Texas doctor convicted for flooding streets with over a million opioid pills

A federal jury has convicted Barbara Marino, a 65-year-old physician from Tomball, Texas, on multiple drug distribution charges. The case centred on her role at a Houston clinic where she allegedly prescribed highly addictive medications without proper medical justification. Marino worked as the only prescribing doctor at Angels Clinica, a cash-only facility in Houston. There, she issued prescriptions for powerful opioids like oxycodone and hydrocodone, along with carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant often linked to pill mills. Over 99% of her prescriptions were for the strongest short-acting versions of these drugs.

During her time at the clinic, Marino distributed more than a million opioid pills and other controlled substances. She received over $400,000 in less than a year from the clinic’s owners for writing these prescriptions. Many of her patients were brought in by street-level drug dealers who later sold the pills illegally. Investigators found that Marino frequently prescribed the same opioid-carisoprodol combination to nearly every patient. In one case, she repeatedly gave the mixture to a patient with severe bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. She also prescribed hydrocodone and carisoprodol to a pregnant woman in her third trimester, putting both mother and child at serious risk.

The jury found Marino guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and four counts of distributing a controlled substance. The verdict follows an investigation into her prescribing practices at Angels Clinica, where she operated as the sole physician issuing high-risk medications.