One Staten Island doctor and two accomplices arrested in 4 year long opioid pills operation.

A 72 year old doctor, Dr. David Taylor of Staten Island, NY was arrested for allegedly running a pill mill that put over $40 million worth of opioid pills on the streets. The DEA additionally arrested Taylor’s alleged accomplices in the operation, Vito Gallicchio, 48, and Daniel Garcia, 57. They helped Taylor bring in patients and distribute the opioids.

According to Fox News, Taylor “allegedly took money and goods, including single malt whiskey, for the prescriptions. The Feds said the doctor would write scripts for oxycodone and Xanax without an examination, MRIs, or medical records.” Taylor directed patients to a particular nearby pharmacy, Victory Pharmacy. Newsweek reported the pharmacy was shut down last Thursday.

Fox News reported the drug operation ran from 2012 until the arrest of the three men this week. How many patients Taylor wrote prescriptions for is unknown. What is known and alleged is that Garcia directed patients to Taylor, and Gallicchio helped distribute the drugs. The three men face up to twenty years in prison.

The rise of opioid pills and the opioid epidemic.

The opioid crisis has been in the headlines recently. Last week Missouri filed a lawsuit against three drug companies accusing them of “misrepresenting the truth” about opioids. The drug companies named in the suit are Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said in a news conference last week, “They used bogus front organizations and fake research; they used fraudulent advertising and deceptive trade practices. And they repeatedly lied about the risks and true nature of the drugs they sold.” “Their fraud has been devastating.”

Ohio also filed a lawsuit against five drug companies in earlier June. CNN reported, “The lawsuit names Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and four other manufacturers of opioids: Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Endo Health Solutions and Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.” Like the Missouri lawsuit, Ohio alleges the drug companies knew how addictive opioids were but purposefully mislead prescribers. Two counties in West Virginia have filed similar lawsuits.

The opioid epidemic has been on the rise in the last twenty years. The CDC reports that the number of prescription opioid deaths have quadrupled since 1999. Also according to the CDC: six out of ten drug overdoses include an opioid; 91 Americans die from opioid abuse every day; and the number of opioid prescriptions sold have also quadrupled since 1999. Even more ominous is a disturbing trend reported by The National Institute On Drug Abuse. According to their report, in the 1960’s more than 80% of people entering treatment for heroin addiction began with heroin as their first opioid. However, in the 2000’s 75% of those entering treatment for heroin or opioid abuse began with prescription opioids like oxycodone.

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