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A Honolulu psychiatrist is facing charges that he improperly prescribed large quantities of powerful pain medication and other drugs to law enforcement officers for nearly two years.
A federal grand jury Thursday returned an indictment against Dr. Shepard Ginandes, charging him with 22 counts of distributing methadone, morphine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, hydrocodone and the anti-anxiety drugs alprazolam and diazepam outside the course of professional medical practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose from May 2007 to January 2009.
When the Drug Enforcement Administration moved to revoke Ginandes’ license to prescribe controlled substances in September 2009, the agency said he gave prescriptions to law enforcement personnel on 24 occasions between March 2007 and January 2009.
The DEA said Ginandes did not take the officers’ medical histories or require them to fill out any paperwork and did not conduct physical examinations. His office at 1188 Bishop St. didn’t even have an exam room or medical equipment. All the officers had to do was simply write their name, address and the drug they were seeking on a piece of paper, which Ginandes used to prepare their prescriptions, the DEA said.
No details were provided on who the law enforcement officers were or which agency they were working for. There was also no indication in the indictment that any of them were facing charges.
As part of its investigation, the DEA also seized the business records, personal and business bank accounts, real estate and vehicles of the pharmacist who filled the prescriptions. The pharmacist, whose business was in the same building as Ginandes’ office, has not been charged with any crimes, but had his license to dispense drugs revoked.
Ginandes’ lawyer, Howard Luke, said Monday he was going over the indictment with his client and had no comment.
