Clinic raided by DEA after two-year investigation
Officials target prescription drug sales
Bob Moser
bmoser@theadvertiser.com

A clinic operating out of a converted home at 1011 Surrey St. was raided Monday by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as part of a two-year investigation into alleged illegal prescription drug sales by the owners.
Owners of Maximum Urgent Care, whose names were withheld Monday, had lived in New Orleans and operated a clinic there before Hurricane Katrina wiped it out in August 2005. Since that time, they opened clinics in Lafayette and Baton Rouge, where the DEA continued its investigation into illegal prescribing of drugs.


The property owner is listed as Candice Wilson, and clinic manager as Robert Jones, according to files at Lafayette's Planning, Zoning and Codes Department. Wilson didn't return calls for comment, but Jones said, "They (the DEA) never really said anything to us (about an investigation). We here, and this is what they doing."

Across the country, the DEA is seeing abuse of pharmaceutical drugs escalating to a point where it's almost on par with traditional street drugs like marijuana and cocaine, said Patrick Warner, assistant special agent with the DEA's New Orleans field division.
"Abuse is causing overdose deaths. Like with any drug, their addictions are fueled by other crimes," he said. "You open up your newspaper and see young faces in the obituary section, it's likely either a car wreck or something like this."

Through 2006, abuse of prescription painkillers ranked second behind marijuana as the nation's most prevalent illegal drug problem, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. While overall youth drug use is down by 23 percent since 2001, approximately 6.4 million Americans report non-medical use of prescription drugs.

This morning's raid was to collect additional evidence, like documents and patient files, to follow a potential history of prescription abuse, Warner said. The DEA also searched two storage lockers rented by the clinic at The Storage Center on Ambassador Caffery Parkway. A search was conducted on the sister clinic in Baton Rouge, Redicare Ambulatory Clinic, and four storage lockers there.

New abusers of prescriptions are now on par with new marijuana users, and much of the abuse seems fueled by a relative ease of access to prescription drugs, ONDCP says. Approximately 60 percent of people who abuse prescription painkillers say they got their drugs from a friend or relative for free.

Dr. Joseph Breaud, who was working at the Surrey Street clinic, surrendered his DEA registration to the officers on Monday, which stops him from writing any more prescriptions for the time being.

Jones, manager of the Lafayette clinic, said it will be "closed until further notice."

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