American Kratom Association Urges Local Authorities To Stop Unscientific Attacks On Kratom

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

American Kratom Association Urges Local Authorities To Stop Unscientific Attacks On Kratom

https://www.yahoo.com/news/american-kratom-association-urges-local-authorities-stop-unscientific-150000828.html

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Even though the case for banning or scheduling kratom has been debunked, there continue to be a number of unwarranted warnings about the coffee-like botanical coming from city, county and state agencies across the United States.  In calling for a halt to these unscientific attacks on kratom, the American Kratom Association today issued a new fact-versus-fiction infographic at http://tinyurl.com/gvwbsk5.

The local and state warnings appear to be an outgrowth of the one or more briefings conducted last fall by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with police and health officials across the United States. The AKA has learned of the DEA briefing or briefings, which were held before the point in time when the federal agency put on hold its plan to schedule kratom as an illegal drug.

To date, AKA has uncovered unfounded anti-kratom warnings issued by the Floyd County Police Department in Georgia, the Winchester (VA) Police Department, the Oxford (AL) Police Department, the City of Denver, and the Utah Poison Control Center. Though the City of Denver backed off its initial kratom ban, it has not withdrawn its related public health warning. The Utah agency has gone so far as to label kratom incorrectly as a “toxin.”

To address any remaining pockets of anti-kratom hysteria, the new AKA fact-versus-fiction infographic seeks to set the record straight by focusing on such key facts as the following:

  • 1,175 doctors, veterans, scientists and law enforcement officers told the DEA they don’t want a kratom ban.
  • 0 percent of emergency health care professionals (including nurses and surgeons) responding to an online survey favored a ban on kratom.
  • Zero deaths have been proven to be caused by kratom.
  • One of the world’s leading experts on drug abuse and addiction says kratom has no more potential for “substance use disorder” than caffeine.  Chamomile, St John’s Wort, and nutmeg are dietary supplements that are comparable to kratom in terms of their potential for addiction.
  • Kratom consumers report that the botanical supplement is consumed for many things, including the management of minor pain and to promote a sense of health and well-being.

American Kratom Association Director Susan Ash said: “We are calling for state and local officials to recognize that the DEA backed away from its move to ban kratom after being faced with substantial public opposition and expert testimony that such a scheduling move is unjustified.  As such, it is time to end the ‘Reefer Madness’-style attacks on this coffee-like botanical that is used responsibly by myself and three-five million other Americans.  It’s not as though these officials don’t have real problems to deal with today.  We have a real opioid epidemic unfolding in this country.  Federal, state, and local officials would be much better off focusing on that bona fide public health crisis, instead of trying to stoke unfounded fears about an imaginary ‘kratom problem’.”

The American Kratom Association is proud to be playing an instrumental role in helping to coordinate the broad-based national opposition to the DEA’s attempt to effectively ban kratom:

ABOUT AKA

The America Kratom Association, a consumer-based non-profit organization, is here to set the record straight, giving a voice to those suffering and protecting our rights to possess and consume kratom. AKA represents tens of thousands of Americans, each of whom has a unique story to tell about the virtues of kratom and its positive effects on their lives. www.americankratom.org

 

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-kratom-association-urges-local-authorities-to-stop-unscientific-attacks-on-kratom-300424855.html

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Sessions: ‘We don’t need to be legalizing marijuana’

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Two years after the DEA admitted marijuana is less dangerous than heroin, Jeff Sessions would like to reconsider

Less than two years after the Drug Enforcement Administration officially admitted that “heroin is clearly more dangerous than marijuana,” new Attorney General Jeff Sessions revisited that comparison in remarks today before law enforcement officials in Richmond:

I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store. And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana — so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.

Sessions remarks are contradicted by a wealth of medical and policy research.

For starters, researchers and policymakers aren’t suggesting that marijuana legalization will “solve” the heroin crisis. As I noted late last month, there is, however, abundant, peer-reviewed evidence suggesting that legalizing medical marijuana has led to decreases in opioid overdose and mortality rates in a number of states.

Sessions: ‘We don’t need to be legalizing marijuana’

Expressing his views on drug policy, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said marijuana legalization wouldn’t be “good for us.” He also doubted reports of marijuana’s effectiveness fighting opioid addiction, adding “we need to crack down more on heroin.” (Reuters)

And my list is already out-of-date: A new report published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence last month found opioid hospitalizations decreased in states that allowed medical marijuana. Furthermore, those states saw no increase in the incidence of marijuana-related hospitalizations.

That speaks to Sessions’s second point: that marijuana dependency is “only slightly less awful” than heroin addiction. Drug dependency of any kind is, indeed, awful. And marijuana dependency is quite real.

But there is a spectrum of “awful”-ness of drug dependency, and evidence and common sense suggest marijuana and heroin are miles apart. For starters, heroin is lethal and kills 13,000 of its users each year. Nobody ODs on marijuana alone.

Second, the federal government’s own research undermines any equivalency between dependency on marijuana and heroin. You can often gauge how bad a given drug addiction is by looking at what happens when a user tries to kick the habit. For heroin, the National Institute on Drug Abuse lists withdrawal symptoms including “muscle and bone pain, sleep problems, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, uncontrollable leg movements severe heroin cravings.”

Heroin withdrawal is so bad that users occasionally die from it, particularly in harsh criminal justice environments where they’re unable to receive medical care.

For marijuana, on the other hand, major withdrawal symptoms include “grouchiness, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety cravings.”

Grouchiness and decreased appetite seem far — not “slightly” — less awful than severe pain and possible death.

Finally, researchers have generally ranked marijuana use as far less harmful to individuals and society than heroin use. In a 2010 Lancet report, dozens of researchers and public health experts rated the harm potential of a variety of drugs on a 0 to 100 scale, with 100 being the most harmful. Heroin scored in the mid-50s. Marijuana was rated at a 20.

Sessions’s remarks are “a sort of starting gun for a new war on drugs,” according to Michael Collins of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group working to reform drug laws. “It’s very disappointing that this DOJ and this attorney general are so anti-science and anti-evidence and anti-facts.”

How marijuana legalization in Washington, Colorado and Oregon is working out so far

 

Voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada just approved recreational marijuana use. Here’s what they can learn from Washington, Colorado and Oregon, states where marijuana use has already been legalized. (Daron Taylor, Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)

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14 million will lose healthcare coverage

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

It is amazing that everyone in the media and many in Congress has their “shorts in a wad”.. all based on a CBO projection whose estimates have been way off the mark previously, especially when they under estimated the cost of ACA(Obamacare) by ONE TRILLION DOLLARS.

Of course, even with the implementation of the ACA we had some THIRTY MILLION that still does not have health insurance.

They have claimed that 36,000 thousand/yr could die if ACA is repealed https://thinkprogress.org/heres-how-many-people-could-die-every-year-if-obamacare-is-repealed-ae4bf3e100a2#.gyr66uwt4

A recent survey released by Pain News Network   Survey Finds CDC Opioid Guidelines Harming Patients    that one year after the CDC opiate dosing guidelines, 70% of chronic pain pts have had their pain medication reduced or eliminated by their prescriber.

No media wide OUTRAGE… exploring all the millions of acute and chronic pain pts that would not receive adequate medical care ?  No estimated “death toll”.

Does this suggest that those with acute/chronic pain are really just considered “second class citizens” ?

 

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over 70 percent of pain patients say they are no longer prescribed opioid medication or are getting a lower dose

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Survey Finds CDC Opioid Guidelines Harming Patients

www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/3/13/survey-finds-cdc-opioid-guidelines-harming-patients

The CDC’s opioid prescribing guidelines have harmed pain patients, reduced access to pain care, and failed to reduce drug abuse and overdoses, according to a large new survey of patients, doctors and healthcare providers. The survey also found signs of a dramatic shift away from opioid prescribing over the past year.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the guidelines, which discourage the prescribing of opioid medication for chronic pain. The guidelines are meant to be voluntary and only intended for primary care physicians, but are being widely implemented throughout the U.S. healthcare system and are having many unintended consequences.

According to the survey, over 70 percent of pain patients say they are no longer prescribed opioid medication or are getting a lower dose. While reducing opioid prescriptions may have been the ultimate goal of the guidelines, it came with a heavy price: Eight out of ten patients say their pain and quality of life are worse. Many are having suicidal thoughts, and some are hoarding opioids or turning to illegal drugs for pain relief.

“I had a doctor pull me off methadone cold turkey after taking it successfully for 15 years for no reason other than the CDC’s guidelines. I was in the worst pain of my life,” said one patient.

“The CDC needs to stop practicing medicine without a license. They are hurting more chronic pain patients than they are helping,” said another.

“These guidelines are so incredibly wrong. People are already suffering, myself included. And it’s going to get so much worse,” predicted one patient.

“The ‘War on Drugs’ has devolved into a war on patients,” wrote a primary care doctor. “The government should spend its time, effort, and money on research to find a pain treatment with fewer harmful effects than narcotics and butt out of the doctor-patient relationship.”

HOW HAVE THE CDC GUIDELINES AFFECTED YOUR OPIOID PRESCRIPTIONS?

 
  • 23% OPIOID PRESCRIPTIONS STOPPED
  • 48% LOWER DOSE
  • 24% SAME DOSE
  • 2% HIGHER DOSE
  • 3% DO NOT USE OPIOIDS
 

The online survey of 3,108 pain patients, 43 doctors and 235 other healthcare providers was conducted between February 15 and March 11 by Pain News Network and the International Pain Foundation (iPain).

“This survey shows that patients and providers are in agreement about the harm the guidelines have caused since their release last year,” said Barby Ingle, president of iPain. “When we have government agencies or insurance companies impose poor practices on the pain community, we see failure. A failure to stop abuse and overdoses, hoarding behaviors by well-intentioned patients, increased use of illegal drugs and, worst of all, suicides increase.”

There was broad agreement between patients, doctors and healthcare providers that the guidelines have been harmful to patients. When asked if the guidelines had improved the quality of pain care in the United States, over 90 percent said no.

“I have been on a high dose of opioids for twenty years. I was having a quality of life and enjoyed living. Now I want to die every day. I am in excruciating pain and have no quality of life. I am on more drugs than ever and all I want is to die,” said a patient..

“Not only do I have less pain relief but I am not able to be as active and am sad and frustrated about that. Something has to change, what’s happening is not sane or humane,” wrote a fibromyalgia sufferer.

HAVE THE CDC GUIDELINES IMPROVED THE QUALITY OF PAIN CARE?

 
  • 90% NO
  • 3% YES
  • 7% DON’T KNOW
 

Eight out of ten respondents said the guidelines have not been successful in reducing opioid abuse and overdoses. That view is supported by recent reports showing that opioid overdoses are soaring around the country, and are now being driven primarily by heroin and illicit fentanyl, not prescription painkillers. 

Some patients admit they are turning to the black market for pain relief.

“Eleven of the 36 people in my support group have admitted using illegally obtained pain medication. Three of those have resorted to heroin because it is cheaper,” one patient said.

“I was able to find illegal sources of medication. However, the prices are high. I have been trying to avoid heroin but I may have to make a switch in the future if I don’t find another doctor to manage my pain,” said another patient.

“My pain clinic sent a letter to all of their patients stating they would no longer prescribe opiates,” said a patient. “No other practice would accept me in the area so I have been able to obtain my former meds through the black market. The prices are high and I am tempted to move to heroin as it’s much less expensive.”

HAVE THE CDC GUIDELINES BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN REDUCING OPIOID ABUSE AND OVERDOSES?

 
  • 84% NO
  • 3% YES
  • 13% DON’T KNOW
 

“I have found a source of illegal hydrocodone that I have been testing (making sure not laced with fentanyl) in extremely small does. If that turns out clean I will move to the black market for my drugs since it will end up cheaper,” another patient wrote.

Over the past year, patients reported many negative consequences from the guidelines, with very few positive outcomes – such as finding safer and more effective treatments.

  • 84% say they have more pain and worse quality of life
  • 42% have considered suicide because their pain is poorly treated
  • 22% are hoarding opioids because they’re not sure of future access
  • 20% say insurance refused to pay for a pain treatment they needed
  • 19% say a pharmacy refused to fill their opioid prescription
  • 11% have obtained opioids illegally for pain relief
  •   4% found better and safer treatment than opioids
  •   4% were given a referral for addiction treatment
  •   4% were discharged by a doctor for failing a drug test
  •   1% found that they don’t really need opioids

Suicidal thoughts and an increasing sense of desperation were common in many of the patient’s answers.

“My neighbor poured gasoline over her head and set herself on fire and died because she could not get any pain relief. To me it’s the same as taking chemo and radiation away from a cancer patient,” said one patient.

“Should be very careful who they kick off meds. A friend hung himself in the bathroom, another lost his job and went homeless. I live in fear,” said another.

“People are killing themselves because their chronic pain isn’t being treated, and I become closer and closer to being one of those people,” wrote another patient.

“So far I have lost three friends with chronic pain to suicide. I bet the CDC sees that as a win. Three less people to deal with. Bullets are cheaper than dealing with their chronic pain. It’s become a joke,” a patient said.

To see the complete survey results, click here.

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Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is expected to sign the handful of marijuana-related bills

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

McAuliffe expected to sign marijuana reforms

http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-cns-pot-laws-0315-20170315-story.html

RICHMOND – Virginia probably will ease up a bit in its laws against marijuana by making it easier for epilepsy patients to obtain cannabis extract oils and by relaxing the penalty for people caught with small amounts of marijuana.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe is expected to sign the handful of marijuana-related bills passed by the General Assembly during its recent session. They include SB 1027, which will allow Virginia pharmacies to make and sell marijuana extract oils for treating intractable epilepsy, and HB 2051 and SB 1091, which will eliminate the state’s punishment of automatically suspending the driver’s license of adults convicted of simple marijuana possession.

Currently, it is illegal in Virginia to purchase THC-A or CBD oils. In 2015, the General Assembly carved out one exception – for people who suffer from intractable epilepsy. Epilepsy patients and their caregivers are allowed to possess the marijuana extract oils. But they face problems buying the medication.

SB 1027, sponsored by Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax, will allow “pharmaceutical processors” – after obtaining a permit from the state Board of Pharmacy and under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist – to grow low-THC cannabis, manufacture the oil and then provide it to epilepsy patients who have a written certification from a doctor.

“Virginia will only be the second state in the nation that has this type of program, the first being Missouri,” said Maggie Ellinger-Locke, legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates liberalizing marijuana laws.

“It’s a far cry from an effective medical marijuana program, but it’s still a step in the right direction.”

Ellinger-Locke said 28 states and the District of Columbia have full-fledged programs in which people with cancer, glaucoma and other diseases can get a prescription to use marijuana.

Marsden’s bill includes an emergency clause. So when the governor signs it, the law will take effect immediately.

Del. Les. Adams, R-Chatham, and Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, carried the measures regarding driver’s licenses. Under the legislation, which would take effect July 1, judges will have the discretion to suspend the license of an adult convicted of marijuana possession – but the penalty would not be automatic. Juveniles would still be subject to an automatic six-month suspension of their driver’s license.

Ellinger-Locke said the laws are in step with reforms happening across the country.

“We are optimistic,” she said. “The polling shows that Virginians desperately want their marijuana policy changed and laws reformed in some capacity, and I think that lawmakers are starting to hear the call in Virginia as well as throughout the U.S.”

Those calls went largely unheeded during the 2017 legislative session, as about a dozen proposals, ranging from establishing a medical marijuana program to decriminalizing marijuana possession, failed.

For example, Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel of Winchester introduced bills to make marijuana products available to people with cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and several other diseases (SB 1298) and to create a pilot program for farmers to grow hemp (SB 1306). Both bills cleared the Senate but died in the House.

Marijuana likely will be an issue in statewide elections this year. Vogel, who is seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, has vowed to be an advocate for medical marijuana.

“It has no psychotropic effects, and no one is dealing it on the illicit market. For the people that are sick and really wanted the bill to pass, it was heartbreaking,” Vogel said. “I think this is a little bit of bias and a little bit of lack of education … The overwhelming majority of the voting public believes having access to that kind of medication is very helpful.”

Medical marijuana bills faced opposition from legislators afraid that expansion may become a slippery slope. Sen. Dick Black, R-Loudoun, recalled returning from serving in the Marines in Vietnam in the 1960s when, he said, marijuana use caused a collapse of “good order and discipline.”

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DEA Grown Marijuana Looks Like Oregano & Fails Mold, Yeast & Lead Tests

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

shit weedDEA Grown Marijuana Looks Like Oregano & Fails Mold, Yeast & Lead Tests

www.thesmokersclub.com/news/dea-grown-marijuana-looks-like-oregano-fails-mold-yeast-lead-tests/

Since 1970, the University of Mississippi has been growing government-funded weed for medical/clinical studies on cannabis. Turns out: that “weed” looks more like oregano than actual weed!

These pics are actually real life. Last April, the government handed Dr. Sue Sisley a $2 million grant to study medical marijuana’s effect on PTSD. Sisley got that weed delivered last fall–but then she saw the weed looked like this aka nothing anyone who smokes weed in this millennium has ever touched:

So she sent that weed for lab tests–tests that promptly found levels of yeast, mold, and lead in the samples:

“It didn’t resemble cannabis. It didn’t smell like cannabis,” Sisley says. What’s more, laboratory testing found that some of the samples were contaminated with mold, while others didn’t match the chemical potency Sisley had requested for the study.

There’s only one source of marijuana for clinical research in the United States. And “they weren’t able to produce what we were asking for,” Sisley says. [PBS]

Long story short, Sisley ended up giving this weed to veterans with PTSD in mid-January. She didn’t exactly have a choice: she can’t substitute real high-grade weed for this crap (8% THC!) and keep her grant or have the grant be used for an actual medical study.

But anyone that’s ever seen Half Baked let along smoked a doobie knows that these two things are not alike:

                     Medical Marijuana                                            Government “Marijuana”

IMG_2955

Talcum powder. Oregano. Schwag. Brick weed. Butt hair. Whatever you want to call it, Sisley is right: this stuff isn’t what anyone should be smoking–let alone our government using to base clinical studies on marijuana that might determine the plant’s medical value for the future.

It’s embarrassing that the effing government–with all that money–grows worse weed than most people grow in their closets. It’s an abortion.

Maybe NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) and the DEA hired a Mexican cartel to oversee their program because this looks far more like Mexican brick weed than it does high-grade medical marijuana.

I’ve smoked a lot of weed in my day, and I haven’t smoked weed that looks like this does…maybe ever. Sure, in high school or in Mexico I smoked some suspect, stemmy/seedy plant…but it’s been at least a decade since I saw anything that came close to this level of pathetic.

Note to the DEA: hire a real grower!

 

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Tucker wants questions to ask Trump on Wednesday night !!!

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

https://www.facebook.com/TuckerCarlsonTonight/?fref=nf

Posts

 Image may contain: 1 person, suit and text

Tucker interviews President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday. What would you ask? Tell us your questions below!

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I guess they are right… you can’t please everyone

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

A email from someone who is obviously not a fan

Thank you for being the worst possible version of yourself. Thanks to your imbecilic, ancient perspective on how to be a pharmacist, I’ve got drug addicts quoting your statements to me, telling me I am violating their civil rights. In truth, I’m denying people filling subutex, instead of suboxone, for no medical reason. Who also showed up in a group….who also had filled suboxone a few days ago at a different pharmacy, from a different md. But you say pharmacists are in the wrong. You immediately recommend legal action in your responses. You are terrible person. Thanks for justifying and empowering the threats of junkies everywhere.

Retirement was hard on you. By every account I can find, you once fought for pharmacists. Hilarious, considering your outright dismissal of us now. There are still a few here and there who remember you as a reasonable person. But that’s not you anymore. Instead, you pass judgement from retirement. Your perspective was likely spot on while you were active, but that’s not current pharmacy. Here’s a exercise that could determine your intentions…..comment on the situation I referenced in my first email. You noticeably failed to do so in your first response.

Apparently, according to this Pharmacist… my blog has an extensive readership of drug addicts… sounds to me that this Pharmacist would seem to believe that most everyone taking a opiates is a drug addict.

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How the CDC Misclassifies Opioid Overdoses

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

How the CDC Misclassifies Opioid Overdoses

www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2016/1/12/how-the-cdc-misclassifies-opioid-overdose-deaths-1

By Denise Molohon, Guest Columnist

I think the minute anyone without bias or personal agenda began reading through the CDC’s proposed guidelines for opioid prescribing, they must seriously question many things.

Chief among them, the highly suspect “low to very low quality” evidence being presented to support their “strong recommendations,” but also their dangerously skewed data; which ultimately could leave millions of chronic pain sufferers critically ill, without sound medical treatments, and with little to no quality of life.

In a recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on drug and opioid overdose deaths, I found myself doing the exact same thing — seriously questioning the data. In 2014, the report found that 28,647 people died of drug overdoses involving opioids, including heroin, a 14 percent increase over the previous year. 

However, the CDC admits in the MMWR, that “some overdose deaths may have been misclassified and the data has limitations.” I wondered how much was misclassified? Exactly what data has limitations and why?

I believe the American people have a right to transparency and full disclosure, not flawed data that is often presented in a confusing manner, such as the following qualifiers in the MMWR:

“At autopsy, toxicological laboratory tests might be performed to determine the type of drugs present; however, the substances tested for and circumstances under which the tests are performed vary by jurisdiction.”

“The percent of overdose deaths with specific drugs identified on the death certificate varies widely by state.”

“Approximately one fifth of drug overdose deaths lack information on the specific drugs involved. Some of these deaths might involve opioids.”

 “Heroin deaths might be misclassified as morphine because morphine and heroin are metabolized similarly, which might result in an underreporting of heroin overdose deaths.”

 If heroin deaths are being misclassified as morphine, which results in the “underreporting” of heroin overdose deaths, then wouldn’t the opposite also hold true? That there is “over-reporting” of morphine deaths, which are then misclassified as prescription opioid deaths? 

According to the Washington Post, CDC Director Tom Frieden admitted some heroin overdose deaths were counted twice!

Another egregious misclassification, which I find grossly unjustified, is the following:

“Historically, CDC has programmatically characterized all opioid pain reliever deaths (natural and semisynthetic opioids, methadone, and other synthetic opioids) as ‘prescription’ opioid overdoses.”

On the surface this statement doesn’t appear too concerning. Until you begin to take a closer look at what has been happening over the last 3-5 years with heroin and illicit fentanyl overdose deaths, and how both illegal and legal opioids have been lumped together into one category.

All opioid pain reliever deaths are counted as “prescription” opioid overdoses. Why?

“Natural opioids” includes those heroin deaths that were misclassified as morphine related overdose deaths, which no doubt contributed in some degree to that 14% increase in opioid overdose deaths in 2014.

But how many of these heroin deaths were misclassified? We may never know. The DEA reported last year in its National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary that, “Many medical examiners are reluctant to characterize a death as heroin-related without the presence of 6-monoaceytlmorphine (6-MAM), a metabolite unique to heroin, but which quickly metabolizes into morphine.  Thus many heroin deaths are reported as morphine-related deaths.”

illicit fentanyl seized in ohio

illicit fentanyl seized in ohio

“Synthetic opioids” includes not only prescribed fentanyl, which is a potent pain reliever, but illicit fentanyl overdoses,  which have skyrocketed over the last two years. Because most medical examiners and coroners did not routinely test for fentanyl in 2014, many illicit fentanyl/heroin overdose deaths were also probably counted as prescription opioid overdoses. 

Medical examiners and coroners are just now beginning to test for fentanyl because of the sharp rise in overdose deaths in the U.S. and Canada. Both the CDC and the DEA issued advisories about illicit fentanyl overdoses last year, but we don’t know exactly how many deaths there were.

Why is the data about opioid overdoses so flawed and what is the government doing about it?

A federal agency called the Substance Abuse and Medical Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) brought together groups of experts four times in 2003, 2007, 2010, and again in 2013. All agreed uniform standards and definitions were needed for classifying opioid-related deaths. Guidelines were developed in July 2013 by SAMHSA to provide uniform standard procedures for medical examiners, coroners and other practitioners.

The CDC is not only aware of these guidelines, but it recently recommended medical examiners and coroners in all states implement them “to ensure death reports are complete and accurate.”

“It is especially important to include the word ‘fentanyl’ on the death certificate when the drug is a contributing cause of death,” the CDC said in a Health Advisory distributed on October 26, 2015.

Why fentanyl? Based on reports from states and drug seizure data, a substantial portion of the increase in synthetic opioid deaths appears to be related to increased availability of illicit fentanyl, which is often combined with heroin or even sold as heroin.

David J. Hickton, U.S. attorney for western Pennsylvania and co-chair of the Justice Department’s National Heroin Task Force, told the Washington Post that “fentanyl and more potent heroin appear to have contributed to the 2014 spike in fatal overdoses.”

According to the DEA’s National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary, the overwhelming number of fentanyl overdose deaths are not attributable to pharmaceutical fentanyl but rather illicit fentanyl.

“There have been over 700 overdose deaths reported, and the true number is most likely higher because many coroners’ offices and state crime laboratories do not test for fentanyl or its analogs unless given a specific reason to do so,” the report warns. “While pharmaceutical fentanyl (from transdermal patches or lozenges) is diverted for abuse in the United States at small levels, this latest rash of overdose deaths is largely due to clandestinely-produced fentanyl, not diverted pharmaceutical fentanyl.”

Note that the DEA is making a critical distinction between an illegal drug and a legal prescription drug. Why isn’t the CDC doing this?

In my opinion, for the CDC to lump all opioids together as “prescription” opioids or as “pain relievers” shows a highly dangerous bias, an unwillingness to address the soaring number of heroin and fentanyl overdoses, and a lack of competence in taking a responsible leadership role.

If the CDC can’t be counted on to clearly report on the data, sources and causes of overdose deaths, how can we trust their opioid prescribing guidelines?

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Stroke has a new indicator!

Posted on March 12, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

http://www.wisdomtoinspirethesoul.com/2014/09/strokes-warning-signs.html?m=1

I URGE YOU ALL TO READ & SHARE THIS; YOU COULD SAVE A LIFE BY KNOWING AND PASSING ON THIS SIMPLE INFORMATION.

Stroke has a new indicator! They say if you forward this to ten people, you stand a chance of saving one life. Will you send this along? Blood Clots/Stroke – They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue.
 During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall – she assured everyone that she was fine and she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Jane’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital – (at 6:00 PM Jane passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some don’t die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke…totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

IDENTIFYING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the ‘3’ steps, STR.
Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S *Ask the individual to SMILE.

T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. Chicken Soup)

R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke ——– Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another ‘sign’ of a stroke is this: Ask the person to ‘stick’ out their tongue. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist said that if everyone who gets this message shared it with 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

I have done my part. Will you?
Please share this link on your Facebook wall. It could save a life.

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