Prescription

An Orange County doctor who often saw patients at Starbucks coffeehouses has agreed to serve at least eight years in federal prison for illegally selling prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other drugs, according to court records. Alvin Ming-Czech Yee, 44, of Mission Viejo routinely wrote prescriptions for highly abused medications to patients with no legitimate need for them, authorities have alleged in court papers. Yee and his attorney could not be reached for comment.

Irvine police arrested a man for allegedly selling prescription drugs Friday, concluding a three-month investigation. Detectives arrested Anaheim resident Anthony Risberg, 37, for sales and transportation of a controlled substance and weapons violations, police said. Police said detectives witnessed Risberg selling drugs and then arrested him. His bail was set at $25,000. After the arrest, detectives searched Risberg's vehicle and found about 150  oxycodone pills, two loaded handguns and two magazines for a weapon not in the vehicle.

Despite efforts by law enforcement and public health officials to curb prescription drug abuse, drug-related deaths in the United States have continued to rise, the latest data show. Figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that drug fatalities increased 3% in 2010, the most recent year for which complete data are available. Preliminary data for 2011 indicate the trend has continued. The figures reflect all drug deaths, but the increase was propelled largely by prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, according to just-released analyses by CDC researchers.

Despite efforts by law enforcement and public health officials to curb prescription drug abuse, drug-related deaths in the United States have continued to rise, the latest data show. Figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that drug fatalities increased 3% in 2010, the most recent year for which complete data are available. Preliminary data for 2011 indicate the trend has continued. The figures reflect all drug deaths, but the increase was propelled largely by prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, according to just-released analyses by CDC researchers.

Traffic was moving again Saturday night on the southbound 110 Freeway through downtown Los Angeles  following a shooting that left a man critically wounded, authorities said. The unidentified victim was thrown from a car after being shot twice, investigators said.  He was taken to a local hospital. The shooting occurred about 5 p.m. between 8th and 9th streets, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Cecil Manresa. Police were searching for the shooter, who fled in a burgundy or gray Toyota Camry with its rear window blown out. Although officials had indicated that southbound freeway lanes might be closed for up to eight hours while investigators searched for clues, the two lanes closest to the center divider were reopened by about 7:15 p.m. Caltrans freeway cameras showed that traffic, backed up more than a mile, was loosening up and traffic was moving at normal speeds by 8 p.m. Investigators were attempting to determine whether the shooting might be gang-related and whether multiple suspects were involved, LAPD Sgt. John Kirkpatrick said.

Federal authorities Friday raided the office of a doctor suspected of prescribing narcotic painkillers and other widely abused medications to patients who had no legitimate need for them. Undercover agents posed as patients at John Dimowo's offices in Wilmington and Anaheim and were able to get prescriptions for addictive drugs without the doctor examining them, the affidavit states. Dimowo, a pain doctor featured last year in a Times investigation into prescription overdose deaths, is a prolific prescriber of painkillers, such as Vicodin , writing an average of at least 37 prescriptions a day, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Wanda Ferrin fills her husband's prescription for the generic antibiotic doxycycline at a Target in Simi Valley. For years, the medication has cost her $6 a month. In February, however, the price tripled to $18 for 30 pills. And this month, it skyrocketed to $133. This is noteworthy enough. But what happened next makes the entire business of drug pricing a study in lunacy. "A pharmacy clerk at Target suggested running the prescription through the company's discount program," Ferrin, 61, recalled.

SACRAMENTO - After hearing emotional testimony from parents whose children died of drug overdoses, lawmakers in Sacramento called Monday for the Medical Board of California to mine a statewide database of prescriptions to help identify doctors who recklessly prescribe narcotics. "If we are going to take seriously the role of patient protection, then we have to be proactive in determining if there is a pattern of overprescribing," said Assemblyman Richard Gordon (D-Menlo Park), who co-chairs a joint legislative panel that oversees the medical board.

Calling prescription drug abuse an urgent public health problem, California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris is pushing lawmakers to fund an effort to identify physicians who recklessly prescribe addictive medications. Harris said in an interview that she wanted to use a state database of prescriptions, known as CURES, to draw a bead on doctors who abuse their prescribing powers, a controversial step discussed for years but never adopted. CURES, diminished by years of budget cuts, is now used mostly to identify "doctor-shopping" addicts, who feed their habit by obtaining multiple prescriptions from different doctors.

Political movements like the tea party may come and go, but the pot party seems to get stronger with every national election, putting the federal government in an increasingly untenable position. To date, more than one-third of the states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana, at least for medical purposes, and, according to Americans for Safe Access, eight other states are considering bills to do the same. As a result, we're getting close to the point where half the country will have legalized a drug designated a Schedule 1 controlled substance by the federal government, meaning it has no known medical uses and is as dangerous as heroin.