Houston pharmacist convicted for conspiring to unlawfully dispense over 100,000 opioid pills from ‘pill-mill’
A federal jury has convicted a Houston pharmacist for her role in a “pill-mill” pharmacy that unlawfully dispensed over 100,000 opioid pills in exchange for cash, the United States Department of Justice said.
Texas A&M suspends professor accused of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in lecture
The professor, an expert on the opioids crisis, was placed on paid administrative leave and investigated, raising questions about the extent of political interference in higher education, particularly in health-related matters.
Houston DEA head says fentanyl is the ‘biggest threat we’ve ever seen’
Millions of counterfeit pills are being sold on the black market with more than half laced with fentanyl, according to the DEA. In 2022, the Houston office of the DEA seized enough fatal doses of fentanyl to kill every single person in the greater Houston area. This is in addition to the 674,000 counterfeit pills seized by the office last year.
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AP source: Feds sue Walmart, accuse retailer of fueling opioid crisis
The Justice Department is suing Walmart, alleging the company unlawfully dispensed controlled substances through its pharmacies, helping to fuel the opioid crisis in America, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The civil complaint being filed Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020 points to the role Walmarts pharmacies may have played in the crisis by filling opioid prescriptions and by unlawfully distributing controlled substances to the pharmacies during the height of the opioid crisis, the person said. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)WASHINGTON – The Justice Department sued Walmart on Tuesday, accusing it of fueling the nation’s opioid crisis by pressuring its pharmacies to fill even potentially suspicious prescriptions for the powerful painkillers. The civil complaint filed points to the role Walmart’s pharmacies may have played in the crisis by filling opioid prescriptions and Walmart's own responsibility for the allegedly illegal distribution of controlled substances to the pharmacies at the height of the opioid crisis. The suit said that only later did Walmart allow pharmacists to do blanket refusals for these suspect practices.
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Ex-Rice football player pleads guilty in opioid death
HOUSTON – A former Rice University football player pleaded guilty to selling the drugs that a player fatally overdosed on in 2018. Stuart Mouchantaf, 26, admitted Thursday to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute, causing death, and possession with the intent to distribute, causing death, The Beaumont Enterprise reported. As part of Mouchantaf's plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a third charge related to distributing a controlled substance on a university campus. Federal prosecutors say that Mouchantaf supplied his former teammate with five pills, two of which he took before he died. Mouchantaf has been out on a $100,000 unsecured bond since his arrest on the federal charges in June.