Top

Opioid Prescription & Distribution Crimes: Are They Part of the Opioid Epidemic?

America is in the middle of a dangerous opioid epidemic that claims dozens of lives each day due to fatal overdoses. The scare has become so widespread, law enforcement agencies are ramping up their efforts to investigate and penalize opioid-related drug crimes. Even medical professionals who prescribe opiates to patients in need are beginning to get worried that they could be seen and charged as a perpetrator of a serious crime simply for fulfilling their duty as a medical provider.

Doctors who prescribe opiates for chronic pain and post-surgical recovery need to be careful about how they do so. Otherwise, an overzealous District Attorney could look for reasons to see the action as a prescription crime. This is especially true if pharmaceutical companies offer some sort of kickback or “reward” whenever a doctor prescribes their medicine to a patient.

Creating a large quantity of prescriptions for a single drug or alike drugs could also be seen as a drug distribution crime. There have been medical providers who have been accused as acting as parts of larger schemes to distribute opioids and cause addiction. One has to wonder how many of these cases are backed by actual, usable evidence, and how many are purely circumstantial. For the latter, it may suffice to say that the opioid epidemic and society’s overall concern about it are unduly influencing the criminal justice system as a whole.

Defense Against Unjust Opioid Crime Allegations

At the Law Offices of Evan E. Zelig, P.C., we full-heartedly believe in the importance of seeing each person accused of a crime as “innocent until proven guilty.” The opioid scare has unfortunately pushed many law enforcement agencies and courts to start seeing the accused oppositely, though. Assuming someone is guilty of an opioid-related crime until proven innocent turns the criminal justice system upside-down and tips scales out of favor of the defendant.

Our Santa Rosa criminal defense Attorney, Mr. Evan E. Zelig, is here to make certain your rights are upheld and respected after you have been accused of a drug crime. As a legal team that has handled thousands of criminal cases throughout the year, we are confident we are the right choice of criminal defenders for you. Find out more about our services and your rights by contacting us online, or by calling (707) 418-5352 to arrange a no-cost case evaluation.