[Pharmwaste] Fwd: [RxNews] Pharmacist faces drug charges, California

[Gilliam, Allen]

'ell of a good take back program she had!  just missed a few regulatory steps it appears....GO Laurie, go!
-----Original Message-----
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us [mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Stevan Gressitt
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 11:42 AM
To: pharmwaste
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Fwd: [RxNews] Pharmacist faces drug charges, California


Stevan Gressitt, M.D.
Faculty Associate, University of Maine Center on Aging
Academic Member, Athens Institute for Education and Research
Athens, Greece
Founding Director, International Institute for Pharmaceutical Safety
University of New England, College of Pharmacy
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine
716 Stevens Avenue
Portland, Maine 04103
gressitt at gmail.com<mailto:gressitt at gmail.com>
Cell: 207-441-0291
www.benzos.une.edu<http://www.benzos.une.edu/>
www.safemeddisposal.com/<http://www.safemeddisposal.com/>




---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <MudriAssociates at aol.com<mailto:MudriAssociates at aol.com>>
Date: Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM
Subject: [RxNews] Pharmacist faces drug charges, California
To: rxnews at listserve.com<mailto:rxnews at listserve.com>



Pharmacist Faces Drug Charges

By Glenn Barr








More than a year after her arrest on drug-possession charges, Lake Arrowhead Village pharmacist Michelle Lynne Blain has been formally charged with four felonies, a prosecutor for District Attorney Michael A. Ramos said Tuesday.

In a complaint filed Oct. 21, Deputy District Attorney Rebeca Hynds charges the 49-year-old business owner with four counts of possession for sale of a controlled substance.

The charges stem from her arrest in her Cedar Ridge Estates home on Oct. 15, 2009. Investigators doing a parole check on her boyfriend, thrice-convicted bank robber Robert Flory, reported finding more than 20,000 prescription pills in plastic bags stored in her garage.

A spokesperson for the California Board of Pharmacy said at the time that while it is legal for a pharmacist to have such medications on the premises of a pharmacy, it is unlawful to have them at home unless the pharmacist has a prescription for them.

Flory was also arrested but was later released. He died on Sept. 5 at Mountains Community Hospital after Blain called 9-1-1 from her home to report he was unresponsive.

Sheriff's investigators have said they suspect painkillers may have contributed to the death of the former University of Arizona football star. In an interview last year, Flory told The Mountain News he suffered from acute back pain from football injuries, and had robbed banks to get money to buy drugs to control it.

eight

postponements

After eight scheduled arraignments were postponed, dating back to last December, Blain is now scheduled for arraignment on Nov. 1 before Judge Annemarie G. Pace, according to court records. She remains free, and operating the pharmacy, on the $60,000 bail she posted a year ago.

The postponements were credited in court records to the continuing nature of the investigation. Hynds said the delay might have been caused by the fact that "there were multiple agencies investigating the case."

In addition to sheriff's narcotics detectives probing the drug seizure, federal drug enforcement agents have reportedly been investigating a nationwide drug-trafficking case, though DEA officials have refused to comment on the status of their investigation or its details.

The third agency, the state board of pharmacy, has brought administrative charges against Blain. They include fines of nearly $9 million and the prospect of the revocation of her license.

Blain was also interviewed by authorities in connection with Flory's death, though sheriff's homicide investigators have yet to state whether she is considered a suspect. Autopsy reports on that case have yet to be completed.

When contacted following her arrest last October, Blain told The Mountain News she had been involved in Internet sales of prescription pills in an effort to compete with large pharmaceutical outlets that sell at lower prices, but had stopped that practice at the direction of the state pharmacy board.

She had taken the pills-which she said had been returned to her by customers who no longer needed them-to her home to inventory them at the direction of state regulators before having them destroyed, she said.

'no comment'

On Tuesday, however, Blain declined to discuss the charges against her. When offered the chance to state her side of the case, she curtly replied, "No comment. Talk to my lawyer."

San Bernardino defense attorney Greg Kassel did not return a call seeking information about the case.

In the criminal complaint against Blain, Hynds lists four separate counts. The first, an alleged violation of Health and Safety Code Section 11375(b), Blain purportedly "did unlawfully possess for sale a designated controlled substance, to wit, Alprazolam."

According to Internet websites, alprazolam, whose trade name is Xanax, is used to treat anxiety disorders and panic attacks.

The second count cites the possession for sale of atropine sulfate with diphenoxylate, described on the National Institute of Health website as an anti-diarrheal.

The third count involves possession for sale of zolpidem, which treats insomnia, while the fourth charges her with possession for sale of phentermine, an appetite suppressant used for weight loss.

According to provisions in the Health and Safety Code, conviction on all charges could translate to as much as 15 years in state prison, if the highest level of confinement were ordered by a judge and the sentences ran consecutively.


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