Prescription Drug Abuse Case Study

There was improvement in many areas of the country following the crackdown on prescription drug abuse and pill mills. However, another result of the crackdownwas a diminution in the availability of prescription painkillers and the price for the painkillers on the street became more expensive.The ones who became addicted to painkillers during the pill mill epidemic then turned to heroin. The crackdown of pill mills inadvertently fueled the epidemic of heroin. “Between 2007 and 2012, heroin use rose 79 percent nationwide, according to federal data. Within the same period, the data show, 81 percent of first-time heroin users had previously abused prescription drugs” (Markon and Crites, 2014). Prescription painkillers and heroin are known to

She managed the clinic and was in business from October 2008 up until her arrest in December 2010. Guzman had no medical training or DEA license to issue prescriptions. She hired nurse practitioners and doctors to work at her clinic since she was unable to legally prescribe drugs herself. Maryville Pain Management had all signs of a pill mill including high volume customer traffic, vehicles with license plates from various states, loitering in the parking lot, etc. The clinic initially only accepted cash payments and they never even accepted health

She opened the clinic in 2001 and operated it until May 2007. Her pain clinic had all the same indications of a pill mill including only accepting cash and not giving patients a thorough medical examination before receiving the prescription for painkillers. Huffman charged her patients $125 to $200 per visit before they could see one of the physicians. Huffman made sure that the physicians prescribed narcotic pain medications through threats and other tactics. There was talk around town and the clinic eventually became known for prescribing large amounts of painkillers to drug addicts. As a result, local pharmacies began refusing to fill prescriptions from Tri-State Health Care and Pain Management