Nisar A. Piracha, the former primary physician and owner of Piracha Wellness Clinic in Dunwoody, has been sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute oxycodone, methadone and alprazolam, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Nisar Piracha. (DeKalb County Jail)

Piracha’s clinic in Dunwoody Park was raided by Drug Enforcement Agents in 2013 and he was charged with illegal prescribing the narcotics, according to a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“The defendant ignored the basic standards of his profession and preyed upon individuals addicted to prescription drugs in return for a steady cash flow,” said U. S. Attorney John Horn in the press release. “With every illegal prescription, the defendant not only abused the trust that society places in physicians, but also fed the cycle of prescription drug abuse and addiction that is devastating our communities.”

DEA agents began investigating suspicious activity at Piracha’s clinic in 2012 in an undercover operation where they said Piracha conducted only brief physical examinations before prescribing high doses of oxydone, methadone and alprazolam.
Many patients traveled long distances to obtain prescriptions for controlled substances from the clinic, including more than a dozen regular patients who traveled nearly 200 miles from Vidalia and Hazlehurst.
Piracha also agreed to the forfeiture of over $425,000 in proceeds from his pill mill operation. Piracha was convicted on this charge on Dec. 21, 2016, after he pleaded guilty.

Dyana Bagby

Dyana Bagby is a staff writer for Reporter Newspapers and Atlanta Intown.