A physician in Georgia is now facing ten felony charges.Dr. Norman Paul Neal was arrested this week after his clinic was raided by several law enforcement agencies. Dr. Neal is a licensed physician in both Georgia and Tennessee. He is accused of writing illegal prescriptions for Hydrocodone and Xanax, and then taking possession of some of those drugs. Dr. Neal worked at Doctors Health Center and the "pill mill" had been under investigation for some time.
"Prescription drug abuse has really reached epidemic proportions in Georgia," said U.S. Attorney Sally Yates. "Georgia has a particular problem now because we're one of only seven states in the country that does not have a prescription drug monitoring program. And so not only are our residents able to get these drugs very easily, we have folks coming from all over the country to Georgia to get prescription drugs for abuse."
The increasing problem of prescription drug abuse and pill mills has meant authorities are now more closely investigating pill mills in the Atlanta area. The epidemic of prescription drug abuse has not left any state, city or community immune from its tragic results. U.S. Attorney Sally Yates does not yet see the light at the end of the tunnel. Pill mills are closed by authorities, but individuals seeking prescription drugs will travel great distances to get the drugs.
"In Florida, they passed a prescription drug monitoring program and they are just now in the process of implementing it, but what that's meant is a lot of these pill mills in Florida are now picking up and moving to Atlanta."
