Doctors, pharmacists among 41 busted for massive Houston-area pill mill scheme
More than three dozen doctors, pharmacists, clinicians and so-called patients were arrested Wednesday after federal authorities uncovered a massive alleged "pill mill" operation throughout Houston.
Federal prosecutors charged 41 people in the alleged scheme, which they said helped supply drug dealers across the country with hundreds of thousands of illegally dispensed prescription drugs.
Under the scheme, people pretending to be patients in pain went to see a doctor, who was in on the plan and would write a prescription for either oxycodone, hydrocodone or carisoprodol (sometimes all three, known as the "Houston Cocktail" to the feds).
Sometimes the patients would bring the prescriptions to chain pharmacies, but they more often brought the prescription to a pharmacy whose employees were in on the scheme. Once the pills were in hand, they were turned over to someone who had a network of dealers across the country – sometimes as far away as Boston – for illegal sale.
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