DEA Investigation for Overprescribing

Last Updated on: 13th December 2025, 01:30 pm

DEA Investigation for Overprescribing: There Is No Number – Just a Line You Don’t Know You’ve Crossed

“Overprescribing” has no legal definition. There’s no number of prescriptions that separates legitimate medical practice from criminal drug distribution. Instead, the DEA compares your prescribing patterns to other doctors in your specialty and geographic area – and if you’re above the line, you’re a suspect. The crime isn’t prescribing a specific amount. The crime is being a statistical outlier in a comparison group you never chose.

Dr. Joel Smithers was a 36-year-old physician in Virginia who received 40 years in federal prison for illegally prescribing opioids. That’s not a typo. Forty years. He was convicted on 861 counts – more than eight hundred separate criminal charges for writing prescriptions.

There Is No Number: The Statistical Crime

The Controlled Substances Act says prescriptions must be for a “legitimate medical purpose” issued in the “usual course of professional practice.” But what do those phrases actualy mean? The definition emerges from comparison – you against your peers.

The DEA operates an Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit that uses sophisticated data analytics to identify statistical outliers. They compare your prescribing volume to other doctors in the same specialty and geographic region.

There is no number of prescriptions that is always safe. There is no dosage that is always legal. The only standard is relative – and the comparison group keeps changing without telling you.

When Overprescribing Becomes Murder

Dr. Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng was a California physician who became one of the first doctors in America convicted of murder for overprescribing. Not drug distribution. Not manslaughter. Murder. She recieved a sentence of 30 years to life in prison. Her prescribing played a role in at least twelve patient overdose deaths.

Dr. Tseng recieved warnings. Coroners investigating patient deaths contacted her multiple times. She kept prescribing anyway. That continued prescribing after warnings transformed drug distribution charges into murder charges.

The 40-Year Sentence

Dr. Joel Smithers opened his practice in Martinsville, Virginia in August 2015. Within two years, he had prescribed controlled substances to every single patient in his practice – over 500,000 doses. He didnt accept insurance. He took cash and credit cards. He accumulated over $700,000 in revenue.

Dr. George Blatti prescribed thousands of opioid pills to patients addicted to controlled substances. Some patients he had never even met in person. Later, he saw patients in his car in parking lots – outside a hotel and outside a Dunkin’ Donuts. Five of his patients died from overdoses. He was sentenced to 15 years.

How the DEA Identifies Overprescribers

Pharmacists are legally obligated to refuse suspicious prescriptions – and when they refuse, they often report the prescriber to the DEA. State Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs track every controlled substance prescription you write.

Financial records tell there own story. A cash-heavy practice with unusually high revenue raises immediate suspicions. Patient deaths trigger automatic investigation of the prescriber.

The Warning Signs That Became Evidence

The coroner who called Dr. Tseng about patient deaths wasnt trying to help her avoid prosecution. That call created a record that she knew patients were dying. When she kept prescribing afterward, the call became proof of knowledge.

Every warning you recieve creates evidence. The question is wheather you respond to it appropriately – or wheather you ignore it and let it accumulate into a criminal case.

What Protects Doctors From Overprescribing Charges

First: Know your statistical position. Understand how your prescribing compares to peers in your specialty and region.

Second: Document obsessively. Every controlled substance prescription needs documentation showing legitimate medical purpose.

Third: Respond to warnings immediatly. When a pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription, document why you believe the prescription was appropriate.

Fourth: Never ignore patient deaths. If a patient who recieved controlled substances from you dies from overdose, get legal counsel immediatly.

Fifth: Get DEA defense counsel before you need it. The doctors who survive scrutiny are the ones who understand exactly how the system works before they encounter it.

The Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force has charged over 115 defendants collectively responsible for prescribing more then 115 million controlled substance pills. More then 84 of those defendants have already been convicted.