A Potomac, Md., physician has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for distributing and dispensing controlled substances, the Justice Department said in an Aug. 26 release.
What happened?
- From January 2019 to June 2022, Anissa Maroof, MD, was found to have distributed and dispensed Alprazolam, commonly referred to as Xanax, amphetamine-dextroamphetamine, commonly referred to as Adderall, and buprenorphine outside the scope of professional practice and a legitimate medical purpose.
- Dr. Maroof, a psychiatrist, owned and operated a medical practice in Bethesda, Md. Through her practice, the court found she provided patients from West Virginia with prescriptions for the controlled substances. She prescribed these substances without warning patients of the possible risks associated with combining them. She also prescribed these substances to patients after they indicated they were selling their excess supply through illicit channels.
- She also was found to have prescribed controlled substances to patients without providing them with therapeutic services. Multiple times, court records show Dr. Maroof called in prescriptions to local pharmacies without first seeing the patient, directing the patient to leave cash under her office door in exchange for writing the prescriptions. She also often advised patients on how to split-fill their prescriptions between different pharmacies.
