Doctor arrested for illegal distribution of controlled substances

May 22, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in the Eastern District of New York charging Dr. Michael Randall with illegal distribution of thousands of prescription pain pills, including oxycodone, oxymorphone, methadone and carisoprodol. Randall surrendered Wednesday.

As part of a continuing federal and state prescription drug abuse initiative within the Eastern District of New York, Randall was arrested upon his surrender to members of a DEA Tactical Diversion Squad on charges of illegally distributing prescription pain pills between January 2009 and September 2013. According to the complaint, Randall, who owns a  family medical practice, wrote hundreds of prescriptions for oxycodone, oxymorphone, methadone and carisoprodol to patients on a continuing basis outside the usual course of professional practice and not for any legitimate medical purpose.

“By prescribing thousands of highly addictive pain pills without a legitimate medical purpose, Dr. Randall ignored the law and his own patients’ well-being,” stated United States Attorney for the Eastern District, Loretta Lynch.

DEA agent James Hunt spoke to the dangers these drugs pose to abusers stating, “The adverse consequences of prescription drug abuse like theft, threats of violence, opiate addiction and overdose deaths throughout America are growing in numbers.”

The abuse of opiates, including in the unsanctioned and illegal form of heroin, has been increasing drastically within New York City. Earlier this month, The New York Attorney General’s Office announced that it would provide the Metropolitan Transportation Authority with funds for its police officers to carry antidotes to treat heroin overdoses in emergencies. On Wednesday, United States Senator Chuck Schumer announced the first phase of the creation of a statewide database to help track what he calls a rising epidemic of heroin use in New York. Schumer stated that the President’s Office of National Drug Control Policy has agreed to meet with state and local government officials within the next three months to determine how to track heroin and other drug-related crimes. 

The database would help counties set up systems to track heroin and other drug-related overdoses, deaths, hospital admissions and crimes statewide, as well as help police identify patterns and crack down on distribution rings.

Schumer pointed to the rise in prescription drug abuse as the prime reason for heroin’s growth because heroin is more accessible and cheaper than prescription medication. 

New York City currently has a similar program.

— Charisma L. Miller, Esq., Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and the Associated Press

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