The Nantes Criminal Court sentenced a general practitioner of 62 to two years in prison sentence on Wednesday, five years of prohibition to practice and a fine of 50,000 euros. In question: the abusive deliverance of pregabalin, an antiepileptic known as Lyrica, diverted in recent years for its anxiolytic and euphoric effects.
Between 2021 and 2023, the practitioner wrote 541 prescriptions for 106 patients, often in doses far superior to medical recommendations. Certain prescriptions reached double the maximum dosage, according to the conclusions of the survey.
Threatened by some patients
Judged for scam, endangering others and non -compliant prescription of a classified as a narcotic drug, the doctor tried to justify his practice by evoking a context of strong pressure. At the helm, he ensured that he wanted to avoid sudden withdrawal, “likely to cause convulsive crises”. He also said he was threatened by some patients.
During the survey, several patients described an addictive use of pregabalin and explained that they have heard of the practitioner by word of mouth. Already pinned in 2011 and 2017 by the Council of the Order for problematic prescriptions of opioids and substitution treatments for heroine, the doctor had been identified at the end of 2023 by the CPAM as the largest pre -leaf prescriber in the region.
A drug in the authorities’ crosshairs
His lawyer, Me Matthieu Creach, pleaded the difficult context in which his client exercised, in the service of a disadvantaged patient in a medical desert: “These 541 ordinances represent a drop of water in a practice of generalist present when the doctolib niches are full and the emergencies saturated. He told AFP that his client reserved the possibility of calling.
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Subsequent prescription since May 2021 by the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM), the pregabalin is in the roommate of the health authorities in the face of the increase in abuses and diversions.
