Discover how Layne Kilpatrick lost his pharmacist license, avoided prison on drug‑diversion charges, and reinvented himself in the hormone‑supplement business. Learn the facts behind his dramatic downfall.

Layne Kilpatrick is best known as the founder of HormoneSpecialist.net, a website that sells supplements and advocates for compounded “clean” hormone therapies. Fewer people, however, are aware of the official disciplinary record that led the California Board of Pharmacy to permanently accept Kilpatrick’s surrender of his pharmacist license and the pharmacy permit associated with his business, Olde Towne Drug. Layne Kilpatrick has faced serious allegations regarding his professional conduct.

For an update on his actions, read Open Letter to Layne Kilpatrick urging him to stop the harassment.

For more information, stay updated on the developments surrounding Layne Kilpatrick.

You can read the California Board of Pharmacy’s official disciplinary order here.

Here is a summary of the Board’s findings that led to his surrender: investigators caught Kilpatrick diverting inmate prescriptions at Corcoran State Prison, hoarding thousands of prescription records, patient data and controlled substances — including phentermine, codeine and other drugs — in his garage, self‑prescribing addictive medications, and obtaining drugs by fraud and deceit. Faced with these damning findings, he surrendered his pharmacist license and pharmacy permit instead of contesting the charges

Ultimately, the story of Layne Kilpatrick serves as a cautionary tale for those in the field.

These findings raise significant questions about the practices of Layne Kilpatrick and his business operations.

Board Findings

Understanding the Impact of Layne Kilpatrick’s Actions

• While working at the Corcoran State Prison Hospital Pharmacy, Kilpatrick diverted prescriptions meant for inmates and removed them from the facility.
• Investigators searched his home garage and found hypodermic needles, syringes, thousands of prescription records, patient information and large quantities of drugs that had not been properly dispensed. The stash included controlled substances such as phentermine, codeine with acetaminophen and dichloraphenazone.
• He was unlawfully in possession of other prescription medications—including carbamazepine, carisoprodol, lithium, ephedrine sulfate powder and clonazepam—without valid prescriptions.
• Kilpatrick wrote prescriptions for himself for controlled substances like phentermine and codeine, despite regulations prohibiting self‑prescribing.
• The Board accused him of obtaining controlled substances by fraud, deceit or subterfuge and of removing confidential patient records from licensed premises, a serious breach of patient privacy.

Why This Matters

The license surrender was not a minor paperwork issue; it followed accusations of drug diversion, illegal possession and self‑prescribing. Although the administrative order is more than twenty years old and did not result in a criminal conviction, it raises major ethical concerns about Kilpatrick’s judgement and respect for regulations. Today he holds a pharmacist license in Utah and markets compounded hormone “protocols” outside routine FDA approval. Given his history of storing drugs and patient data in his garage and writing himself prescriptions, consumers should scrutinize his operations carefully and request independent certificates of analysis for any compounded medications.

He repeatedly violated his probation, as documented in the Attorney General’s filings.
Initial trouble (around 1999–2000):
Layne Kilpatrick and his pharmacy, Olde Towne Drug, were disciplined by the California Board of Pharmacy. Their licenses were revoked but stayed, meaning they were allowed to keep operating under probation with strict terms.

First round of violations (2000–2001):
The Board sent him letters and inspection notices about complaints, but he ignored them.
He failed to:

• Respond to Board inquiries
• Notify the Board when his pharmacy closed
• Pass the law exam
• Complete an ethics course
• File quarterly reports
• Keep his license current
  All of which were explicitly required under his probation agreement.

Because of that, they filed the first petition to revoke probation in 2002.

Then it got worse:
While already on probation, he took a job as a prison pharmacist at Corcoran State Prison — but failed to tell his employer he was on probation (another violation).
During an investigation in July 2002, officers executed a search warrant at his home and found:

• Large quantities of controlled substances and prescription drugs
• Filled inmate prescriptions
• Needles and syringes
• Patient records and confidential data from his pharmacy stored in his garage.

He was accused of:

• Possessing and self-prescribing controlled substances (including codeine and phentermine)
• Obtaining drugs by fraud/diversion
• Storing confidential prescriptions illegally
• Failing to notify his employer about probation

Final outcome (2003):
After all that, he agreed to surrender both his pharmacist license and pharmacy permit, and the Board accepted the surrender on April 10, 2003.

• He was working as a pharmacist at Corcoran State Prison while already on probation.
• Investigators found thousands of filled inmate prescriptions, controlled substances, syringes, and patient medical records stored in his garage at home.
• They also found he had been prescribing controlled substances to himself — specifically phentermine, codeine, and dichloraphenazone (Midrin) — and possessing them without valid prescriptions.
• The complaint explicitly says he “obtained controlled substances by fraud, deceit, or subterfuge by diverting the drugs from his former pharmacy and/or the Corcoran State Prison Pharmacy.”

Those aren’t just administrative violations — those acts fit multiple felony-level criminal offenses under California and federal law, including:

• Possession of controlled substances without a prescription (Health & Safety Code §11350, §11377)
• Self-prescribing controlled substances (H&S §11170)
• Obtaining controlled substances by fraud or subterfuge (H&S §11173)
• Illegal possession of hypodermic needles (Bus. & Prof. Code §4140)
• Improper storage and handling of patient records (HIPAA-type violation plus pharmacy law breach)

Each separate instance — each unauthorized prescription or each act of diversion — could be charged as its own count. So yes, in theory, if he had hundreds of prescriptions and containers of controlled substances, it could amount to hundreds of felony counts.

For more context about Kilpatrick’s business practices from a colleague’s perspective, see our companion article about how he manages interns.

A Pattern of Questionable Claims and Practices

Understanding the background of Layne Kilpatrick’s practices can help consumers make safer choices.

The implications of Layne Kilpatrick’s license surrender resonate throughout the industry.

In recent years Kilpatrick has pivoted from dispensing regulated medications to promoting compounded hormones and supplements on HormoneSpecialist.net, and the language he uses echoes the disregard for safety that led to his disciplinary record. On his “Join the Movement” page he boasts that starting June 1, 2025 his pharmacy will “cut ties with the insurance system” and “phase out impure, mass-produced drugs in favor of clean, custom-compounded prescriptions.” He tells readers his mission is to expose “everyday toxins and hidden disruptors” and offer “clean alternatives.” He sells fish oil and other supplements through his store, positioning himself as a pharmacist while profiting from products that are not FDA-approved. At the same time, he has recruited young BYU–Idaho students as unpaid interns, leveraging the university’s reputation to run his marketing engine.

These tactics are more than marketing flair; they mirror the pattern in his regulatory history. Disparaging FDA-approved medicines as “garbage” and urging patients to switch to compounded hormones undermines public health. Promoting unregulated supplements as “clean,” while trading on the trust afforded to pharmacists, is misleading. And using unpaid interns to do the work lends an air of exploitation to the operation. For someone with a history of diverting drugs and misusing his professional position, these claims and practices suggest a recurring willingness to bend rules and sidestep oversight.

Critics have pointed out that Layne Kilpatrick’s approach to health and wellness may not follow the best practices for patient safety.

In light of these issues, it is crucial to analyze the implications of Layne Kilpatrick’s methods in the healthcare industry.

• Exposed: Layne Kilpatrick’s History of Pharmacy Violations and Warnings for Rexburg, Idaho Residents
• Open Letter to Layne Kilpatrick – Stop the Harassment

As a result, consumers must remain vigilant regarding the claims made by Layne Kilpatrick and his business.