When applying to sell a new drug in the US, companies must specify the intended use of the drug and at which dosages they will be sold. Pfizer ran afoul of drug law here by marketing the anti-inflammatory drug Bextra for off-label uses and at dosages the FDA refused to approve out of safety concerns.

Pfizer pulled Bextra from the market in 2005.

For this offense alone, Pfizer will pay a $1.195 billion fine, the single largest criminal fine ever served in the US for any matter, and forfeit another $105 million in revenue gathered from sales. “The size and seriousness of this resolution, including the huge criminal fine of $1.3 billion, reflect the seriousness and scope of Pfizer’s crimes,” said Mike Loucks, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

Pfizer will also pay a $1 billion civil penalty under the False Claims Act to the government for alleged kickbacks to health care providers in exchange for increased prescriptions for several drugs including Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, and Lyrica. This civil penalty is the largest fraud settlement against a pharmaceutical company ever.

A large portion of the settlement will pay directly back into health care systems, important at a time when Medicare is underfunded and health care reform are in the news every day.  “This historic settlement will return nearly $1 billion to Medicare, Medicaid, and other government insurance programs,” said Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services, “securing their future for the Americans who depend on these programs.”Pfizer

It was pot, marijuana, Mary Jane, grass, weed and a whole lot of it that tied up half the emergency services in the city Thursday afternoon.

Mailroom workers at One Financial Center found a “white powdery substance” on a package around noontime and called 911. Fire fighters quarantined the four exposed workers and ran through decontamination protocols to clear them, said Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department.

Fire officials eventually called out a Level 3 Hazardous Materials Incident, requiring anyone entering the building to don specialized Hazmat suits for safety.

Tests determined that the white powder was in fact laundry detergent.

But when they took a closer look at the package, fire fighters found a briefcase beneath the detergent. So they called in the Boston Police Bomb Squad to investigate. They x-rayed the briefcase and determined it was not bomb.

Then U.S. Postal Police were called in to take custody of the package and another suspicious package with the same address and handwriting.

Postal Police found 45 pounds of marijuana in the two packages. The detergent may have been an attempt to mask the marijuana, but it drew far more attention to it than anyone could have imagined.

No one was injured, sickened, or given the munchies as a result of the powder, briefcase or pot.

Authorities say Chambers, 52, is a homeless drug addict who frequently stayed at a friend’s studio apartment in Chinatown. On Feb. 10, 2008, they say Chambers and another friend, Edward “Red” Quiles got into a heated argument after Quiles accused Chambers of stealing his stash of heroin.

“Drugs are part of the case,” said assistant district attorney Ian Polumbaum. “Drugs explain why these two men joined together, then collided, ending in a homicide.”

Polumbaum’s case lays out a timeline where Chambers and Quiles spent a night buying and using heroin before passing out early the next morning. Later, the friend who had rented the apartment, woke up to hear the other two men fighting and “engaged in a physical scuffle.”

“Find my [expletive]. Where’s my [expletive],” Quiles allegedly yelled at Chambers. “Mr. Quiles was accusing Mr. Chambers of stealing drugs from him,” Polumbaum said.

Chambers allegedly replied, “I don’t have your stuff.”

Then the tenant left the apartment and Chambers later called 911 to summon police.

During the fight, prosecutors say Chambers pulled a knife and stabbed Quiles. Chambers fled the apartment, but he and his blood-covered hands were quickly discovered by police, responding to his own 911 call.

Quiles bled out and died. Now Chambers is claiming self defense, but prosecutors don’t buy it. It will be up to a jury to decide what’s true in this sad case of drug-fueled death.

“Try to reconcile the evidence with the defendant’s own version of what happened,” Polumbaum told jurors. “Pay close attention to his claim that he did this killing in self defense.”

Winehouse in better times

She’s gunnin’ hard to be the next Janis or Billie.

Singer Amy Winehouse was rushed to the hospital Sunday after suffering what’s being described as a “seizure,” following a fight with her just-out-of-jail soon-to-be ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, according to The Sun.

The troubled singer went on a drinking and drug binge following a huge fight with her recently-rehabbed hubbie. The Sun reports that Winehouse is still in the hospital, and undergoing tests.

“It didn’t stop until she was on the floor on Sunday. She has ended up in hospital a few times after similar drink and drugs related seizures. If she carries on, one of these incidents will be her last,” the source said.

Winehouse’s spokesman confirmed that his client was indeed in the hospital, but was there for “a bad reaction to the combination of medication she has currently been prescribed.”

Isn’t that an overdose? So sad.

Authorities allege that Gerald J. Sadkowski, 30, of Watertown, and Brian M. Faulkner, 37, of Lynn, sold the pain killer illegally both on postal property and while out on their routes as postal employees.

The federal complaint says this took place between July and October.

If convicted on these charges, they face up to 20 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine.

According to documents recently released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, for at least nine years Khan has been internationally trafficking opium, heroin and morphine from headquarters based in Kandahar and Helmand, Afghanistan.  The trafficking ring is known as the “Khan Organization.”

The report states the Khan Organization planned on selling morphine base, which can be used to create heroin, in amounts as large as 40 tons to worldwide drug markets. Forty tons of morphine base would be able to satisfy the heroin needs of the U.S. for more than two years.

The organization also supposedly operated its own labs, producing refined heroin and selling it in quantities of 220 pounds or more.

According to DEA reports, Khan has been closely linked with the Taliban. The group draws much of its funding from drug organizations like Khan’s. In return for this funding, the Taliban provides protection over drug routes, labs and poppy fields.

Khan has supported the Taliban’s efforts to forcibly remove the U.S. and its allies from Afghanistan by backing their policy and funding their organization.  The terrorist group has repeatedly attacked U.S. forces and civilians in Afghanistan.

In January, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing of a hotel in which an American was killed.

“His arrest disrupts a significant line of credit to the Taliban and will shake the foundation of his drug network that has moved massive quantities of heroin to worldwide drug markets,” said Michele M. Leonhart, acting DEA administrator.

If convicted, the 54-year-old faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.  A conference will be held Tuesday before a judge.

Khan is one of the first to be prosecuted under the federal narco-terrorism statute drafted in 2006.

WIlliam Patrick Jordan, 37, faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after an investigation revealed he was allegedly selling 50 to 70 hydrocodone pills twice a week for over a year at the restaurant, according to a statement from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

According to the charge, a confidential, undercover federal informant sold Jordan 40 hydrocodone tablets for $120, purportedly for resale. DEA agents swooped in and arrested Jordan, who was released on bond pending a hearing October 29. He faces charges of knowingly, unlawfully, and intentionally possessing hydrocodone with the intent to distribute.