May 13 James Eisenberg, MD, a pro-cannabis LA doctor, has been indicted for prescribing more hydrocodone than the DEA thought his patients needed. This is from the WeHo News, via the invaluable Brett Stone:
After his indictment Friday, West Hollywood physician James William Eisenberg, 72, surrendered to federal law enforcement authorities this morning on charges that he prescribed powerful pain medications without prescription.
Dr. Eisenberg’s troubles with the law began in earnest when Department of Justice’s Office of Diversion Control’s Administrative Law Judge Timothy D. Wing stripped him of his registration to prescribe pain medications in mid-2012. See that April 5, 2012 decision here.
After the revocation, he is accused of writing more than 1,200 prescriptions for powerful painkillers such as Oxycontin and Xanax.
The West Hollywood physician, who working out of several medical offices in West Hollywood, including a Santa Monica Boulevard storefront called Pacific Support Services, also issued medical marijuana recommendations, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
That office sits in the same building as Zen Healing, which was raided in mid-April and whose owner/operator was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
He is charged with seven counts, including distribution of hydrocodone, which is the generic drug found in products such as Vicodin and Norco. Prosecutors say he handed out prescriptions in exchange for $150 cash payments.
In his 2012 hearing, Judge Timothy D. Wing called Dr. Eisenberg a “drug dealer.” On Feb. 19, DEA investigators executed a federal search warrant on one of Eisenberg’s West Hollywood offices.
He is charged with four counts of using a revoked DEA registration number and three counts of distribution of hydrocodone.
If convicted of the seven counts in the indictment, Eisenberg faces a maximum sentence of 46 years in federal prison.
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