HIGH-TECH DRUG TRADE HITS COURTS

The e-mail from JMichaels1213@hotmail.com in February posed a single
question: Are the pain pills still for sale? The reply from
Hydrocodone@anywhereUSA.com arrived the very next day, according to a
federal indictment -- along with the latest price list, shipping fees,
Western Union instructions and the minimum required order.

The customer requested 20 morphine, 60 oxycodone, 30 hydrocodone, 40
Skelaxin and 20 Percocet pills. He then drove to the Circle K on Old
Hammond Highway in Baton Rouge and wired $222.75 via Western Union.

Hours later and 2,500 miles away, a University of Idaho student left his
room at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house and drove to a Safeway in the
town of Moscow.

He picked up the money, investigators say -- but he never mailed the pills.

It's the kind of crime that might have gone unreported had the customer not
been FBI Special Agent P. Michael Gordon, who was working for the New
Orleans-based Cyber Squad.

A federal grand jury in Baton Rouge has indicted 20-year-old Ryan Matthew
Haney of Moscow, Idaho, on three counts of wire fraud in connection with
the incident. Haney -- a sophomore business major -- will appear later this
week before U.S. Magistrate Christine Noland to hear the charges against him.

The indictment accuses Haney of using his personal computer in the frat
house to post messages on a bulletin board owned by
http://www.healthboards.com, advertising the sale of prescription pain pills.

The Baton Rouge case, authorities say, is just one example of a growing
worldwide online illegal trade in pharmaceuticals and related fraud.
Unsolicited e-mails promising everything from allergy medicine to Viagra
"shipped overnight" and free prescriptions by licensed physicians are
little more than a click and a pop up away.

It's simply a high-tech version of an old street crime: The buying and
selling of illegal drugs.

"The issue of consumers purchasing controlled substances over the Internet
has serious legal and public health implications," said DEA Drug Operations
Chief Betsy Willis.

"It is a method of self-medication without the safeguard of an experienced
medical diagnosis and monitoring by a trained and licensed physician. Just
as we don't allow consumers to purchase controlled substances without a
valid prescription, we don't allow this to take place on the Internet."

The trend, authorities say, is driven not just by drug abusers seeking new
avenues for narcotics -- but also by patients with legitimately diagnosed
conditions desperate for more affordable medications.

Americans are spending more money than ever on prescription drugs,
according to the Food and Drug Administration. Between 1994 and 2001, the
number of prescriptions rose nearly 50 percent to 3.1 billion. During the
same period, sales jumped from $61 billion to $155 billion.

"Obviously, drug abusers seek out new avenues to acquire new drugs to
abuse, and the Internet makes it easier than ever for them to get those,"
said Patrick R. Warner, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA in New
Orleans. "But we all know the problem with the elderly in trying to find
affordable prescriptions, and sometimes they can find lower priced drugs
this way."

Federal law requires patients to have a prescription written by a
registered practitioner to buy any controlled substance. The prescription
is considered valid only if there is an established relationship between
the doctor and patient.

The doctor also must review a medical history, complete a physical exam and
render a diagnosis, according to the law. There also must be a "logical
connection" between the condition and any prescribed medication.

That means that most online prescriptions -- even those based on a
questionnaire -- are illegal, authorities say.

"The Internet really has no bearing on whether you have a right to buy the
drugs or possess them," said U.S. Attorney David Dugas. "You need a valid
prescription from a doctor in order to obtain them."

In response to what it saw as a growing trend, the Louisiana State Board of
Medical Examiners recently adopted a position statement saying that
Louisiana physicians who take part in online or telephone evaluations
without a doctor-patient relationship could have their licenses revoked.

Doctors not licensed in the state who do so, the board wrote, will be
referred to the Louisiana Attorney General for criminal prosecution.

Dr. Trent James, a Baton Rouge family physician who's been in practice for
more than 32 years, said patients should seek treatment from physicians
they know.

"I practice medicine every day of the week, and I would want to help all
patients who have pain needs and illnesses," said James, who also serves on
the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners. "Medications are not without both
the good and the bad. I have to choose what's right for that individual
patient, and the only way I can do that is through an ongoing relationship.

"You can't get that in an e-mail from a college student in Idaho who isn't
licensed to practice medicine."