Anderson

Defendant, G. H. Anderson, M.D., appeals from a judgment and order granting probation entered after a jury found him guilty, as charged, of six counts of improperly issuing prescriptions to narcotic addicts, in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11162.5.

Defendant raises a question of first impression as to whether the last sentence of Health and Safety Code section 11162.5 is unconstitutionally vague, as well as additional contentions concerning Health and Safety Code section 11391, the instructions to the jury, and the sufficiency of the evidence.

Viewing the record most strongly in favor of the judgment, as we must, the facts are as follows: Defendant, a practicing physician, issued orders purporting to be prescriptions for the narcotic Dolophine, a trade name for Methadone, to six ambulatory narcotic addicts: Jack Arbuckle and his wife Marilyn, Fred Veitenheimer and his wife Dolores, Fred Acosta, and Kenneth Walker. The Arbuckles, the Veitenheimers and Acosta lived in San Jose; Walker in Palo Alto. In February 1970, each came for the first time as a patient to defendant’s office in Santa Cruz and indicated a heroin addiction, including the duration and cost…