Prescription Meds Increasingly Prescribed

At the root of the Prescription Drug Abuse epidemic is the reckless prescription of the drugs themselves.

A couple of shocking statistics that we have shared here but bear repeating:

  • Purdue Pharmaceuticals revenue for OxyContin alone in 2010 was:  $ 3,084,262,027.00
  • Number of prescriptions written for Hydrocodone (Vicodin) in the U.S in 2010 was: 106,777,390
  • “According to recent estimates, Florida prescribes ten times more oxycodone pills than all other states combined. ” (U.S. Attorney Wifredo A .Ferrer stated recently)
  • The United States makes up only 4.6 percent of the world’s population, but consumes 80 percent of its opioids — and 99 percent of the world’s hydrocodone (the opiate that is in Vicodin)
  • 1 in 5 U.S. adults taking meds for Psychological Disorders

It’s no wonder that practices like the above have led to rampant  prescription drug abuse in the United …

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California’s Prescription Monitoring System Threatened by Budget Cuts

Two of the biggest cases of prescription drug diversion in California weren’t broken open by detective work alone.  Dr. Lisa Barden, an obstetrician from the Coachella Valley, stole patients’ identities to fuel her own prescription drug addiction.  Dr. Nazar Al Bussam, was the top provider of illegal prescription drugs in Southern California for three years.  Both doctors were arrested after being flagged by California’s prescription drug monitoring system.

California’s system, known as the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES), is the oldest drug monitoring program in the nation. Read more about CURES at the State of California Department of Justice Website. At a time when prescription drug abuse is at an all-time high, California Governor Jerry Brown is threatening to shut down the system in response to budget cuts.  According to authorities, future investigations into unethical doctors and …

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Cool Looking Prescription Drug Dropoffs

There is a new initiative to try and provide easier alternatives for people to dispose of prescription drugs.

Let alone, the issues of addiction and overdose, pharmaceutical drugs are harmful to the environment if they are not properly disposed of.

Pictured are a couple of the “drop boxes” that will be used in New Jersey…

What do you think the potential is an ambitious drug seeker will try to get into one of these? We know from the article that at least one of them is going to be inside the lobby of a police station… which should greatly reduce that likelihood.…

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Los Angeles OxyContin Pill Mills Raided

The pill mills of Florida have generally been the primary focus of a of media attention. However, we’ve seen some big OxyContin related busts in the southland of California as well:

Smuggling Ring Took Pills Into Mexico

Newport Coast Doctor Gets 230 Year Sentence

Rowland Hights Dr. Tseng – Doctor of Death Sued by Family of Overdose Victim

This week Los Angeles has some news on the Oxy Crackdown because  four medical clinics that were suspected of illegally dispensing prescriptions were raided.

Investigators determined that the San Fernando Valley clinics have been operating as pill mills, catering to addicts seeking narcotic painkillers and other prescription drugs.  The raids were carried out by local, state and federal investigators from the LAPD, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the California Department of Justice, the IRS and the FBI.

The investigation was prompted by …

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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 …

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Google Prepares for Hefty Fine for Illegal Drug Ads

Google, the internationally-known search engine and online advertising company, is being investigated by federal regulators for displaying ads for illegal pharmacies that sell prescription drugs online.  These illegal pharmacies sell legitimate prescription drugs without a prescription as well as counterfeit drugs.  Now a recent Securities and Exchange System filing by Google indicates that the company is setting aside $500 million in the event that they are fined for their drug advertising practices.  This sum represents 22% of the company’s net income of $2.3 billion.

If Google is fined $500 million or more, it could the largest penalty of its type ever paid to the U.S. Department of Justice.  This reflects the enormity of the problem of online prescription drug sales.  A study by doctors at the University  of California and Massachusetts General Hospital found a link between the increase in …

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Son of Democratic Chairman Dies of Overdose

The son of Tennessee Democratic Party chairman Chip Forrester was found dead in his Phi Gamma Delta house  last month. Wilson Forrester, 19, was a promising student at the University of Arizona in Tucson Arizona, which was ranked the fifth “hardest-partying” college in 2009 by Playboy.

On April 2, 2011 Forrester was having drinks at Fiji’s fraternity house when friends had to call paramedics after Forrester’s body collapsed. Forrester was pronounced dead at around 9 a.m. When Tucson news KGUN tried to talk to his Phi Gamma Delta, or Fiji, fraternity brothers they refused to comment. Only one comment was made “We’re getting over it and whatever you guys can find by yourselves, that’s pretty much it.”

On April 3, 2011 an autopsy was performed by Dr. Parks with the Pima County Medical Examiners office. Dr. Bruce’s report revealed that …

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Purdue Pharma is seeking 6 Year Old Kids For Oxycontin Study

 

Purdue Pharma is looking for six year-old kids to take OxyContin

Makers of OxyContin Purdue Pharma are currently recruiting participants for a clinical study in the treatment of moderate and severe pain.

This are the eligibility standards that Purdue Pharma submitted on March of 2011:

Ages Eligible for Study:       6 Years to 16 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:       Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:       No
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria include:
•    Male and female patients aged 6 to 16 years, inclusive, who are expected to require ongoing around-the-clock opioid treatment equivalent to at least 20-mg daily dose of oxycodone for at least 2 weeks for management of moderate to severe (based on the investigator’s judgment) malignant or nonmalignant pain.
•    Patients must be opioid tolerant, ie, have been treated with opioids for at least the 5 consecutive days prior to dosing and …

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The Facts about Prescription Drug Addiction

Prescription drugs are currently one of the most abused categories of drugs in America, surpassed only by marijuana.  They are even more widely abused than street drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.  Part of the attraction of prescription drugs is that they are relatively easy to obtain from doctors or prescription drug dealers.  They can be found in the medicine cabinets of many households, easily accessible to family members and visitors.  As a result, a growing number of people are abusing prescription drugs and becoming addicted.

The National Institutes of Health has reported that an estimated 20 percent of people in the U.S. have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons.  The most highly addictive prescription drugs are narcotic painkillers (OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet), tranquilizers (Valium, Xanax, Ativan) and stimulants (Adderall, Ritalin).

Prescription steroids, which increase muscle mass and may be prescribed …

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Pharmacies are the New Battleground as Thieves Seek OxyContin

“We Do Not Stock OxyContin” — signs like this are showing up in the windows of more and more pharmacies as robbers seeking the highly addictive painkiller become more brazen.  The New York Times recently reported on a pharmacist in Maine who stopped filling prescriptions for OxyContin

following a robbery by two men wearing ski masks and wielding knives.  The robbers were seeking only one thing —  OxyContin.  Rather than hiring a security guard, pharmacist Chet Hibbard decided to stop dispensing the drug and to post signs letting potential thieves know that they wouldn’t find OxyContin in his store.

Since its introduction in 1996, OxyContin has become the best-selling narcotic pain medication in the U.S.  Its time-release formula has allowed many people who suffer from chronic pain to live more active lives.  Unfortunately, OxyContin has also become one of the …

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