Doctor Sold Painkiller Prescriptions at Starbucks, Authorities Say
A doctor in Orange County, California was arrested Tuesday and charged for illegally selling prescriptions for addictive opiate painkillers at local coffee shops.
The doctor, Alvin Mingczech Yee, 43, allegedly met with people at Starbucks coffee shops and in exchange for cash, gave them prescriptions for opiate painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Adderall and Suxoxone, federal prosecutors said.
The “patients” who met with Yee included three undercover operatives, the U.S. Justice Department said.
According to the ongoing investigation, people as far as Seattle, Phoenix and Detroit - who have also been arrested with large amounts of the drugs in possession- traveled to Orange County to get the painkillers from Yee.
About 2 million people in the United States use prescription opioid painkillers every year and in some communities the abuse has overtaken that of cocaine and marijuana, according to the site Opiates.com.
Several people become physically dependent on prescription painkillers and continue using them weeks or months after their physician originally prescribed it to them for pain or injury.
The Drug Enforcement Administration had registered 57 cases against doctors in 2011 who have been arrested and charged for illegally prescribing drugs.