In the early morning hours, the silence of downtown is broken as local police and other law enforcement agencies raid a drug den. The scene outside is something they are used to, drug users scattering as their source of the opioids they crave is gone. One big difference for this raid is where it is taking place, this is not yet another trap house or crack den. They are raiding the medical office of Dr. Mohammad Derani. He was arrested as officials say there are about half a million pills on the streets.

This is where the confusion sets in. Why are the police raiding a business that is there to help local families and legally prescribes medications as needed? The answer is simple, Dr. Derani is not the family practitioner he claims to be. This medical office is hiding a dark secret. According to a local news report:

“About 8 a.m. on Thursday, Michigan State Police raided the Dearborn Medical Clinic, where a doctor is accused of over prescribing opiates. Lt. Mike Shaw of the State Police described the clinic, located at Warren and Yinger Avenues, as a “pill mill” and said oxycodone is the drug most prescribed. It was attracting patients from all over at all hours of the day and night, becoming disruptive to the neighborhood. “People lined up here at the three in the morning,” said Shaw. “And you’ve got nothing but people lined up around this neighborhood sitting in chairs. They ordered food in, to come to this place. When we actually hit the door there were people out here smoking marijuana right in the doorway, right as our officers hit the place.”

From the outside of the medical clinic, the signs sell the business as being an office for both general practice and family medicine. This does not line up with the fact that Dr. Derani has written scripts for over 500,000 opioid pills since January of 2017. Local authorities claim more than half of those pills have ended up on the local black market.

Over prescribing opioids is especially troubling when we consider that deaths related to drug overdoses has skyrocketed recently. More than half of these deaths are tied to prescriptions. The opioid epidemic has gotten so bad since 2010 that the number of deaths via overdose now is higher than those dying in car accidents and guns. In 2016, 62,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. This was a 19 percent increase from 2015.

This particular location drew local attention as it draws patients from all over the state, and they seem to focus on only one thing. These are not families with young children as most family doctors are, but instead, the overwhelming thrust of the office work is a steady stream of new opioid scripts. On average the doctor wrote 43 new prescriptions five days a week since January of 2015. Local licensing offices show that Dr. Derani is one of the top prescribers of controlled substances in the state for both 2015 and 2016.

After the raid of his office, the doctor was taken into custody. He also received penalties from the State of Michigan:

“The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs suspended Derani’s medical practice license. LARA filed an administrative complaint alleging commonly abused and diverted controlled substances, including alprazolam, carisoprodol, hydrocodone combination drugs and codeine/promethazine syrup.”

When the clinic was raided, the office manager for the clinic was also arrested. The police also detained a variety of patients, but ultimately released everyone except Dr. Derani. He is due to appear in court later in the week.

News of the raid spread fast among the local community, and many who lived around the clinic were relieved to see the place may be closed for now. This had not been a simple doctors office for quite some time. According to witnesses:

“I always pass that medical place is very uncomfortable a lot of people wait till they open around 5 or 6 a.m.,” commented Huss Maana. “Every morning I pass by there and I always think it’s Black Friday,” said Moe Ayoub.”

Thankfully, this is one less drug provider that is off the market. If the drug crisis isn’t solved soon, then more people will be in danger.