United States v. Hurwitz
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
459 F.3d 463 (2006)
Dr. William Hurwitz (defendant) prescribed very high doses of opioids to manage patients' pain, and many of those patients resold the drugs; he maintained the high doses were medically necessary, particularly for patients who had built tolerance to lower doses. The government charged Hurwitz with drug trafficking under the Controlled Substances Act based on his prescribing practices, and the district court instructed the jury it could not consider Hurwitz's good faith in deciding whether he violated the Act. The jury convicted Hurwitz, and he appealed the instruction.
Whether a jury instructed not to consider a physician's good faith may properly convict the physician of drug trafficking under the Controlled Substances Act for prescribing high doses of opioids that his patients then resold.