I do NOT believe this is a "witch hunt" at all.

Yes, people should accept some responsibilities for their actions when it comes to their health care. I have been working as a Pharmacist for 10 years (5 years in Ohio) and since I moved here, I was overwhelmed with the amount of narcotic Rxs that were coming into various Las Vegas Pharmacies. In Ohio, this kind of nonsense didn't happen. If an MD was prescribing high amounts of controlled meds/narcotics, the Ohio State Board went to visit the MD. The MD was repremanded/suspended. Period.

Dr. Buckwalter knew what he was doing. There is no way to justify the sheer amount of prescriptions presented by patients from his office on a daily basis. At our Pharmacy, we started to refuse dispensing the Rxs, but that doesn't solve the problem. The patients need or want the drugs, so they would just go elsewhere.

Is Dr. Buckwalter the ONLY MD that prescribed unusually high amounts of narcotics? No. He is just ONE of MANY in the Las Vegas area that does.

Having seen the ROUTINE/MONTHLY Rxs for the SAME DRUGS to THE SAME PATIENTS from these so called "pain management clinics" here in Las Vegas, is enough to make me sick. But, if that is what the patient wants, that is what the patient gets. Period. It is all "legal" and the MD just tells his/her patient NOT to see multiple MDs or use multiple Pharmacies, and the Pain MGMT MD will continue to prescribe the Rx for......well......ever, I guess.

We tend to forget that this is Las Vegas, one of the NATION's LARGEST consumers of prescription narcotic drugs. Don't believe me? Look it up. It's sad. I see it time & time again, most of my work day dispensing this garbage to people who CLEARLY don't need it, but are addicted to it.
We call the MD, question the MD about the use of the Rx, but in the end, the MD says to fill it.
When I try to counsel my patients about the habit forming side effects, it goes in one ear, then right out the other. Shame on them, too.

Dr. Buckwalter didn't "start the fire", but he sure did throw quite a few logs on it. The narcotic abuse in this city has been going for a long time, and has gotten worse, but Dr. Buckwalter is NOT the only MD with "dirty hands".