Doctors Call for an End to Long-Term Prescriptions for Opioid Painkillers

In response to the growing problem of prescription painkiller abuse in the U.S., three California doctors are calling on their colleagues to rethink the use of narcotic prescription drugs as medication for patients who experience chronic pain.  In the U.S., opioid painkillers including OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin are now prescribed more than any other drugs.  According to the doctors, up to 20% of patient visits to physicians result in a prescription for one of these opioid drugs.

Dr. Deborah Grady, Dr. Seth Berkowitz and Dr. Mitchell Katz have published their plea as an editorial in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  The doctors state that 20-40% of adults report non-cancer chronic pain and that opioids have become the most common form of treatment even though few studies are available that examine the use of these drugs for the long-term treatment of …

Continue ReadingDoctors Call for an End to Long-Term Prescriptions for Opioid Painkillers

Articles Highlight Oxy Epidemic in Southern Ohio

We were sent two recent articles about the Oxy epidemic in Ohio.

New York times: Ohio County Losing It’s Young to Painkillers’ Grip

Excerpt:

Such is life in Scioto County, a Southern Ohio county on the Ohio river where a prescription drug epidemic crosses all socioeconomic lines, wrecking young lives from ramshackle trailer parks to cushy suburban homes.

Excerpt:

Fueled in part by a half-dozen legally operating pain clinics that dot Scioto County, doling out an estimated 35 million pills a year…

Thirty five million pills a year prescribed in Scioto County?  A county with a population of 79,499 (Source: U.S. Census Bureau).  That’s 440 pills per person (including babies, children, people who’ve never taken a prescription drug in their lives). Do you think we have an epidemic here?

Cleveland.com: Young Lives Wrecked by Prescription Drug Epidemic in Southern Ohio

Continue ReadingArticles Highlight Oxy Epidemic in Southern Ohio

Positive News on the Opiate Crackdown in Ohio

In an article forwarded to us (6 men charged in Ohio Pill Mill Ring) , we see that Ohio is doing their part to crackdown on the OxyContin epidemic.  Authorities in Ohio are prosecuting six people involved in a pill mill in Waverly.  This is encouraging because you can read how unsavory the behaviors of the pill mill operators were:

The indictment alleges that the clinic was owned and operated by Nancy and Lester Sadler and Lisa Clevenger. The clinic operated as a “pill mill” by selling prescriptions for controlled substances (usually oxycodone), without a legitimate medical need for the prescriptions.

Many of the prescriptions were openly sold and diverted. Blank prescriptions forms were sold so the buyer could use or resell the prescriptions.

Additionally, the defendants allegedly created fake medical records and prescriptions for individuals who were not actual

Continue ReadingPositive News on the Opiate Crackdown in Ohio

Doctor Faces 230-year Sentence for Prescription Drug Dealing

In today’s changing climate of addiction, where prescription drug abuse has surpassed illegal drug abuse, the drug dealers are often members of the medical profession. This again became evident this week in a Los Angeles federal courtroom when Dr. Nazar Al Bussum pled guilty to drug distribution charges. The 72-year-old geriatric physician, who lives in the exclusive community of Newport Coast but operated clinics in Downy and Los Angeles, could be sentenced to as many as 230 years in prison and fined up to $11.5 million.

Al Bussum is charged with writing prescriptions for narcotic painkillers, codeine cough syrup and anti-anxiety medication for patients who had no medical need for the drugs. The majority of the prescriptions were for oxycodone, hydrocodone and Xanax – all highly addictive substances. Federal prosecutors estimate that he wrote more than 60,000 prescriptions between 2007 …

Continue ReadingDoctor Faces 230-year Sentence for Prescription Drug Dealing

Famous Rock Musician Succumbs to Opiate Addiction and Robs Pharmacy on Tour

In an almost unbelievably tragic story, the destructive grip  of OxyContin is yet again displayed as a touring rock star robs a pharmacy in a taxi to get OxyContin.

Michael Todd was scheduled to play the Comcast Center in Mansfield Massachussetts on the night of July 10th when he went into an Attleboro Walgreens and “held it up” (with a bomb threat  – displayed on his blackberry) for OxyContin.  He eventually was given oxycodone and left in a taxi getaway car.

Why Would Someone Do This?

Before you dismiss this as a laughable act of a crazy person – we would ask you to consider what kind of suffering Michael Todd might have been experiencing due to OxyContin addiction.

As part of the  powerful and artistically lauded rock band Coheed and Cambria, Michael had worked his way up through …

Continue ReadingFamous Rock Musician Succumbs to Opiate Addiction and Robs Pharmacy on Tour

“Gateway to Heroin” Documents the Link between OxyContin and Heroin

In 2009, Current TV correspondent Mariana von Zeller traveled to South Florida to report on the prescription drug pipeline that stretches from the beaches of Miami to the hills of Appalachia.  Her documentary, “The OxyContin Express,” won a Peabody Award for its depiction of the impact of Florida’s prescription drug epidemic on addicts, law enforcement officials and prisoners.  Now von Zeller has produced a new documentary called “Gateway to Heroin” that exposes how prescription opiate addicts are turning to heroin for a cheaper high.

For “Gateway to Heroin,” von Zeller focused on the situation in Massachusetts, where prescription pills have become the most popular street drugs.  Many drug dealers travel to Florida (referred to by von Zeller as the “Colombia of prescription drugs”) to obtain prescription drugs illegally, bringing them back to Massachusetts to sell on the street.  In an …

Continue Reading“Gateway to Heroin” Documents the Link between OxyContin and Heroin

Justice For Henry – Some are Not Taking this Laying Down

More Sadness and Loss but Also More Internet Activism

We sometimes read something that re-invigorates our mission to put an end to the loss of innocent life due to irresponsible drug laws and medical practices.

For another moving example of those who choose not to grieve silently but rather stand up to be heard, visit this site:

http://justiceforhenry.com/about-henry/

You will be moved as we certainly are.

Happy 4th of July and le’ts hope the coming year brings us closer to Justice for Henry.…

Continue ReadingJustice For Henry – Some are Not Taking this Laying Down

The Oxy Epidemic that Turns Good People Bad

 

 

 

Before the Fathers Day Massacre

Melinda Brady, 29, was convicted of third-degree burglary and obstructing governmental administration with a set bail at $1.5 million bond or $175,000 cash. Her Husband David Laffer,33, was convicted for first-degree murder for the victims of the Medford Long Island New York pharmacy massacre.

Read our Coverage of the Father’s Day Massacre

Read our Coverage of the Arrest of the Father’s Day Murderer

This event has shattered many families and have left police speechless being “the most cold-blooded robbery-homicide in Suffolk County history,”  As Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney John Collins said.

Police Commissioner Richard Dormer was at a loss of words for Laffer and Brady, because they were a couple with out any previous criminal records or history of violence.

Dormer said, “It is very difficult to comprehend this…to suddenly engage …

Continue ReadingThe Oxy Epidemic that Turns Good People Bad

Fathers Day Pharmacy Shooter Caught and Pleads Not Guilty

The suburban neighborhood in Medford Long Island New York will never forget this years’ Father’s Day. That’s because four innocent lives got brutally executed in a local pharmacy by a man robbing the store for Oxycodone.  The assailant took only the drugs and left all the money. Read our “Father’s Day Massacre” story.

Suffolk County police examined the video footage from the pharmacy’s security cameras. Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said, “[This is] one of the most heinous, brutal crimes we have ever encountered.”

The video showed David Laffer,33, walk into the pharmacy calmly and started small talk with the pharmacist Raymond Ferguson at the counter. Then without warning Laffer pulled out a .45-caliber pistol and shoot him in the abdomen.

Then Laffer cornered 17-year-old pharmacy clerk Jennifer Mejia into an aisle and shot her twice. Then he returned to Ferguson …

Continue ReadingFathers Day Pharmacy Shooter Caught and Pleads Not Guilty

Black Market OxyContin Worth Millions

 

Black Market OxyContin Worth Millions

Prescription drug abuse has created a growing black market demand for pain killers like OxyContin as well as for drugs used to treat depression and anxiety.  Using data from federal law enforcement agencies, CNN recently published a comparison of street versus legal prescription drug prices:

  • OxyContin: up to $80 on the street compared to $6 with a prescription.
  • Hydrocodone and/or Vicodin: up to $25 compared to $1.50.
  • Percocet: up to $15 compared to $6.

The high price of black market OxyContin and other illegal prescription drugs is driven by a growing demand.  Even after the release of OxyContin’s new formulation the drug is the primary target of opiate addicted abusers. The DEA reports that 7 million Americans abused prescription drugs in 2009, up 13% from 2008.  The agency expects there to …

Continue ReadingBlack Market OxyContin Worth Millions