Police make second raid in a year at pain clinic in Paintsville

As lawmakers wrestle with what to do about prescription pill abuse in Kentucky, law enforcement continues to crack down on so-called "pill mills."

For the second time in less than a year, officers descended upon Care More Pain Management in Paintsville last Wednesday, arresting 29 people outside the clinic. "The raid was part of an ongoing investigation by Attorney General Jack Conway's office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration into doctors who allegedly over-prescribe pain medications," report R.G. Dunlop and Laura Ungar of The Courier-Journal.

"We're been looking forward to this day for almost as long as I've been in office," five years, said Paintsville Mayor Bob Porter. "Hopefully, other people will think twice before they try to get into this business."

Dr. Richard Albert, who had practiced at the clinic, was arrested last Feb. 16 and pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to illegally prescribe about 50,000 Percocet tablets. Conway's office believes Albert was prescribing about 100,000 pills a month and seeing about 55 patients per day. (Read more)