[link|http://www.painlinks.org/compassion.htm|Walgreens pharmacist sends 35 year old brain cancer patient to jail, judge mandates drug counseling, for filling pain killer prescription] (from the Star Telegram, wherever that is). June 7, 2002. A very well-deserved lawsuit was filed in February of this year.

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The pharmacist on duty had called the police when he couldn't reach O'Brien's doctor at the University of Washington Medical Center to validate her prescription for the painkiller, according to a lawsuit filed Jan. 23.

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Despite the fact that her neurosurgeon faxed her a letter to take to her arraignment the next day, O'Brien says the judge mandated drug-abuse education as a condition for her release. The felony fraud charge was dropped only after her doctor contacted the Pierce County prosecutor's office directly to verify that she had brain cancer and needed the narcotic pain reliever.

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And from a [link|http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/829109/posts|Free Republic article]:

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\r\nO'Brien's family posted bail that night, but she was still without her medicine. She was arraigned the next day; as a condition of her release, she was required to attend a session at a drug treatment facility.\r\n