Floridians Get Criminal Charges for Supplying Drugs to Texas Pill Mill
Your kids think they have heard all your stories about how life was different before the Internet became a ubiquitous part of our lives. They have heard about how, instead of simply humming a tune into a Google search to find the song you wanted to hear, you had to tape songs off of the radio, or else copy them from the tapes your friends had made. They know about the prodigious memory you once had for your friends’ phone numbers and the long walks you used to take to the pay phone to call them. If you are trying to pass the time this winter break and stay away from topics that are sure to reignite family conflict, try telling the younger members of your family about the days of Florida’s pill mills. Today, people buy prescription opioid pills from the Internet, and as often as not, they get a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl instead of a measured quantity of oxycodone. Ten years ago, you could drive four hours southeast and land in Broward County, which was an endless stretch of strip mall pharmacies where anyone with enough money to pay could walk out with enough prescription opioid pills to give one to every guest at a celebrity wedding reception. Pill mills are still around, but they are not in Florida anymore. If you are facing charges for conspiring to traffic drugs out of Florida to a pill mill, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.
You Can Still Get Drug Distribution Charges, Even If the Drugs Have Long Since Left Florida
This fall, a multi-state drug trafficking case led to nine defendants pleading guilty, including five Floridians. Florida’s pill mills are the stuff of old folks’ stories now, but Houston, Texas now has a thriving pill mill scene, albeit slightly less thriving than it was before the drug busts that led to this case. The owner of a pharmaceutical wholesale distribution company in Miami conspired with sales representatives in several other states, including North Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri, to sell the drugs to pill mill pharmacies in the Houston area.
By the time federal prosecutors presented the case to a grand jury, the defendants and their co-conspirators had facilitated the delivery of more than 70 million prescription opioid pills, including hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxycodone in their rapid release form, and 30 million doses of other drugs prized on the black market, including alprazolam, carisoprodol, and promethazine cough syrup, the active ingredient in lean. One defendant’s role in the conspiracy was to advise pharmaceutical executives in several states on how to keep records that gave the appearance of compliance in order to prevent additional scrutiny from regulators.
Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases
A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are a defendant in a drug case involving conspiring to traffic drugs across state lines. Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
justice.gov/opa/pr/ten-pharmaceutical-distributor-executives-sales-representatives-and-brokers-charged
