International GUIDELINESon HUMAN RIGHTSand DRUG POLICY

International GUIDELINESon HUMAN RIGHTSand DRUG POLICY 29 pages click link to upload *.PDF

Medication prices may actually coming down – unless PBM’s find a “new trick” to generate profits

Movement to reform pharmacy middlemen reaches a boiling point nationwide https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190429/movement-to-reform-pharmacy-middlemen-reaches-boiling-point-nationwide They once were the obscure middlemen reaping billions off prescription-drug transactions as they worked behind a veil of secrecy. But a wave of reforms to the $400 billion-a-year industry of pharmacy benefit management is cresting across the United States. According to the National Academy […]

DOJ Declines to Prosecute DEA Agent Who ‘Provided False Statements Under Oath’ About Subordinate Who ‘Apparently’ Had Sex in Park

DOJ Declines to Prosecute DEA Agent Who ‘Provided False Statements Under Oath’ About Subordinate Who ‘Apparently’ Had Sex in Park https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom-staff/doj-declines-prosecute-dea-agent-who-provided-false-statements-under (CNSNews.com) – The Department of Justice has declined to prosecute a Drug Enforcement Agency special agent who “provided false statements under oath” to the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice […]

Kolodny: Opioid Makers’ Deception Merits Dramatic Responses

Kolodny: Opioid Makers’ Deception Merits Dramatic Responses https://www.addictionpro.com/article/kolodny-opioid-makers-deception-merits-dramatic-responses In a workshop talk on preventing future public health catastrophes at the Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit, Andrew Kolodny, MD, opened with the comment, “I’m not playing the blame game.” Still, the co-director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University delivered blistering criticisms for […]

Munster doctor sentenced for over-prescribing pain pills

Munster doctor sentenced for over-prescribing pain pills https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/munster-doctor-sentenced-for-over-prescribing-pain-pills/article_31c9fcad-d45b-5ef5-b493-777b0439c2f6.html HAMMOND — A doctor has been sentenced to serve 15 months in prison for over-prescribing pain medication at a Munster clinic. Dr. Jay K. Joshi, 34, a general practice physician at Prestige Clinic in Munster, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Philip Simon to serve […]

Tragic Veteran Suicide At Cleveland VA Medical Center

Tragic Veteran Suicide At Cleveland VA Medical Center www.disabledveterans.org/2019/04/30/tragic-veteran-suicide-at-cleveland-va-medical-center/ A veteran tragically took his own life yesterday at the Cleveland VA Medical Center just outside the facility’s emergency department. “Our deepest condolences go out to the loved ones affected by this death,” the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System said in a statement. “Suicide prevention is […]

Nearly all doctors can freely prescribe opioids. Now a new movement aims to vastly deregulate an addiction treatment

Nearly all doctors can freely prescribe opioids. Now a new movement aims to vastly deregulate an addiction treatment www.statnews.com/2019/04/30/loosen-restrictions-on-prescribing-buprenorphine-addiction-treatment/ WASHINGTON — Eighteen state public health directors, a growing group of physicians, and a prominent member of Congress are pushing a dramatic expansion of substance use treatment by posing a simple question: Why can’t doctors who […]

When the newly elected FL AG is married to a DEA agent – is this what you get ?

‘Privacy’ fears? Florida lawmakers use old argument against attorney general’s opioid bill https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/04/29/privacy-fears-florida-lawmakers-use-old-argument-against-attorney-generals-opioid-bill/ Privacy was used as an excuse by lawmakers in the 2000s in establishing a database that could be used to alleviate a burgeoning opioid crisis. Now, lawmakers are using the same excuse to prevent Florida from using the data to help its […]

Part of the solution: National Assoc Chain Drug Stores opioid abuse-prevention work

Part of the solution: NACDS’ opioid abuse-prevention work https://www.drugstorenews.com/insights/part-of-the-solution-nacds-opioid-abuse-prevention-work/ NACDS members are meeting at the 2019 NACDS Annual Meeting amid rapid change. Throughout the event, NACDS will update the industry on public policy priorities. These issues have a profound impact on the operating environment in which members are conducting business and serving consumers. Many of […]

Aetna settles suit alleging claim-denying medical director never read patient’s records

Aetna settles suit alleging claim-denying medical director never read patient’s records https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/26/health/aetna-settlement-california-investigation/index.html Aetna has settled a lawsuit in which a company medical director said under oath that he never looked at patients’ records when deciding whether to approve or deny coverage — testimony that prompted an investigation by the California insurance commissioner. The health insurance […]