Florida Criminal Attorney Blog

Investigators from the Tampa Police Department executed a search warrant on First Medical Group in Tampa, Florida. First Medical is a pain clinic that allegedly dispensed prescription medication without a license and engaged in money laundering. Police investigators are currently in the process of reviewing medical records, taking witness statements, and analyzing any evidence of wrong-doing that they may have seized during their raid.

While no arrests have been made, police do claim that some are in the works. Given the severity of the offenses, bond may be set very high simply as a consequence of the number of charges filed.

If this is the case, those arrested would benefit greatly by hiring an attorney to file a motion for bond reduction. While there is no guarantee as to outcomes, most motions to reduce bond are successful.

When a judge sets bond, he or she will consider a number of important factors. These include the nature of the charges, the possibility that the defendant may flee if released, and the possibility that the defendant poses a danger to the community.

Since a search warrant has already been executed, I can tell you that the next step in this case will include arrests. Therefore, those involved would be best served by immediately hiring defense lawyers to help guide them through the process and act as their representative.

If police haven't done so already, they will also be seeking statements, aka "confessions," from the pain clinic's employees, owners, and any other persons involved that they may be trying to build a case against. This will certainly include any companies and individuals who may have unlawfully or negligently supplied First Medical with prescription medication.

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While Fort Lauderdale, Florida still remains the pain pill capital of the country, Oxycodone deaths statewide have risen by 26%. According to a medical examiner's report released this morning, there were 1,185 Oxycodone related deaths in Florida during 2009.

However, of all pain pill related deaths in Florida last year, Oxycodone only accounted for 16% of the total. As a criminal defense attorney, I can tell you that these statistics seem to be on the skinny side. Especially since many many many more overdoses are caused by generic versions of Oxycontin, as well as other pills like Xanax, Vicodin, and others.

If deaths have risen by 26%, arrests for pain pill crimes must have risen by the thousands of percent. The amount of criminal prosecutions in this State for possession, trafficking, doctor shopping, and fraudulent prescription writing is unprecedented.

The amount of criminal prosecutions for these offenses makes the cocaine trade of the 1980's seem minuscule. To understand why this is so, one must realize that unlike cocaine, pain pills are not illegal to manufacture, to transport, to distribute, to sell, and in most situations, to possess.

That means their availability to addicts and addicts to be is exponentially greater.

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The DEA recently suspended the license of Harvard Drug Group, LLC due to questionable oxycodone sales to South Florida pain clinics. According to the DEA, 39 of HDG's 50 largest purchasers are located in South Florida.

To be clear, even though this suspension involves the DEA, no arrests have been made.

Federal officials claim that HDG distributed more than 13 million doses of oxycodone over the past two years. While the DEA claims that this amount "doesn't indicate anything nefarious," a review of HDG's records showed that large amounts of pills were going to offices with a small amount of doctors. This grabbed DEA's attention.

At the end of the day, this is just a drop in the bucket of a greater tsunami. The pill craze is much bigger and more widespread than cocaine ever was.

Want to know the difference? Pain pills are not illegal! You don't have to cook them up in secret drug labs or smuggle them into the country in duct taped bricks. They are manufactured here in the United States by legitimate pharmaceutical companies.

This means the production, distribution, and sales of these pills results in fewer arrests and less drama on the news.

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