Winona Ryder probation report spotlights prescription drug use
Saturday December 07, 2002By LINDA DEUTSCH
AP Special Correspondent
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) In a three-year span Winona Ryder filled 37 prescriptions from 20 doctors under a half-dozen aliases, according to a probation report that concluded the actress is apparently addicted to pain killers.
The report was released Friday after Ryder received a probationary sentence for stealing and vandalizing merchandise at a Saks Fifth Avenue store in December 2001. It paints a picture of the actress ``doctor shopping'' to obtain prescription medicines.
Ryder was not convicted of any drug charges and defense attorney Mark Geragos emphasized that she had prescriptions for eight medications found on her when she was arrested. Geragos, who tried to keep the report sealed, told the judge that Ryder has a ``pain-management'' problem.
The probation report suggests a different scenario.
``While the defendant may have had reason in the past that necessitated her use of opiate pain killers, it would appear to the undersigned, as well as others, that the defendant is addicted to pain medication ...,'' said the report by chief probation officer Richard Shumsky and two deputies.
Much of the report focused on one doctor who came under investigation for allegedly over-prescribing to his patients the week before Ryder's arrest. The report did not state the doctor's full name.
The report said that a week after Ryder's arrest police were contacted by California Medical Board investigator Charlene McKenzie, who told them that on Dec. 4, 2001, her office executed search warrants at the doctor's home and office.
The search revealed that Ryder was a patient of the doctor ``under an AKA of Emily Thompson'' and all the personal information in the ``Thompson'' file was Ryder's, including a photocopy of her driver's license and an original patient form signed Winona Ryder, the report said.
Evidence indicated the doctor wrote prescriptions for her under both names, it said.
``If the defendant was under 'pain-management guidance' then the procedures that are recognized to affect pain were certainly not followed by this doctor,'' the report said.
``Apparently he was a popular doctor because he made 'house calls and hotel calls,''' the report said.
It also noted that Ryder filled many prescriptions at pharmacies in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.
``The defendant had apparently used half a dozen names, some similar and some derivations of her own in order to get these prescriptions. Apparently she was 'shopping doctors' ... ,'' the report said.
The report said Beverly Hills police detectives learned from federal drug agents and the state Medical Board that the doctor ``had been kicked out of South Africa for 'overmedicating' people. He came to California and apparently is listed as a tattoo and hair removal doctor but at one time was a licensed internist.''
The document added, ``Apparently, he is the doctor to many celebrity-type people.''
The authors of the probation report quoted police Det. George Elwell as concluding that Ryder has a drug problem and needs intervention.
``He claimed, 'We don't want to find her slumped over in a car with a needle in her arm,''' the report said.
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