A West Hollywood doctor surrendered to federal authorities Monday morning after being indicted last Friday on federal drug trafficking charges that allege he wrote more than 1,200 prescriptions for powerful painkillers after a federal order revoked his authority to prescribe those drugs.
James William Eisenberg, 72, has been charged with four counts of using a revoked DEA registration number and three counts of distributing hydrocodone, which is a generic drug found in Vicodin and Norco.
He allegedly wrote the prescriptions while working out of several medical offices in West Hollywood, including a Santa Monica Boulevard storefront called Pacific Support Services. He also issued medical marijuana recommendations, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The DEA permanently revoked Eisenberg’s registration to prescribe controlled substances such as hydrocodone on July 24, 2012. The DEA determined he had acted as a “drug dealer.”
According to a DEA judge, while Eisenberg worked out of a medical marijuana club in Arizona he “lacked a legitimate medical purpose and acted outside of the usual course of professional practice” when he wrote prescriptions for oxycodone (the generic form of a drug often best known as the brand-name OxyContin) and Xanax in exchange for $150 cash payments.
After his registration number was revoked, Eisenberg continued to prescribe more than 1,700 controlled substances.
On Feb. 19, DEA investigators executed a federal search warrant on one of Eisenberg’s West Hollywood offices.
If convicted of the seven counts in the indictment, Eisenberg faces a maximum sentence of 46 years in federal prison. He was to be arraigned in court Monday.
