11-12-2008, 02:05 PM
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 | Administrator | | Join Date: Dec 1997
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 Re: Can you be prosecuted for steroid possession if you have a script? YES!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rrk139  What do you think is going to happen now? Will other clients of Dr. Scruggs also be charged, or only those who submitted the prescription costs to their insurnace companies? Also, the guys they charged are all invovled in law enforcement, etc., do you think they will go after EVERY person that was issued a prescription by Dr. Scruggs. And finally, when did the new law come into effect? Can people still be charged for "criminal" acts they committed before the law went into action? | Great questions! A good defense attorney will expose the weaknesses in such prosecutions. I think this excerpt from the Internet Drug Law blog answers your questions. Quote:
The DEA’s argument that online consultation services (”OCS”) are illegal under The Controlled Substances Act requires a four step analysis.- The Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. 801-971, outlaws the distribution of controlled substances without a valid prescription;
- The Code of Federal Regulations, 21 C.F.R. 1306.04(a), states that, for a prescription to be valid, it must be issued for a legitimate medical purpose and in the usual course of professional practice;
- To determine whether a prescription was issued in the usual course of professional practice, one must determine whether a doctor-patient relationship exists; and
- No doctor-patient relationship exists without a physical examination.
As I mentioned in Part 1 of my criminal defense legal issues series, the first two presumptions are undeniable. The last two, however, are tenuous at best. The very fact that Congress is currently seeking to pass the Ryan Haight Act supports an argument that number four is patently incorrect.
The Ryan Haight Act would expressly outlaw prescriptions issued over the internet without physical examinations. In other words, this proposed legislation is meant to effectively outlaw online consultation service websites. One must ask, if the current law already outlaws prescriptions without physical examinations, as the DEA presumes, why is Congress wasting its time passing redundant legislation?
Consequently, the fact that Congress seeks to pass the Ryan Haight Act indicates one of two things:- The current law simply does not outlaw online consultation services; or
- While the current law might outlaw OCS, it was vague enough that Congress found the need to make it much more specific and detailed.
Either way, OCS website owners, doctors, and pharmacists can’t be prosecuted under the current law.
InternetDrugLaw.com » Ryan Haight Act Effective Date: The Internet Pharmacy Indictment Waiting Game? | |
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