Patients Could Be Jailed in Florida Drug Crackdown

www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/4/22/patients-could-be-jailed-in-florida-drug-crackdown

By Pat Anson, Editor

The Florida legislature is close to passing a bill that would require mandatory minimum sentences for anyone convicted of selling, purchasing or possessing illicit fentanyl.

Critics say the legislation could result in pain patients being sent to jail when they unwittingly buy counterfeit painkillers made with fentanyl on the black market.

House Bill 477 was approved unanimously by the Florida House this week.  Similar legislation is under consideration in the Senate. Both bills would put fentanyl, carfentanil, and their chemical cousins in the same drug class as heroin.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 more potent than morphine.  It is available legally by prescription to treat severe pain, but illicitly manufactured fentanyl has become a scourge across the U.S. and Canada, where it is usually mixed with heroin or used to make counterfeit drugs.

As currently written, the House bill requires anyone convicted of having as little as 4 grams of fentanyl to get a mandatory three year prison term; 14 grams would carry a 15-year sentence; and 28 grams would result in 25 years behind bars.

Judges would have zero discretion to alter the sentences. If the drugs result in someone dying, suspects would face a charge of first degree murder.

While the legislation is primarily aimed at cracking down on dealers, critics say patients desperate for pain relief could also face prison if they buy counterfeit oxycodone and other painkillers laced with fentanyl.

“There’s a massive problem with counterfeit pills,” Greg Newburn, state policy director for Families Against Mandatory Minimums told the Miami New Times.

“You have people who think they’re buying oxy pills who will end up getting labeled as traffickers in fentanyl. A handful of pills could get you three years. If you buy just 44 pills, you could end up with 25 years in prison.”

Newburn was surprised the Florida legislature didn’t learn its lesson from previous efforts to require lengthy prison terms for oxycodone and hydrocodone traffickers. Rigid enforcement of the law led to 2,300 people being sent to prison, including some patients who were simply look for pain relief, according to Reason.com.

“When you look back on how the last mandatory-minimum heroin law was applied, you see that it targeted not just just traffickers but a lot of low-level offenders, people who were never supposed to be targeted by the bill in the first place,” said Newburn. “We had a heroin mandatory-minimum law for 18 years. Lawmakers promised us it would deter drug use, but now we’re in the midst of the worst heroin crisis we’ve ever seen. And the answer to that is to pass another mandatory minimum?”

Florida was one the first states where counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl began to appear. In early 2016, nine people died in Florida’s Pinellas County after ingesting counterfeit Xanax, an anxiety medication.

“Hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescriptions pills, some containing deadly amounts of fentanyl, have been introduced into U.S. drug markets, exacerbating the fentanyl and opioid crisis,” the DEA warned in a report last year. “Motivated by enormous profit potential, traffickers are exploiting high consumer demand for prescription medications by producing inexpensive, fraudulent prescription pills containing fentanyl.”

As opioid prescriptions have become harder to obtain, some pain patients are turning to the black market for relief. In a recent survey of over 3,100 patients by PNN and the International Pain Foundation, 11 percent said they had obtained opioids illegally on the black market in the year after the CDC’s opioid guidelines were released.    

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Hi. I work with a group in Michigan called Pain Resistance Network. We are hosting a Pain Patients Radio Day on April 23 (the start of Pain Patients Advocacy Week) and I’m wondering if you would be interested in having a show that day? We are offering pain patients rights groups two hour radio shows (we can help with technical stuff if you need that). I’ll send the information packet right after I send this message. Could you let me know if you are interested in doing this? Thanks!

painweek

This showed up in Messenger and it is about a group doing a radio show as part of “Pain Patient Advocacy Week” 

Anyone interested in participating click on this link.  painweek

If you want to give people my contact information that’s fine. They can e-mail painresistancenetwork@gmail.com or call me at (989) 372-0556.

Don’t forget – Pain Patients Radio Day begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 8:00 am Eastern Standard Time. Visit this page for more information and to tune in: www.painresistance.net/radioday.

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Training Health Care Providers on Pain Management and Safe Use of Opioid Analgesics—Exploring the Path Forward; Public Workshop; Request for Comments

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2017-N-1094-0001

https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=FDA-2017-N-1094-0001

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Nurse Replaces Surgeon General After Obama Appointee Resigns

www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/us/politics/surgeon-general-trump-administration.html

Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, now the acting surgeon general. Credit United States Department of Health and Human Services

Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, an Obama administration holdover, was asked to resign by the Trump administration on Friday. He was replaced by his deputy, Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, one of the first nurses to serve as surgeon general.

Admiral Trent-Adams will for now be in an acting role. As of Friday evening, she had already replaced Dr. Murthy on the surgeon general’s Twitter account, and her portrait had replaced his on the agency’s Facebook page. One of the first comments on that post asked, “Where is Dr. Murthy?”

Alleigh Marré, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed Dr. Murthy’s resignation in an emailed statement on Friday, saying he was asked to step down “after assisting in a smooth transition into the new Trump administration.”

Ms. Marré said Dr. Murthy will continue to serve as a member of the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service.

Admiral Trent-Adams may be the first surgeon general who is not a doctor. She is not the first nurse, though. Dr. Richard Carmona, who served under President George W. Bush, was a nurse and a physician, and he sometimes referred to himself as the first nurse to serve as surgeon general.

It was not immediately clear why Dr. Murthy was relieved from duty. There is a long history of surgeons general creating unwanted controversy for their political bosses; among the only ways that the government’s top medics usually gain attention is when they leave office under a cloud.

Dr. Carmona blasted the Bush administration after he was not asked to serve a second four-year term. He accused White House officials of repeatedly trying to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.
Photo
Dr. Vivek H. Murthy was asked Friday to resign as surgeon general. Credit United States Department of Health and Human Services

And Dr. C. Everett Koop, the most famous surgeon general in the country’s history, largely achieved his fame by defying the Reagan administration’s policies or wishes on a host of public health issues.

Surgeons general have little staff or power but generally use their positions to call attention to important public health priorities.

Dr. Murthy has for years made headlines for calling gun violence a public health threat. In 2014, the National Rifle Association urged the Senate not to confirm him.

Dr. Murthy did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday, and employees at the Department of Health and Human Services privately expressed surprise at his sudden departure.

Admiral Trent-Adams received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Maryland. She was a nurse officer in the Army and also served as a research nurse at the University of Maryland. She joined the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service in 1992 and served as the deputy associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration before joining the surgeon general’s office.

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Ex-DEA Spokeswoman: ‘Marijuana Is Safe’, Kept Illegal Because It’s A ‘Cash Cow’

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-20/ex-dea-spokeswoman-marijuana-safe-kept-illegal-because-its-cash-cow

Before the heroin epidemic became a nationwide problem, claiming thousands of lives; Plano, Texas, was already entrenched. And like many of the places caught in the cross hairs of the continuing heroin crisis, Plano is the last place that one would expect to be swept into the opioid tidal wave.

For six years she termed herself the “chief propagandist” — or spokeswoman — for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Before that, as a Plano mother and teacher, Belita noticed what was happening in her community. She described Plano as an area rivaling Newtown, Connecticut, or Cape Cod — tight-knit regions where tragedy strikes hard and deep.

She explained that “[Plano] has the best school districts in the state of Texas…it’s a gated community. And in 1998, for heroin to be that prevalent in the community was stunning. Stunning. We got all the media attention because we were this upscale Texas neighborhood that nobody thought would be inundated with heroin.”

Nelson decided to take action, saying, “I decided I’d had it. I was going to organize my community and fight this thing at the grassroots level. But we were never grassroots because the first thing I did was go on the Oprah show for the DEA.”

Belita stresses that she was never officially employed by the DEA but traveled for six years as a sort of unofficial spokeswoman for the agency.  The group recruited her because their goals aligned, and in many ways, she was perfect for the role. She was a mother who had witnessed the toll of heroin first-hand. She was passionate and knew what she was talking about. Belita spoke to schools and parent groups and appeared on television networks.

With the help of a former Dallas Cowboy, she founded the Starfish Foundation to tackle heroin addiction. That organization ran until 2004 when one of the employees pocketed the donation money and left the foundation scrambling in the dark.

In our interview, Belita was hesitant to speak too openly but mentioned that when she first went to work with the DEA (she was contacted and became familiar with agency’s goals), she was told “‘Marijuana is safe, we know it’s safe, but it’s our cash cow and we will never, ever, give it up.’” When the DEA seizes a car or makes a drug bust, it’s likely they’ll find wads of money. They turn in the pot (or other drugs) — and keep the cash. Civil asset forfeiture law essentially gives the police and feds free reign, and they have confiscated billions of dollars from Americans, a majority of whom have not been charged with a crime.

Belita, like many people, posits that the DEA is not willing to give up the long disproven idea that marijuana is a “gateway drug.” Unlike heroin, most people are open to trying marijuana. At high school or college parties, it’s much more likely that a joint is being passed around than a needle. While a joint conjures up images of Bob Weir or SOJA on stage, a needle brings to mind a lifeless Philip Seymour Hoffman or Basquiat.

Belita cut ties with the DEA in 2004 after becoming frustrated with the system and the government’s need to keep marijuana criminalized, despite knowledge that the drug was safe.

While at the Starfish Foundation, Belita heard time and time again the tale of pot-smoking teenagers who were pushed into heroin simply because marijuana carries harsh penalties. And it’s a story that’s been told repeatedly. Today Belita works for the Gridiron Cannabis Foundation,  a nonprofit dedicated to fighting CTE, concussions, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, neuropathy, dementia, chronic infammation, Leukemia, and brain and other cancers. But the group’s pockets that only stretch so far.

In contrast, her opposition — and the opposition of anyone fighting the heroin epidemic and hoping to legalize marijuana — are big pharma companies.

Recently, we’ve seen pharma companies hit the grassroots to secure influence. Anti-Media and a number of other news outlets recently reported on an opioid company pumping half a million dollars into Arizona anti-marijuana groups in an effort to keep the plant illegal. These sorts of campaigns do not serve the dead in Plano and the hundreds of thousands around the nation suffering from opioid addiction. Rather, they benefit CEOs and pharmaceutical groups who have invested millions in developing drugs that minimize pain. Unfortunately, they come with a dangerously high likelihood of addiction.

Big pharma corporations see dollar signs in every painkiller that moves across a counter, but some of which could easily be replaced by marijuana, which is increasingly proven to help decrease pain. So the American consumer, from Plano, Texas, to Portland, Maine, is faced with the dilemma — is it better to be a living Bob Weir or a dead Basquiat?

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C.O. Truxton, Inc. Issues Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Phenobarbital 15 mg Tablets, USP due to Labeling Error on Declared Strength

https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm554329.htm?

Bellmawr, New Jersey, C.O. Truxton, Inc. is voluntarily recalling lot 70952A of Phenobarbital Tablets, USP, 15 mg, to the consumer/user level. The manufacturer received a confirmed customer complaint that a bottle labeled as phenobarbital 15 mg was found to contain phenobarbital 30 mg tablets.

This mislabeled product could expose the consumer or their pet(s) to potential overdosing that can cause severe intoxication which may lead to cardiogenic shock, renal failure, coma or death. C.O. Truxton, Inc. has not received any reports of adverse events related to this recall.   

The product is indicated for use as a sedative or anticonvulsant and is packaged in 1000 count bottles, NDC 0463-6160-10, UPC 7 0463616010 6, lot number 70952A, expiration date 11/17. The 15 mg Tablet is debossed with “West-ward 445” on one side and blank on the reverse side; the 30 mg Tablet is debossed with “West-ward 450” on one side and scored on the reverse side. The product was distributed Nationwide in the USA to Physician & Veterinarian Treatment Centers.

C.O. Truxton, Inc. is notifying all customers on record who purchased the affected product via US Mail which includes a recall letter, recall response form and is arranging for full credit returns, replacements, etc. of all recalled product. Consumers/distributors/retailers that have recalled product should stop using the product and return their product to their place of purchase.

Consumers with questions regarding this recall can contact C.O Truxton, Inc. by phone at (856) 933-2333, Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am and 5pm (EST).  Consumers should contact their physician or healthcare provider if they have experienced any problems that may be related to taking or using this drug product.

Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this product may be reported to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online, by regular mail or by fax.

• Complete and submit the report Online: www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm
• Regular Mail or Fax: Download form www.fda.gov/MedWatch/getforms.htm or call 1-800-332-1088 to request a reporting form, then complete and return to the address on the pre-addressed form, or submit a fax to 1-800-FDA-0178
• For reporting animal adverse drug events and product defects, please follow the link to the directions and the FORM FDA 1932a found at: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ReportaProblem/ucm055305.htm

This recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Widow who sued pharmaceutical firm over husband’s suicide awarded $3M

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-paxil-suicide-lawsuit-verdict-met-20170420-story.html

A Glencoe woman hugged her attorneys after a jury in Chicago awarded her $3 million Thursday in a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company that she blamed for her husband’s suicide.

“We won!” she mouthed to one of her lawyers.

Wendy Dolin’s husband, Stewart, stepped in front of a CTA Blue Line train in the Loop on July 15, 2010. He had been taking paroxetine, a drug for depression and anxiety, and his widow claimed in her lawsuit that GlaxoSmithKline failed to warn her husband’s doctor of the drug’s increased risk of suicidal behavior, leading to his death.

GlaxoSmithKline makes Paxil, a brand-name version of paroxetine. Though Stewart Dolin was taking the generic form, his widow’s suit argued — and the jury agreed — that the pharmaceutical company was still responsible because the drugs are identical and have the same labeling.

Stewart Dolin was a corporate attorney and a partner at the Reed Smith law firm at the time of his death. He was 57.

Wendy Dolin called the verdict “a great day for consumers,” though she said the result was bittersweet.

“This for me has not just been about the money. This has always been about awareness to a health issue, and the public has to be aware of this,” she said after the verdict was announced in federal court following three days of jury deliberations.

“None of us here are anti-drug. That’s not the issue,” Dolin added, “but we are patient advocates and we hope that people will start asking better questions.”

Officials from the pharmaceutical company said the verdict was disappointing and that they plan to appeal.

“GSK maintains that because it did not manufacture or market the medicine ingested by Mr. Dolin, it should not be liable,” the company said in a statement. “Additionally, the Paxil label provided complete and adequate warnings during the time period relevant to this lawsuit.”

Wendy Dolin’s suit, which alleged negligence and wrongful death, originally named the generic drug manufacturer and its distributor as defendants, but U.S. District Judge James Zagel ruled earlier to release them from the suit, saying they had no control of the drug’s label.

“We’re hoping this sends a clear signal to (GSK) that they need to change the label” to indicate a suicide risk for those over the age of 25, said R. Brent Wisner, one of Wendy Dolin’s attorneys, who called the lack of such labeling “outrageous.”

“We’re just really happy that we finally had a chance to bring all this to court for the first time (and) show all these documents to the public which had, until this day, been under seal,” he said.

Wendy Dolin now advocates for patient safety and aims to raise awareness about akathisia, a state of restlessness or anxiety that sometimes occurs as a side effect of certain antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. She has started a nonprofit organization, the Medication-Induced Suicide Prevention and Education Foundation in memory of Stewart Dolin.

“I think Stewart would be very proud of his family and how we’ve all stood together and made a difference,” Wendy Dolin said, “that we didn’t allow this injustice.”

If a corporate entity can be held responsible for medication that they originally produced… can be held responsible for a pt committing suicide when taking that medication..

It is a know fact that chronic pain pts have a twice possibility of committing suicide.. so if some entity fails to treat chronic pain or reduces a otherwise stable chronic pain pts medication and they commit suicide.. could they he held responsible for their suicide ?

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Statewide View: Winning the drug war? We’re getting it all wrong with opioid-addiction policies

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/other-view/4228022-statewide-view-winning-drug-war-were-getting-it-all-wrong-opioid#

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