California Doctor Arrested For Drug Trafficking

Santa Barbara doctor Julio Gabriel Diaz was arrested yesterday morning on drug trafficking charges for supplying several of his patients with unlimited access to prescription drugs, leading to to several deaths. In an affidavit presented by the prosecution, many of Dr. Diaz’s prescriptions are connected to a series of fatal overdoses in California: one man was apparently prescribed 2,087 pills by the doctor within a six-week period prior to his death. Prosecutors will seek to prove that several of Diaz’s patients were illicitly selling their prescriptions on the black market. OxyContin, Norco and Vicodin—all commonly abused drugs—were some of the main substances prescribed by the doctor. Diaz is scheduled to appear in Santa Ana federal court this afternoon.