A Texas physician was sentenced yesterday to 12.5 years in prison for operating her Kingwood medical clinic as an illegal pill mill that issued prescriptions for over 3 million opioid pills.
According to court documents, Maryam Qayum, M.D., 68, of Montgomery County, Texas, owned, operated, and was the sole prescriber at Recare Health Clinic (Recare). Qayum operated Recare as a cash-only pill-mill, selling controlled substance prescriptions to street-level drug dealers who were referred to at Recare as “providers.” “Providers” purchased prescriptions for high strength, highly addictive opioids oxycodone and hydrocodone. Qayum issued these prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose, and often without ever interacting with the patient. According to court documents, Qayum issued prescriptions for more than 3 million opioid pills between 2022 and 2025, when her clinic was shut down by law enforcement.
Court documents detail how Recare, like many pill-mill clinics, operated well outside the course of a normal medical practice, including charging more for prescriptions for drugs with higher street value. A prescription for oxycodone 30mg cost as much as $500, while hydrocodone prescriptions were often $300, and Recare’s staff frequently took “tips” from drug dealers to fast track their patients and prescriptions. The following note listing the cash price for each prescription was seized when law enforcement executed a search warrant at Recare…