Are pharmacists also responsible?
> A federal judge in Ohio who oversees the National Prescription Opiate Litigation (NPOL) has recently issued a ruling with significant implications for pharmacists and pharmacies. The ruling requires pharmacists to document refusals of opioid prescriptions based on so-called “red flags.” Pharmacy companies are required to share these documented refusals with pharmacists at all of their practice sites. Pharmacists are required to consider their colleagues’ documented prior refusals during their screen of subsequent opioid prescriptions.
I'm not sure if (or why) they aren't going after the doctors making the red flag prescriptions, however.
As someone who was an (alternate) juror on a Federal "pill mill" trial, they are. That trial was truly eye opening to how flagrant some doctors are when it comes to writing bogus prescriptions.
The doctor in that trial had deals with imaging companies to create justification for egregious prescriptions. I'm talking about starting people on 160 mg/day of oxy for relatively minor "injuries." Several pharmacies reported the doctor which helped get the investigation rolling.