Celebs Able to Skirt Prescription Laws

[Janice]

Celebs Able to Skirt Prescription Laws

LOS ANGELES (AP) - If a prescription needs to be filled in Hollywood, chances are celebrities can find a doctor to do it. Doctors have a long history of feeding the drug demands of the entertainment industry from Marilyn Monroe to Winona Ryder, Elvis Presley to Courtney Love.

Now, California authorities are looking at a physician who reportedly prescribed methadone to Anna Nicole Smith under a fake name. The former Playboy Playmate died Feb. 8 after collapsing at a Florida hotel. The cause is under investigation.

The allure of having a star as a patient can sometimes influence whether doctors follow the rules or break the law, one veteran Hollywood publicist says.

"It's not easy to say no to a celebrity," said Michael Levine. "History has taught us whether it's Anna Nicole, Elvis or John Belushi, they can get what they want. It's like water."

Monroe died at 36 from an overdose of sleeping pills in August 1962. She had been under a doctor's care at the time, police said.

Presley, who died in 1977 at 42, was known to travel with George Nichopoulos, a former physician who overprescribed drugs to clients, who also included rockabilly singer Jerry Lee Lewis.

Members of the medical team who performed Presley's autopsy acknowledged in 1990 that the singer was addicted to prescription medications and his death may have been hastened by "polypharmacy," a reaction to mixing many drugs. Nichopoulos lost his medical license but was acquitted of related criminal charges.

"Top Gun" producer Don Simpson was found dead of a drug overdose at his Bel-Air estate in January 1996. Traces of 21 drugs were found in his blood, and at least two doctors were investigated for overprescribing medications for Simpson.

More recently, celebrities have used fake names to get their vials filled. A 2002 probation report stemming from the shoplifting arrest of actress Winona Ryder showed that she used a half-dozen aliases when she sought prescription drugs. The report said Ryder went "doctor shopping" and had 37 prescriptions filled by 20 doctors over a three-year span.

"It's not uncommon for a high-profile person to get a prescription filled under an alias," said Ryder's attorney, Mark Geragos, citing a celebrity's need for privacy. "It happens with great frequency."

The California Health and Safety Code includes several sections stating that no person who prescribes or dispenses a controlled substance may give a phony name or address or make any false statements on the prescription form. Geragos said the onus is on the doctor.

In Ryder's case, Jules Lusman pleaded no-contest to practicing medicine without a license and grand theft, and was sentenced to five years probation.

This past week, California's medical board opened an inquiry as investigators tried to determine if there was any misconduct by Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who reportedly prescribed methadone to Smith. The celebrity news Web site TMZ.com said "Michelle Chase" was an alias used by Smith in a pharmacy receipt for a methadone prescription.

Methadone is a popular narcotic painkiller that is used as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs. Methadone overdoses can cause shallow breathing and dangerous changes in heart beat.

An attorney for Kapoor, a 1996 graduate of Boston University School of Medicine, said in a statement Friday that his treatment of Smith was "sound and appropriate" and he will cooperate with the state's medical board.

Levine said celebrities turn off their "psychological smoke alarms" and surround themselves with people willing to cater to their needs and who aren't willing to intervene when problems arise.

"We hopefully have friends and family who will step in and help us out when there are problems," Levine said. "But people who don't have the smoke alarms will be enveloped by fire at some point."

[AB]

In the Nashville area there was a pharmacy selling large amounts of prescription drugs to anyone who walked in as long as they had the money.
A policeman from another county was even caught getting his pain-medicine there without having a prescription. It was on all the TV stations in our area.
Things like this can happen anywhere & to anyone, not just to the rich & famous, I suppose.

[Ireneparalegal]

My girlfriend told me abt this doctor HERE where we live who would shell out painkillers. He would write out prescriptions for Vicodin, etc. as long as you paid him in cash for a doctor visit. Crazy ass doctors. There are crooked doctors just like crooked cops, lawyers, judges, etc.

Which is why this drug issue with Anna Nicole was solely her issue and the doctor who was giving it to her. This may be the same doctor who gave methadone to Daniel. Why hasn't there been an investigation into this? Is it pending? I am shocked that all this time has gone by and yet, we haven't heard abt WHERE DANIEL GOT THE METHADONE FROM? Some will say his mother, but is it the same doctor who was supplying Anna? Anna was receiving drugs in a P.O. Box in Los Angeles under a different name. I guess for the right amt of $$$ you can get a doctor to do anything. Mainly, a crooked doctor.

Same thing with Elvis. He had this entourage of people around him, but whatever Elvis wanted, Elvis got and there was no stopping him.

[TJL]

What a shame. I hope they can someday get control over this dangerous practice.

[catlover79]

It's terrible...I hope that the more people are aware of this growing problem, it'll come under control.

[Lee]

Originally posted by annball1957:
In the Nashville area there was a pharmacy selling large amounts of prescription drugs to anyone who walked in as long as they had the money.
A policeman from another county was even caught getting his pain-medicine there without having a prescription. It was on all the TV stations in our area.
Things like this can happen anywhere & to anyone, not just to the rich & famous, I suppose.


What happened to the police officer?

[Lex Luthor]

It is becoming increasingly diffucult to control as well.

Many non N.A. companies have popped up on the internet and people can get a doctor to "fill" a prescription via a questionairre. There was a story on W5 or 20/20 last year showing how they easily aquired Rheuphnol (the date rape drug) by filing in a request for depression medication and then some doctor in South Africa filed the mail order prescription and it was mailed anonimously to the requestor.

I can imagine how many fake precriptions for Oxycodone, Percocet, etc... have been filled. It is scary that it can be that easy to get prescription drugs now, you don't even have to be a celeb, just have $