Pubdate: Sun, 09 Nov 2003
Source: Advocate, The (LA)
Copyright: 2003 The Advocate, Capital City Press
Contact:  http://www.theadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2
Author: Penny Brown Roberts

HIGH-TECH DRUG TRADE HITS COURTS

The e-mail from  in February posed a single 
question: Are the pain pills still for sale? The reply from  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 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-based Cyber Squad.

A federal grand jury in Baton Rouge 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 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, 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. "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, 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 the state 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."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom