New York Psychiatrist "Turned Drug Dealer" Adrian Morris Sentenced to 37 Months Prison

March 14, 2022

Calling him a “physician turned drug dealer,” a federal judge sentenced longtime Capital Region psychiatrist Adrian Morris to more than three years in prison Monday for writing prescriptions for patients he never examined.

The 65-year-old Clifton Park resident, who specialized in addiction recovery, faces 37 months behind bars when he reports to prison on April 19, and will be on supervised release for two years after his release.

Morris, who lives at an Albany County nursing home after suffering two strokes, uses a wheelchair.

Prosecutors successfully argued the former doctor doled out prescriptions in exchange for sex with patients. Morris escaped a potentially harsher sentence: Federal prosecutors recently told U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino that Morris steered one former patient to obtain heroin last fall from a close relative of Morris who lived in Ballston Spa in exchange for $2,000. The former patient overdosed and needed to be revived.

Morris’ attorney, Greg Teresi, contends his client connected the former patient up with the defendant’s close relative to help the ex-patient gain a support network. The relative has faced addiction issues and could be a possible sponsor, he said.

On Monday, D’Agostino said she would sentence Morris solely based on his 2020 guilty plea to distributing controlled substances outside of his professional practice for no legitimate medical purpose.

But the judge still questioned why Morris would put his troubled former patient in touch with a relative and not another doctor or someone from a group such as Narcotics Anonymous.

“'Yikes' is all I can say,” the judge said, calling Morris’ decision-making a “colossal fail.”

Morris was arrested after he was caught in a 2018 undercover sting agreeing to write prescriptions for two people he had never met. When Morris asked the undercover agent what drugs to prescribe, the person said, “Surprise me,” the judge noted.

The physician wrote the undercover agent prescriptions for more than 180 pills of Adderall, an amphetamine, and Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug.

D’Agostino told Morris he betrayed his medical oath and his speciality field.

“You were supposed to be a firewall for the addicted,” she said. “But in reality, that day you became a drug dealer disguised as a doctor.”

The judge told Morris she did not doubt he had done good for people in his career, but “somewhere along the line, you really did turn the corner into darkness.”

D’Agostino said Morris' crimes were “inexplicable.” He had no history of mental illness or drug abuse. She also said a probation officer’s presentencing investigation report suggested his misdeeds occurred “way more than the one time.”

The judge told Morris he needed punishment “to let physicians know they can’t hide behind their white coats.”

Earlier, Teresi made an impassioned plea for leniency, saying Morris reminded him of his grandfather, a doctor. The attorney said his client wants to tell his story to doctors and nurses to keep future medical professionals from making Morris’ mistakes.

His voice shaking, Morris apologized for his crime. Born in England and raised in South Africa, he has been a doctor for more than 40 years, he said.

Morris said he had "lost everything."

Source: Robert Gavin, “Longtime Capital Region psychiatrist sentenced to prison,” Times-Union, Mar. 7, 2022, https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Longtime-Capital-Region-psychiatrist-sentenced-to-16984248.php