Pensacola Area Doctor Pleads Guilty to Illegally Prescribing Opioids & Stimulants

Pensacola, Florida - Dr. Edward Scott Morrison, 58, of Pensacola Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to nineteen counts of unlawfully distributing or dispensing controlled substances. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced the plea.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: "This defendant repeatedly abused his ability to prescribe powerful controlled substances as a medical professional, and acted as little more than a drug dealer in a lab coat. The opioid epidemic continues to have a devastating impact on communities within my district and nationwide, and my office is committed to aggressively prosecuting the peddlers of those deadly drugs to hold them accountable for the pain, addiction, and despair they have wrought."

Court records establish that between 2020 and 2025, the defendant, a Florida-licensed physician contracted to work at hospital emergency departments and other medical offices in an around Escambia County, illegally prescribed at least 25,500 controlled substance pills, including over 22,000 opioid pills (primarily oxycodone and hydrocodone) and over 3,000 stimulant pills (primarily Adderall or generic equivalents). The defendant wrote, signed, and distributed controlled substance prescriptions to individuals without determining whether there was a legitimate medical purpose for the medication, without conducting physical examinations, without reviewing and assessing all available historical medical and prescribing records, and without creating and maintaining any records of encounters with those individuals. He issued controlled substance prescriptions to individuals simply upon their request or the request of a third party in whatever type, dosage, and quantity desired without evaluating the recipient to determine a legitimate medical purpose or need. The illegally prescribed pills were filled and dispensed at various pharmacies in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.

Sentencing has been set for January 14, 2027, at 11 a.m. before United States District Judge M. Casey Rodgers. Morrison faces up to 20 years' imprisonment on each count.

The case was part of the Department of Justice's 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown and was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration-Diversion Control Division, with assistance from the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, the Pensacola Police Department, the Gulf Breeze Police Department, U.S. Army-Criminal Investigation Division, and the Food and Drug Administration-Office of Criminal Investigations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alicia Forbes.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation's principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of FloridaLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. website. For more information about the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl.