on prescription drugs, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Between 1994 and 2001, the number of prescriptions rose nearly 50 percent to 3.1 billion. During the same period, sales jumped from $61 billion to $155 billion.

"Obviously, drug abusers seek out new avenues to acquire new drugs to abuse, and the Internet makes it easier than ever for them to get those," said Patrick R. Warner, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA in New Orleans, Louisiana. "But we all know the problem with the elderly in trying to find affordable prescriptions, and sometimes they can find lower priced drugs this way."

Federal law requires patients to have a prescription written by a registered practitioner to buy any controlled substance. The prescription is considered valid only if there is an established relationship between the doctor and patient.

The doctor also must review a medical history, complete a physical exam and render a diagnosis, according to the law. There also must be a "logical connection" between the condition and any prescribed medication.

That means that most online prescriptions -- even those based on a questionnaire -- are illegal, Louisiana authorities say.

"The Internet really has no bearing on whether you have a right to buy the drugs or possess them," said U.S. Attorney David Dugas. "You need a valid prescription from a doctor in order to obtain them."

In response to what it saw as a growing trend, the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners recently adopted a position statement saying that Louisiana physicians who take part in online or telephone evaluations without a doctor-patient relationship could have their licenses revoked.

Doctors not licensed in Louisiana who do so, the board wrote, will be referred to the Louisiana Attorney General for criminal prosecution.

Dr. Trent James, a Baton Rouge family physician who's been in practice for more than 32 years, said patients should seek treatment from physicians they know.

"I practice medicine every day of the week, and I would want to help all patients who have pain needs and illnesses," said James, who also serves on the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners. "Medications are not without both the good and the bad. I have to choose what's right for that individual patient, and the only way I can do that is through an ongoing relationship.

"You can't get that in an e-mail from a college student in Idaho who isn't licensed to practice medicine."

copyright: U.S. Drug News website

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