PHARMACIST STEVE

Getting worse before it gets better: DEA agent predicts deepening opioid epidemic TEMPE – The opioid crisis in Arizona is likely to grow, a DEA agent warned Wednesday, adding that it’s time to stop playing the blame game. “For right now, unfortunately, it looks like the problem is getting worse before it gets better,” said […]

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https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/sites/newyorklawjournal/2018/02/14/judge-says-dea-not-courts-may-be-better-forum-to-challenge-cannabis-policy/ A federal judge on Wednesday lobbed tough questions at an attorney for a group of plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of marijuana prohibition, asking why his court is the best forum to push the government to cease enforcement. But U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York, while hearing oral arguments on the government’s […]

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Physician wracked with guilt after losing patient to overdose https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/themethodsman/71172 Audrey Provenzano, MD, MPH, a primary care physician in Chelsea, Mass., avoided getting the waiver needed to prescribe buprenorphine (Suboxone), and so was unable to treat an opioid-addicted patient who subsequently died of an overdose. She wrote about this experience in a moving piece appearing […]

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https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/09/28/cvss-transparent-opioid-pr-stunt-11880 CVS has taken it upon itself to enact rules that allow their pharmacists to ignore a physician’s prescription by changing the number of pills, the daily maximum dose, and even the form of the drug itself. And the company’s new policy is based on a decidedly faulty premise, which I will describe below. What the […]

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https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/resources/hospice/discussing-benefits-palliative-care A recent meta-analysis found that palliative care interventions were associated with statistically and clinically significant improvements in patient quality of life (QoL) and symptom burden.1 Palliative care improves the quality of life of seriously ill patients.The study analyzed 43 randomized clinical trials, including data on 12,731 patients, with 35 of those trials using “usual […]

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www.thecannabist.co/2018/02/14/marijuana-schedule-i-lawsuit-trial/98979/ An Iraq War vet, a 12-year-old girl with a seizure disorder and an ex-NFL player are among five plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) as it pertains to marijuana. NEW YORK (AP) — Army veteran Jose Belen says the horrors of the Iraq War left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, […]

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LAS VEGAS – Nightly newscasts across the country are filled with stories about the opioid epidemic — the opioid crisis. Tens of thousands of Americans who die each year are found with opioids in their systems, and so government at every level has stepped in to put limits on otherwise legal medications, including here in […]

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At 34-I have had chronic pain & migraines all my life- My mother used to tell me of all the times I Used to bang my head when I was a baby- I have suffered with migraines so bad it felt like my brain was going to squeeze thru my nose- I have pain all […]

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canadians-give-up-food-heat-to-afford-prescriptions-study-says-1.4533476 Nearly one million Canadians spent less on necessities like food and heat to afford their prescriptions in 2016, according to a new study. The paper, published Tuesday, found that 730,000 people skimped on food and another 238,000 spent less on heating their home — a total of 968,000 people. “We knew lots of Canadians were having trouble paying […]

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/13/us-drug-companies-accused-cheerleaders-opioids The five biggest companies making prescription opioids have been accused by a US Senate committee of spending $10m on patient advocacy and medical groups to encourage use of the addictive drugs, which are at the root of a public health crisis in America.  “I think these groups were cheerleaders … cheerleaders too often for […]

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