Tag Archives: Prescription Drug Abuse. Treatment center

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Parents pill popping and check out our clients drawing!

Prescription Drug Abuse: Report Calls Parent Pill Popping An ‘Epidemic’

The Huffington Post | By Jessica Samakow Posted: 05/14/2012 5:39 pm Updated: 05/14/2012 8:48 pm

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Video, Adderal, Adderal Abuse, Adderal Shortage, ADHD, Adhd Medication Shortage, Adult Prescription Drug Abuse, Parent Pill Popping, Parents Taking Pills, Prescription Drug Abuse, Parents News

First, it was valium that the Rolling Stones famously dubbed “Mother’s Little Helper.” Then, the New York Times reported that sleep aids like Ambien and Lunesta were the drug of choice for women — the newspaper reported that 1 in 3 were hooked. Now, according to Fox 5, many suburban moms are taking Adderall, a medication commonly used to treat ADHD — and some are getting it from their kids.

“Desperate Housewives” took this on in the show’s first season, when Lynette used Ritalin to turn into a “supermom,” feeling like she was the only mother who couldn’t handle the responsibilities of being a parent (you can watch the scene below). But the dramatic plot line isn’t only fodder for television.

Fox 5 profiled two suburban moms who admitted to prescription drug addiction. In an interview, the women (who had never met each other before) agreed that it is likely a neighborhood-wide problem and both doubt they are the only mothers abusing meds. Their assumption may not be so far off -– in a CDC study, 30 percent of women said they’ve shared prescription medication with others.

One mother, identified as “Sara,” struggled with drug addiction -– marijuana, cocaine, crystal meth and alcohol –- from the time she was 13. When she had her son at age 32, she had been clean for two years. Then when her son was about 8 or 9, doctors diagnosed him with ADHD and prescribed Adderall. Fox 5 reports that Sara took one of her son’s pills, and immediately wanted more.

“Since I was an addict, and I liked speed, I took one of his pills and liked it. I spent the next couple months lying to the doctors saying I had spilled his medicine, so I could get more,” she told the news station.

It is not only ADHD drugs that are being misused by parents, and not only children that are the “source.” The other woman interviewed, Katherine, 52, turned to Oxycontin when she “couldn’t cope” after the birth of her third child, Fox 5 reports. She herself grew up in an upper-middle class family and didn’t start using drugs until age 41, overwhelmed, she says, by the fact that two of her children have special needs.

She asked her neighbor for pain pills and became hooked.

Both mothers have now been clean for a decade but fear that countless other parents are struggling with addiction and hiding their secrets.

In October, Dr. Drew Pinsky told The Huffington Post that teen prescription drug abuse is quickly on the rise and parents should be locking, or at least monitoring, their medicine cabinets. But, Will Wooton, a drug counselor who primarily deals with teens at Pacific Treatment Services in California estimates that 15 percent of parents who bring their kids into his office are addicts as well.

As over-prescription of Adderall and other ADHD medications continue to be the center of debate between doctors, Wooton warns that, “both parents and children have to take more responsibly to learn exactly what they are putting in their body because some of these medicines are extremely addictive.”

Watch the clip below where Lynette breaks down and admits she’s addicted to her child’s medication.

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Prescription drug diversion and abuse road map.

Doug Leonardo, FADAA’s President-Elect, has been selected to serve onFlorida’s new Task Force on Prescription and Drug Abuse and Newborns, Chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi. The Attorney General’s Office has asked that we forward a copy ofFlorida’s Prescription Drug Diversion and Abuse Roadmapto our members. Along with the link to the Roadmap, we will find links to the Task Force’s objectives, and another valuable document,Family Engagement Guide to Providers (A Guide Written by Families for Residential Providers).

Florida’s Prescription Drug Diversion and Abuse Roadmap

http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-8T8L5K/$file/PrescriptionDrugDiversionAndAbuseRoadmap.pdf

“…This document is a balanced roadmap that will lower both the supply and the demand for diverted pharmaceuticals. It delineates how we will organize successful enforcement operations to reduce the supply of diverted prescription drugs, while better assisting those who seek help in ending their addiction to prescription drugs.

Lowering the death rate requires broad-based coordination between law enforcement, prevention experts, treatment providers, the Florida Legislature, and most importantly, those who work in our medical community. Ending our prescription drug abuse epidemic remains one of my foremost priorities. To that end, the implementation and sustainment of this Roadmap is essential to creating a safer and healthier Florida.

Sincerely, Pam Bondi”

Objectives – Statewide Task Force on Prescription Drug Abuse and Newborns.docx

BBI Letter announcing Family Engagement Guide from Gary Blau – May 1 2012.pdf

BBI – Engage Us – Family Engagement Guide.pdf (A Guide Written by Families for Residential Providers)

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Newborns going thru withdrawals.

Hospital seeing more babies born exposed to prescription drugsBy Julie O’Neill, CNN
April 28, 2012 — Updated 1228 GMT (2028 HKT)
Newborns battle drug withdrawal STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Tennessee ranks among the top states dealing with prescription drug abuse
About half of all babies in intensive care at one hospital suffer from drug withdrawal
Opioids, like oxycodone, are the main drugs in these babies’ systems
Most are diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS
Knoxville, Tennessee (CNN) — Heart-wrenching cries echo through the halls of the neonatal intensive care unit at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. Nearly half of the newborn babies in the hospital’s NICU are suffering from prescription drug withdrawal.

For over a year, the Knoxville hospital has been dealing with a dramatic increase in the number of newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, which is the withdrawal process a newborn baby goes through after in utero exposure to certain medications.

“When I first got into neonatology the most common problem — and still the most common problem — that we take care of is premature babies or babies with respiratory distress,” said neonatology director Dr. John Buchheit, a 17-year veteran at Children’s. “But I had no idea that we would be seeing this issue, to this degree.”

Narcotics used during pregnancy pass through the placenta to the baby. Once the baby is born, he or she no longer has access to the drugs and will likely go through withdrawal. According to Buchheit, opioids — like oxycodone — are the worst offenders for the babies suffering from NAS at his hospital.

Between 55% and 94% of babies exposed to opioids prior to birth exhibit signs of withdrawal, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Volunteer ‘cuddlers’ comfort babies

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Veterans and prescription pain meds

Dangerous misuse of prescription drugs The babies are easily agitated and cry constantly, and many cannot be near sound and light. Other symptoms can include a distinct, high-pitched cry, tightening of the muscles and seizures.

While prescription drug abuse is a problem in nearly every neighborhood in America, it is particularly epidemic in Tennessee, which ranks among the top states in the overuse of prescription pain medications.

A recent Tennessee health department survey found that about a third of pregnant women in state treatment programs are addicted to prescription pain meds. As a result, the number of babies born with NAS at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital doubled from 2010 to 2011.

This epidemic is tearing apart families in eastern Tennessee, according to Department of Children’s Services Attorney Susan Kovac.

“In Knox County, we’re drowning,” she said. “We’ve seen the number of children in foster care increase by almost 50% over the last few years, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg because we’re trying to keep the children out of foster care. We’ve got lots and lots of relatives who are raising drug-exposed infants.”

State caseworkers are called in to handle the worst cases of babies suffering from NAS.

“We come and talk to the mom and try to find out, what’s the level of her abuse, what’s the level of her addiction, what can we do to get her clean so that she can be in a position to take care of her baby,” Kovac explained.

Since the epidemic is relatively new, there is no national protocol on how to treat NAS. East Tennessee Children’s Hospital focuses its treatment on two areas: environmental and medicinal. Last year, the hospital created a wing of private rooms that is quieter, darker and easier to control for the massive influx of babies suffering from drug withdrawal.

The hospital also trains volunteers, called cuddlers, to hold and comfort the babies.

Bob Woodruff, a retired marketing professor and grandfather, spends six hours a week giving these babies a little extra love.

“It’s tremendously rewarding to take a stressed baby and work with that baby until that baby is feeling better or sleeping,” Woodruff said. “It also makes the job of the nurses a lot easier. It’s a lot easier for them to come into a room and deal with a calm baby, rather than a crying baby. So I feel like I’m really helping the nurses, as well as helping the babies.”

In addition to improving their environment, the hospital has also developed a successful drug treatment program for these babies, according to pharmacist Terry King.

“When I first arrived, we were treating the babies and stabilizing them on methadone and then discharging them to have outpatient treatment,” he said. “Then we decided that probably wasn’t the safest and most effective way to treat them. So we decided to switch to the morphine.”

Terry King developed the drug regiment for babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome.Treatments are individualized based on the severity of withdrawal and babies are given small doses of morphine every three hours with feedings. Over the following weeks, doses are gradually decreased to wean babies off the drugs. Since adopting the morphine protocol, the average hospital stay for these infants has decreased by several days, now averaging 24 days.

As East Tennessee Children’s Hospital continues to treat these defenseless drug-dependent babies and chip away at the underlying causes of drug abuse through education and proper medical care, Buchheit admits that the future for these newborns with NAS is uncertain.

“There is no doubt that they are at an increased risk for problems with their learning and development throughout their childhood, and problems with behavior once they reach school age,” he said.

In the meantime, the hospital has become a pioneer in the treatment of babies with NAS. Other states are turning to them for guidance.

“This problem is faced all over the country … and people are interested in what we’re doing because we know it’s a safe, successful plan to administer,” King said. “The process is complex to wean these babies and we think that what we’ve developed has helped make the complex, simpler.”

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Most current survey on prescription drug abuse USA.

Survey: Prescription Painkiller Abuse Often Starts With Free Pills From Friends, Family

By Join Together Staff | April 25, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed in Prescription Drugs & Youth

A new national survey finds people who abuse prescription painkillers for the first time often get their pills for free from family or friends. Those who chronically abuse prescription painkillers are more likely to obtain the pills from doctors or dealers, USA Today reports.

An analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, scheduled to be released on Wednesday, found more than two-thirds of those who said they had gotten high on painkillers for the first time in the past year received the pills from family or friends.

The survey estimates 2.4 million Americans start abusing prescription drugs annually. About one-third of new users are adolescents, according to the newspaper. Almost 6 percent of young adults ages 18 to 25, and 3 percent of teenagers, say they regularly get high on prescription drugs.

Two-thirds of people who used painkillers to get high less than once a week got pills for free, or stole them from a relative or friend, the survey found. Among regular users, 28 percent said they bought the pills from a relative, friend, drug dealer or online. Twenty-six percent had prescriptions from at least one doctor.

Saturday, April 28 is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, the article notes. The event, sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration, provides an opportunity for people who have accumulated unwanted, unused prescription drugs to safely dispose of them.

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Article on prescription drug abuse statistics.

PERSONAL HEALTH

AlterNet / ByDaniela Perdomo

193 COMMENTS

100,000 Americans Die Each Year from Prescription Drugs, While Pharma Companies Get Rich

Prescription drugs taken as directed kill 100,000 Americans a year. That’s one person every five minutes. How did we get here?

June 25, 2010 |

How many people do you know who regularly use a prescription medication? If your social group is like most Americans’, the answer is most. Sixty-five percent of the country takes a prescription drug these days. In 2005 alone, we spent $250 billion on them.

I recently caught up with Melody Petersen, author of Our Daily Meds, an in-depth look at the pharmaceutical companies that have taken the reins of our faltering health care system by cleverly hawking every kind of drug imaginable. We discussed how this powerful industry has our health in its hands.

Daniela Perdomo: Your book includes some staggering stats. For example, 100,000 Americans die each year from prescription drugs — that’s 270 per day, or, as you put it, more than twice as many who are killed in car accidents each day. Could you elaborate on this? Are these people abusing their prescription drugs or is this a sign of prescription meds gone bad?

Melody Petersen: The study estimating that 100,000 Americans die each year from their prescriptions looked only at deaths from known side effects. That is, those deaths didn’t happen because the doctor made a mistake and prescribed the wrong drug, or the pharmacist made a mistake in filling the prescription, or the patient accidentally took too much. Unfortunately, thousands of patients die from such mistakes too, but this study looked only at deaths where our present medical system wouldn’t fault anyone. Tens of thousands of people are dying every year from drugs they took just as the doctor directed. This shows you how dangerous medications are.

DP: You write about a growing market for drugs for children. You say we know little about the long-term effects of prescription meds on kids. Let’s talk particularly about depression medications and ADHD meds, which seem to be what kids are mostly prescribed.

MP: In recent years, sales of drugs for children have been the industry’s fastest growing business. Doctors now prescribe pills to children for all kinds of conditions — from high cholesterol to anxiety. The market for ADHD drugs has long been a big opportunity for the industry. More recently, the companies have had their sales reps urge doctors to prescribe antidepressants, antipsychotics and other psychiatric meds to children. The result: our kids take more of those medicines than children in other countries. For example, a study last year found that American children take three times more attention deficit medications and antidepressants than children in Europe.

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Wake to Medicine Abuse campaign rolled out!

The Partnership at Drugfree.org Announces New Public/Private Partnership: “Wake Up to Medicine Abuse”

By Denise Farrell | April 10, 2012 | 0 Comments | Filed in News Releases

~ News of First-of-its-Kind National Campaign and Call to Action Presented at Operation UNITE’s National Rx Drug Abuse Summit in Florida ~

April 10, 2012 (New York, NY) – The Partnership at Drugfree.org, in collaboration with Mallinkrodt, the pharmaceutical business of Covidien, Cardinal Health and PhRMA, today announced a first-of-its-kind, week-long public awareness campaign, “Wake Up to Medicine Abuse.” This initiative will bring the public and private sectors together in a national education effort and call to action to curb the abuse of medicine, one of the biggest drug problems in the United States today.

“Wake Up to Medicine Abuse Week” will take place September 23-29, 2012, and will both encourage and help parents and the public-at-large to take action: first, by talking with the kids in their lives about the dangers of abusing prescription and over-the-counter medicines, and second, by safeguarding and properly disposing of unused medications.

The consequences of medicine abuse, including emergency room episodes, treatment admissions and overdose deaths, have increased dramatically, and it is a behavior that is starting in adolescence. Every day, 2,500 teens use a prescription drug to get high for the first time1, and the death toll from prescription painkillers alone has tripled in the past decade2. Due to these high levels of prescription drug abuse, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in about a third of the states, outpacing fatalities from car accidents. If the human toll were not enough, all of this is an enormous drain on the nation’s economy, with the health care costs related to this behavior estimated at more than $72 billion annually.3

“Up to this point, national efforts to prevent the intentional abuse of medicine have been inadequate given the scope of the problem and human toll this abuse behavior is taking. In announcing ‘Wake Up to Medicine Abuse,’ The Partnership at Drugfree.org and our partners are taking a first step together, calling on all public and private sector organizations with a stake in this problem – federal agencies, state and local governments, distributors, drug stores, medical societies and both the branded and generic pharmaceutical industry – to join with us in this concerted effort and call to action to reduce this dangerous behavior,” said Steve Pasierb, President and CEO of The Partnership at Drugfree.org.

The need for a public-private prevention effort related to medicine abuse has been well documented recently in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s 2011 Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan, calling for a four-pillar approach. The plan includes public education, prescription monitoring, proper medication disposal and enforcement/elimination of improper prescribing and dispensing practices.

Those points were emphasized by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin in her April 10 presentation at Operation UNITE’s National Rx Drug Abuse Summit in Orlando, Florida.

“Abuse of prescription drugs is a bigger problem in the United States than most people realize, especially among youth,” said Dr. Benjamin. “We have to make our parents, our educators, our health professionals, our legislators and most importantly, adolescents themselves, aware of the pervasiveness of prescription drug abuse and its harmful consequences…Education is a crucial first step in tackling this problem.”

Pasierb added, “This intensive week is an important step to convey the message that abusing medicine can be just as addictive and just as deadly as abusing illicit street drugs. We will call on parents to talk with their kids about this dangerous behavior by using research-based information and tips we will provide, and encourage everyone to both secure current medicines and properly dispose of old medications. Without a major public mobilization effort that can eventually be sustained year-round, we are not going to be able to move the needle on this deadly epidemic.”

Through a destination website where visitors can learn more about the problem and what they can do, new public service announcements, and public outreach, education and events, “Wake Up to Medicine Abuse Week” will shine a spotlight on this public health crisis, including both prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

“We must end abuse and illicit diversion of prescription pain medications by increasing awareness, expanding education, fostering collaboration and promoting innovation,” said Mark Trudeau, President, Mallinckrodt. “Together, through campaigns like ‘Wake Up to Medicine Abuse,’ we can ensure that only legitimate patients have access to and appropriately use these important therapies.”

“We’re pleased to collaborate with The Partnership at Drugfree.org to help Americans better understand the dangers of prescription drug abuse,” said George Barrett, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cardinal Health. “Our participation in the ‘Wake Up to Medicine Abuse’ campaign is a natural extension of our GenerationRx outreach and education program and our community-based Medication Disposal Days.” For more information on GenerationRx, visit www.CardinalHealth.com/GenerationRx.

“Prescription drug abuse has a broad spectrum of causes and every stakeholder involved must continue working together to alleviate such a widespread issue,” said John J. Castellani, CEO and President of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). “PhRMA has had a long, positive relationship with The Partnership at Drugfree.org, and the newly announced ‘Wake Up To Medicine Abuse’ week reflects our enduring commitment to help prevent prescription drug abuse and educate patients on how to safely use and dispose of their medicines.”

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News on shift from pill mills to pharmacies.

As “Pill Mills” Close in Florida, Demand Shifts to Pharmacies

As Florida gains success with shutting down “pill mills,” demand for prescription painkillers is shifting to retail pharmacies, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In February, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced sales of oxycodone fell 20 percent last year in Florida. Officials said the drop was mainly due to the closure of some of the state’s biggest pill mills and the arrest of some of the clinics’ operators and doctors. Florida pharmacies and doctors sold about 498 million doses of oxycodone in 2011, compared with a record 622 million doses the previous year.

With the decrease in pill mills, retail pharmacies say they have an influx of customers who used to rely on pain clinics to obtain oxycodone and other prescription opioids, according to the newspaper. Pharmacists must determine whether prescriptions are fake or unnecessary, without any uniform guidelines on how to evaluate them. CVS has revised guidelines for dispensing pain medications, providing tips to pharmacists about when they should be suspicious, the article notes.

In June 2011, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law a bill designed to cut down on prescription drug abuse by controlling pill mills in the state. The law authorized the creation of a prescription-drug monitoring database to reduce doctor-shopping by people looking to collect multiple painkiller prescriptions. The legislation also imposed new penalties for physicians who overprescribe medication and imposed stricter rules for operating pharmacies.

Mark Perez of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said officials are looking into whether dishonest operators are responsible for the surge in applications for new pharmacies. He adds that a growing number of businesses billed as weight-loss centers or wellness clinics are prescribing painkillers. “The drug trade is a for-profit industry, so they’ll look at other areas they can take advantage of,” he said.

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Does it have to get worse to get better??

The summit Wednesday at the University of Kentucky on prescription drug abuse and addiction captured the severity and extent of an appalling problem.

Buttressed by shocking statistics — such as that more than 1,000 Kentuckians lose their lives to prescription drug abuse each year, more than in the state’s traffic accidents — and heartbreaking personal stories of the tragic toll of addiction, officials appropriately stressed the urgency of stronger reaction.

Gov. Steve Beshear said the state’s drug problem is “literally killing our people” and appropriately pledged that the issue would be a top priority that must receive a united, aggressive and rapid response.

The Governor said he is working with state Attorney General Jack Conway and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, on a wide-ranging bill to be introduced soon in the General Assembly. Mr. Conway expects the bill to require some doctors and other prescribers to use the state’s KASPER monitoring system system and to mandate KASPER checks before certain medications are prescribed to patients in emergency rooms.

There is also progress in reducing the flood of drugs from pain clinics in Florida, after the Sunshine State finally tightened its lax regulation of unscrupulous medical centers and doctors. The Florida measures strengthened penalties on rogue doctors who over-prescribe painkillers and beefed up rules for prescriptions and pain treatments.

Rigorous law enforcement and severe penalties for pill-pushing physicians, including permanent loss of medical licenses and potential jail time, are certainly an important part of the drug-fighting equation — in Kentucky, Florida and elsewhere. Indeed, police and court actions have been stepped up, including a Jan. 25 raid on a Paintsville pain clinic that resulted in 29 arrests. A former doctor at the clinic was arrested last year in an earlier raid and pleaded guilty in December to a federal charge of conspiring to illegally prescribe about 50,000 tablets of Percocet, a highly addictive narcotic pain-reliever.

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However, from Prohibition forward, arrests and prosecutions have never succeeded by themselves in stamping out drug problems, and it would be futile now to rely solely on enforcement crackdowns. Floyd County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brent Turner estimated that at least 5,000 of his county’s 40,000 residents are involved in prescription pill trafficking in some way. Statewide, such numbers would overwhelm police departments and corrections systems.

The strategy must also incorporate sophisticated education and treatment efforts.

Such approaches — which are already tried in some areas — need to be expanded into comprehensive programs across the state to teach parents, families, educators and employers how to identify signs of drug abuse, and how to intervene effectively. Public service messages could debunk harmful myths — such as that an addict must “hit bottom” before help is possible, or that a failed recovery effort means that it’s pointless to try again, or that treatment must be voluntary to succeed. Judges around the state should be able to follow the model of Jefferson County’s drug courts and sentence users directly to treatment programs instead of jails.

Meanwhile, Kentucky’s federal representatives should be pushing hard for more effective national monitoring of drug production and distribution. There is no justification for manufacturing quantities of painkillers far in excess of legitimate need.

Such a broad undertaking will cost money, but funds must be found even in austere times to confront what Gov. Beshear rightly called “a corrosive evil.”

 This was published in the http://www.courier-journal.com/ which is pretty informative.
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Annual Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force Report

Attached you find facts and information regarding the prescription abuse epidemic in the US and Florida:

In October 2011 the Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday announced the formation of a new squad created to solely investigate the illegal use and distribution of prescription drugs in Central Florida. That squad is investigating rogue doctors and pharmacies, and details of their first probe — involving a Winter Park pharmacy — was one of several cases statewide announced by the nation’s top law-enforcers. In this context it is of concern in June 2011, DEA received 263 applications for new pharmacy licenses nationwide. Of those, 139 were from Florida. That means that the drug dealers in white coat referring their “patients” to “friendly” pharmacies to fill their prescriptions for controlled substances. Most of these clinics are probably owned by the same business people who run pain clinics.

About 170,000 Medicare patients sought prescriptions for frequently abused drugs from five or more physicians and other health professionals in 2008, a Government Accountability Office analysis of claims data found. The Oct. 4 report accused 1.8% of the Part D beneficiary population of doctor shopping for one or more of 14 abused drugs, such as painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone. Spending on the drugs cost the program $148 million, representing 5% of the total spent on these drugs in 2008. Some examples quoted in the report include: One Georgia patient obtained prescriptions for a 1,679-day supply of oxycodone pills from 58 prescribers, the GAO said. A physician treating the patient recalled her asking for early refills of the painkiller repeatedly; A patient in California received prescriptions for fentanyl from 21 prescribers’ in 2008. The patient’s physician later received a letter from the state prescription drug-monitoring program informing her that within a four-month period the patient had 33 prescriptions from 10 prescribers. The physician then notified the patient that she would no longer treat the patient. The best way to prevent doctor shopping is through state prescription drug-monitoring programs. Each of us  by now should have access to E-FORCSE, Florida’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, and use it to look up each and every patient who is being prescribed a controlled substance.

The House of Representatives voted on 12.08. 2011 to ban synthetic drugs nicknamed “bath salts” and other compounds that mimic marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/08/2537445/house-votes-to-ban-synthetic-drugs.html#ixzz1gZAWX7YG).  Rep Charlie Dent, R-Pa., said his legislation identifies chemical compounds that affect the brain in ways similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. They would be added to the highly restrictive Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

The bill also bans chemical compounds in synthetic drugs marketed as “bath salts” or “plant food” and under brand names such as K2 and Spice that have been used as substitutes for cocaine and other narcotics. They are now sold legally in some states.  The vote was 317-98, with some Democrats saying the bill went too far in restricting chemicals that could be valuable to researchers looking for cures to diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. When a drug is placed on Schedule I, said California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, “It becomes difficult to obtain not only for illegal purposes but for researchers who wish to study its pharmaceutical and medical potential.

A Miami Herald editorial titled “Dangerous prescription” the Miami Herald called for a federal law banning the online sale of narcotics. Such a legislation must be enforced through a strong, combined effort. Authorities along with domain registering websites, social media networks and credit card companies need to be alert to spot online pill mills and report suspicious activity involving illegal, counterfeit and dangerous products. We should strongly support such efforts because questionable online pharmacies skillfully abuse loopholes to provide anyone with  controlled substance of their choice provided they can pay.  Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/09/2539336/dangerous-prescription.html#ixzz1gZByFnoW

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New York Mayor Bloomberg to address “blues” problem in the City.

Just come up on the 13th of December article that city officials are finally starting to clamp down on the prescription drugs problem had a father of a being detoxed from oxys call me from MA the other morning,have to refer since still have no license…

New York Mayor Launches Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force

By Join Together Staff | December 13, 2011 | Leave a comment | Filed in Community Related, Drugs, Government, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is launching a task force to fight the growing prescription drug abuse epidemic in the city, after officials identified 21 pharmacies that account for about one-fourth of the city’s oxycodone Medicaid reimbursements.

During the past 20 years, New York City has experienced a 10-fold jump in the use of prescription opioids, The Wall Street Journal reports. The number of opioid-related emergency rooms visits jumped 40 percent between 2004 and 2009. “These drugs are being used to do more than just kill pain,” Bloomberg said in a statement to the newspaper. “They are being misprescribed and misused, resulting in addiction and overdoses.”

The task force will include health and law-enforcement officials. The group’s first round of recommendations is expected in January.

The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will release guidelines for physicians on how to prescribe opioids safely, according to the article. The guidelines recommend that for most patients with acute pain, a three-day supply of opioids is enough, even though doctors regularly prescribe much more.