On January 21, the DOJ announced it had filed a civil complaint seeking to permanently enjoin the owner of a San Antonio-area pharmacy from unlawfully dispensing opioids and other controlled substances. A copy of the Complaint can be found HERE. A copy of the Motion for Preliminary Injunction can be found below.
The United States has alleged that Defendants fueled and profited from the opioid epidemic by repeatedly dispensing powerful opioids prone to abuse in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”). According to the Complaint, Defendants’ violations include knowingly dispensing controlled substances without a valid prescription in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 842(a)(1); knowingly and intentionally distributing and dispensing controlled substances outside the usual course of the professional practice of pharmacy, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a); dispensing controlled substances based on purported prescriptions that were not issued for a legitimate medical purpose by a practitioner acting in the usual course of his professional practice, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 829; altering records required to be kept under the CSA, in violation of
21 U.S.C. § 842(a)(5); and maintaining drug-involved premises for the unlawful distribution of controlled substances in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 856. See 21 C.F.R. §§ 1306.01, 1306.04(a).
In the Motion for Preliminary Injunction, the United States concludes that Defendants:
[H]ave been unlawfully dispensing controlled substances for invalid prescriptions, ignoring red flags as to the legitimacy of controlled substance prescriptions, and neglecting their controlled substance inventory records such that a loss of 44,900 dosage units loss in a single year went undetected until the DEA conducted an audit. The facts summarized above and set forth in the attached declarations, and the exhibits supporting these facts, provide a detailed and troubling demonstration that the Defendants’ conduct violates the CSA and presents a continued grave harm to the public health. There can be little doubt that the Defendants will continue to unlawfully dispense controlled substances unless enjoined by the Court.
The assertions made by the United States are merely allegations that the United States must prove if the case proceeds to trial.