Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States. The city was founded in 1781 and incorporated in 1850. It has a population of 3,694,820 and there are about three people to each home in Los Angeles. When you visit Los Angeles you will be impressed as it has dozens of museums. It is also the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, The Lakers, The Los Angeles Kings, UCLA, USC, Hollywood and all this with beaches and mountains just a stone’s throw away. Los Angeles has Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills and Malibu. The Academy awards are held annually in Los Angeles and they also host the Los Angeles marathon.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is reporting that Los Angeles is a distribution center for all types of drugs that are going to be shipped out to all parts of the United States. On a regular basis there are increased security measures at Los Angeles International Airport and they do their best to continue to deter drug traffickers from traveling through the airport. Although the north half of California is saturated in Methamphetamine in more rural areas, heroin remains the number one drug of abuse in San Francisco area. Crack cocaine continues to impact Oakland, and methamphetamine continues in and around Sacramento. There is a great deal of Doctor shopping going on.
Healthland.time.com is reporting today that Dr. Hsui-Ying “Lisa” Tseng was arrested only after a very lengthy investigation. In this investigation there was undercover work by drug enforcement agents who went to her as a patient so they could get prescriptions. Shortly after she was charged with overprescribing methadone, Xanax, Oxycodone and other drugs. It seems that there were young men who usually came to Tseng’s storefront office and they told her they had neck pain, back or wrist pain. She would only do a cursory exam and they she would give them more drugs. Tseng and her husband, also a doctor, opened for business in 2005 in the Los Angeles area of Rowland Heights. In 2008 she came under scrutiny by the California medical Board and the US Drug Enforcement Administration after a pharmacy reported problems with her prescriptions. Tseng wrote more than 27,000 prescriptions over a three year period, that is an average of 25 a day. She is being charged with the overdose deaths of three healthy young men. The DEA suspended her license to write prescriptions and her medical license was voluntarily surrendered. Her husband continues to run the clinic. This case highlights the problem of doctors who prescribe drugs for no medical reason. There are a large number of doctors that are doing that now. It is very unusual for the murder case. It is difficult to prove such murder cases because prosecutors must show that there is no legitimate medical purpose for the prescriptions and that the doctor knew there wasn’t. A doctor can’t really control what a patient does with the drugs. The doctor has some deniability.
Tseng stated, “I was really strict with my patients, and I followed the guidelines. If my patient decides to take a months’ supply in a day, then there’s nothing I can do about that.” If she is convicted she could face state prison term of 45 years to life. She is being held on a $3 million bail.
Drug rehabs in Los Angeles, California would do well to prepare for the increasing number of drug addicts seeking treatment in the West.
If you or someone you love needs help with drug abuse, a California drug rehab resource can help. Call a counselor now at 1-877-340-3602.
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