KENTUCKY PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT

I received this email at 9:56 AM this morning (Friday)..  with a recommendation that community pharmacies and other healthcare professionals – STOCK UP – on Naloxone for the Labor Day weekend..  Most community pharmacies get wholesaler deliveries daily Mon – Fri and the cut off for Friday’s delivery is normally around 6 PM YESTERDAY ( Thursday) and the stores will not get another wholesaler delivery until TUESDAY…  Sure looks like Kentucky Emergency Management System is right on top of things…???

The Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) is hosting a special conference call today with medical personnel and emergency responders regarding the ongoing issue of heroin overdoses linked to fentanyl.  The call is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. EDT, Friday, September 2, for interested pharmacists and other health care professionals. The dial-in number is 866-570-4047.  The passcode is 75613975#.

Our region and our entire state are now threatened by a drug issue related to the appearance of contaminated heroin, typically mixed with fentanyl or other toxic substances. This is a very serious public health issue tied to a number of overdoses, hospitalizations and deaths across the country.

Over the upcoming days, DPH is asking our hospitals, pharmacies and EMS to help prepare for increases in drug overdoses so that individuals can be properly treated, deaths prevented and we all can be better informed about the prevalence and nature of these occurrences so they can be prevented.  We expect a possible increase in overdoses over this holiday weekend.  EMS, ER, and pharmacies must stock up on naloxone immediately.  KDPH is getting early reports that it now requires as much as three-fold the ordinary dose of naloxone to negate this newly compounded material.  These points will all be discussed in greater detail during today’s call.

If you need assistance, you can contact the Kentucky Emergency Management System at (502) 607-1638 Toll Free: (800) 255-2587, your local health department, or the Department for Public Health at 1-888-9REPORT (973-7678).

AGENDA

Public Health Alert Conference Call

Friday, September 2, 2016

11:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. EDT

Joining the Conference Call:

Prior to call start time, call the Dial-In Number: (866) 570-4047

Provide the Passcode: 75613975

TOPIC PRESENTER

Welcome and Overview Rick Johnson, BS (Facilitator)

Opening Remarks Hiram Polk, MD, Commissioner

Heroin/Fentanyl Current Situation Van Ingram, Office of Drug Control Policy

Medication Supply Plans, Training and Certification Programs Leah Tolliver, Pharm. D., Director of Pharmacy Emergency Preparedness, KPhA

Call to Action Hiram Polk, MD, Commissioner

Question and Answers – Next Steps All Participants

If you wish to stop receiving email from us, you can simply remove yourself by visiting: http://www.kphanet.org/members/EmailOptPreferences.aspx?id=41787697&e=steve@steveariens.com&h=1a09a410e76486f390957348f041436350b8f897

Kentucky Pharmacists Association
96 C. Michael Davenport Blvd.
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
www.kphanet.org
502-227-2303
Membership Matters: To YOU, To YOUR Patients, To YOUR Profession!

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Progress with Chinese selling synthetic drugs in US

http://www.wptz.com/health/progress-with-chinese-selling-synthetic-drugs-in-us/41489166

(CNN) —China’s ban on certain chemicals is being credited by Drug Enforcement Administration officials in a noticeable decrease in certain synthetic drugs in the United States.

Police encounters with six substances that were part of China’s 115-chemical ban have dropped dramatically (PDF) since it took effect in October, DEA numbers show.

Synthetic cannabinoids — commonly known as K2 or spice — stimulants similar to cocaine or MDMA and the notoriously dangerous synthetic known as flakka have fallen dramatically from they were last summer.

Flakka has all but disappeared from Florida, where it was wreaking havoc.

“We’ve definitely seen a significant decrease, especially of flakka,” Broward County Sheriff’s Lt. Ozzy Tianga said.

As a result, DEA officials say, they are optimistic that ongoing meetings with their Chinese counterparts can continue the trend. This month, 14 high-ranking DEA officials spent a week in Beijing and two other Chinese provinces, where they talked about how to work together to tackle the problem of Chinese chemists making and selling dangerous synthetic drugs in the United States.

DEA spokesman Russell Baer called it an “unprecedented dialogue between the two countries.”

China now faces a problem similar to one the United States has been struggling with: how to keep up with chemists who are constantly tweaking formulas to stay one step ahead of the law.

Tianga said he anticipated that new synthetics would show up in place of those banned, and officials have seen some of that, but the numbers have been nothing like last summer, when flakka use was at an alarming high.

“Overall, [synthetics have] significantly dropped since the ban — at the epicenter here in South Florida,” Tianga said. “But by no way are we out of the woods. There will be more molecular changes to substances that will be introduced to society.”

In Florida this summer, the Legislature approved and the governor signed a blanket ban of substances that have no practical use other than to get high.

Baer said the DEA is continuing to work with Chinese officials on a similar ban as they now battle a nationwide problem with synthetic fentanyl.

“They talked about continuing efforts to try to understand each other’s perspective of this problem,” he said. “Historically, we have not been able to talk about this stuff. We’ve now gotten to the point that China is listening to us and addressing some of the [drug] scheduling issues. They are their own country, and they have their own concerns. One [problem] people don’t understand is that China has an extensive commercial manufacturing program over there. These illicit substances … are a small part of that huge legitimate industry.”

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Police arrest 3 suspects after pharmacy robberies in Mooresville

About one year + ago all the major chains in Indianapolis/Marion County Indiana put in time delayed safes to help put a halt to all the pharmacy robberies – Indiana is/has been NUMBER ONE in pharmacy robberies out of all 50 states… So what did people interested in robbing pharmacies do?… they have started robbing pharmacy outside of Indianapolis. Mooresville is about 30 miles SW of Indianapolis and outside of Marion County. 

http://fox59.com/2016/09/02/police-arrest-3-suspects-after-pharmacy-robberies-in-mooresville/

MOORESVILLE, Ind. – Police in Morgan County arrested three suspects in connection with a series of recent pharmacy robberies.

On Saturday, Aug. 27, Mooresville police officers arrived at Walgreens, 115 Fields St., in response to a reported robbery. The suspect had already left when police got there.

Mooresville detectives were already out investigating another robbery and quickly arrived at the location to interview witnesses and gather surveillance video. Surveillance footage showed a man enter the store, talk to the cashier and then bring an item to the checkout. He gave the cashier a note saying he had a gun and handed over a list of prescription drugs for the cashier to retrieve.

The cashier was ordered to contact her manager; the cashier, manager and suspect all approached the pharmacist, who complied with the suspect’s demands and put the medications inside a bag. The man then left.

Detectives had investigated a Walgreens robbery from June 21, 2016, that was similar in nature. Police prepared a photo lineup and identified the suspect.

On Thursday, Morgan County sheriff’s deputies were at the Ricker’s gas station on Bridge Street when someone approached them about a suspicious car on Conduitt Drive. Deputies went to check on the vehicle and then stopped it. After identifying the men inside, they realized one of them was suspected in the Walgreens robberies.

Evidence found inside the car connected the suspects to the pharmacy robberies, police said. Investigators also believe the three men were getting ready to commit another robbery.

All three were arrested; police identified them as Ryan Curlin; 23; Devonte Harris, 23; and Donte Harris, 23. The suspects are all from Indianapolis.

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Class action says CVS has improperly called former Target pharmacy customers’ cell phones

http://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/511004262-class-action-says-cvs-has-improperly-called-former-target-pharmacy-customers-cell-phones

A Chicago man has hit CVS with a class action lawsuit, saying the drug store giant, which recently purchased all of Target’s retail pharmacies, should be made to pay out for allegedly calling former Target pharmacy customers, without their consent, using automated messages to remind the customers to take prescription medications or pick up prescription refills at CVS.

On Aug. 31, plaintiff Richard O’Hern filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against CVS Pharmacy Inc., alleging CVS broke federal telecommunications laws by calling him on his mobile phone without his authorization, as the retailer may have done to perhaps thousands of others.

O’Hern is represented in the action by attorneys with the firm of Edelson P.C., of Chicago.

The lawsuit does not specify the amount of money O’Hern is demanding. But the lawsuit noted the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act allows for statutory damages of as much as $1,500 per unauthorized automated call.

According to the complaint, O’Hern said he had opted to use Target’s retail pharmacy to obtain his prescription medications, choosing the retailer specifically because Target “did not insist on regularly calling him.”

The lawsuit noted CVS, like other retail pharmacists, have a practice of sending automated messages to prescription medication users, purportedly remind them to properly take their medication, to remind them to pick up available prescriptions or to ask them to refill their prescriptions and other medications at CVS.

O’Hern said he had specifically instructed Target to never contact him on his mobile phone. The complaint said Target abided by that request.

However, in December 2015, CVS completed its acquisition of all of Target’s pharmacies nationwide. That acquisition included all contact information for all of Target’s former pharmacy customers.

In the months since, O’Hern said he has received repeated calls and messages from CVS, despite his “specific do-not-call instructions on file” with his customer records.

“Most of these calls were automated sales calls that were intended to badger plaintiff (O’Hern) into purchasing his prescriptions from CVS as opposed to some other pharmacy,” the complaint said. “None of these calls were for any sort of emergency, and none allowed for automated opt-outs through key-press or interactive voice commands.”

O’Hern said he personally traveled to a Chicago CVS store and “told the employees there to stop calling” his mobile phone. He said the employees showed him his customer file, which purportedly included his do-not-call instructions.

He alleged CVS then increased the frequency with which they called him.

And he said further calls also included specific medical information.

“(O’Hern) knows, both by date and by count, when he needs refills, and is entirely capable of managing his own medication schedules and of deciding for himself where to shop,” the complaint said. “Plaintiff does not need or desire to receive or pay for automated pharmacy calls that interrupt his day and consume his limited cellular telephone minutes.”

The lawsuit asked the court to approve classes of additional plaintiffs of former Target pharmacy customers who may have similarly received similar unwanted phone calls from CVS. Additional plaintiffs would include any U.S. residents who “received prescription ‘reminder’ call sent by or on behalf of CVS” on a mobile phone, and had previously been on Target’s pharmacy do-not-call lists.

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Patient Coded Due to Over Administration of Narcotic Painkillers

http://www.lawfirmnewswire.com/2016/09/patient-coded-due-to-over-administration-of-narcotic-painkillers/

Austin, TX (Law Firm Newswire) September 1, 2016 – Sarah Gann of Waco, Texas, went to hospital in extreme pain. Allegedly overdosed on narcotics by medical staff, she died days later.

Sarah Gann was admitted to Baylor Scott and White Hillcrest Hospital on October 5, 2011 in severe pain. complaining of back pain similar to a kidney stone. She was immediately started on narcotics.

According to the wrongful death, medical malpractice lawsuit filed in 170th District Court, the staff, including the prescribing doctor, did not check to determine if Dilaudid, the painkiller chosen, was needed. Dilaudid (hydromorphone) is an opioid pain medication and narcotic used to treat moderate to severe pain. It is known to slow or stop breathing, when first taken or whenever the dose is changed. Dilaudid is not to be used in larger amounts, or for longer than prescribed.

The statement of claim indicated that the staff allegedly injected the painkiller even while Gann was asleep. Gann was found non-reponsive and without a pulse the morning of October 7th. She was subsequently revived and moved to intensive care. On October 9th, Gann’s family was told there was no hope of recovery and she was removed from life support.

Daniel Gann, Mrs. Gann’s husband, who was a former chaplain at the Waco hospital, and his two minor children filed a lawsuit against Scott & White Memorial Hospital, doing business as Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, asking the court for more than $1 million in compensation.

The family elected to file a wrongful death, medical negligence lawsuit alleging that the nursing staff negligently administered the narcotic, even when Gann was sleeping, without checking if it was needed. According to documents submitted with the statement of claim, Gann’s patient record indicated she was to get programmed doses for three days – October 5 – 7. However, a new shift nurse made a notation that Gann was not in pain on October 7 when the midnight shift came on duty.

Despite the notation, Gann was given 2 mgs of morphine between 12:14 and 12:18 a.m., 2 more mgs at 1:30 a.m. and then another 1 mg at 2 a.m. and yet another dose of 1 mg at 5:13 a.m. At 3:00 a.m. a respiratory therapist indicated Gann did not need any additional monitoring even though she was regularly being given high doses of Dilaudid. At 7:06 a.m. Gann was found non-responsive and was revived and placed on life support. She was pronounced dead at 11:41 p.m.

Experts from the CDPAP Agency New York, indicated that but for the failures of the hospital staff, Gann would not have died when and how she did. The experts offered opinions that the frequent narcotic administration without monitoring and checking was outside the scope of usual/standard care and did not meet the standards of doctor/nursing/pharmacy care for patients on opiates. “In other words, Mrs. Gann’s death was avoidable,” said Brooks Schuelke, an Austin wrongful death attorney, not involved in the case.

Based on the evidence as submitted, it appears that this lawsuit may stand a good chance of succeeding, particularly since the expert medical opinion addendums were quite explicit that the hospital failed to care for their patient in an acceptable manner. Her death was a preventable adverse drug reaction.
“There are four elements to a wrongful death medical malpractice lawsuit that must be present prior to filing,” added Schuelke, “and they are duty, breach of duty, damages and causation – all elements that must be proven by the plaintiff. If any of the four elements is not present or not satisfied, medical malpractice is not proven.”

Wrongful death lawsuits are difficult and often take a great deal of time to get to settlement or to court. “Should you be in a situation such as this one, do not hesitate to contact our office for information on your legal rights pertaining to wrongful death lawsuit,” he stated.

Learn more at http://www.civtrial.com

Perlmutter & Schuelke, PLLC
206 East 9th Street, Ste. 1511
Austin, TX 78701
Call (512) 476-4944

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Husted rejects all 194,375 signatures on proposed drug price ballot issue

This past week I had a article published on National Pain Report  http://nationalpainreport.com/why-do-my-medications-cost-so-much-8831321.html   “Why Do My Medications Cost So Much?”  and
I stated that middlemen take 25%-30% of the retail price to fund their infrastructure and profit motives..  This article states that the Veterans’ Administration hospital system pays  $183 for Epipens that cost at the neighborhood pharmacy $608.  Why is the VA able to buy it for so much less.. BECAUSE THERE IS NO MIDDLEMEN in getting the medication from the manufacturer to the pt.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-daily-briefing/2016/09/09.01.2016-husted-rejects-signatures.html

Secretary of State Jon Husted yesterday rejected 194,375 signatures on a petition seeking to place a drug price control issue on the ballot next year.

The requirement is 91,677 valid signatures of registered voters to make the ballot.

Backers of the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act attempted to file 22 boxes of signatures on the petition, which proposes that state agencies would pay no more for drugs than U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, estimated at 40 percent lower than current prices. Backers say the act, if put into law, would have a positive  spillover effect for consumers. Opponents counter that the move could backfire, forcing prices up and making some drugs less available.

Husted’s office refused to accept the signatures in line with a motion he filed with the Ohio Supreme Court earlier this week. Husted argues the court has not given approval to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the main sponsor, to proceed with the proposal as an initiated statute. The organization previously submitted signatures to place the issue on the ballot this year, but fell short after being challenged by attorneys for the powerful Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and Ohio Manufacturers’ Association.

Husted and the court previously invalidated thousands of signtures because of various improprieties.

The court has not made it clear, however, exactly what the next step should be for Drug Price Relief Act backers. As an initiated statue, it was first submitted to the General Assembly, which failed to take action within the four-month timeframe. At that point, the issue got snarled in the fight with Husted and PhRMA.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation immediately filed an emergency motion with the Ohio Supreme Court.

Tracy Jones, regional director for backers of the drug act, called Husted “a front man for Big Pharma, carrying water for a greedy, morally bankrupt industry that is one step above the tobacco industry in the eyes of the public.”

Jones cited costs of the Epi-pen as a example of potential savings. The manufacturer’s price is $608, but the Veterans Administration pays $183.

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SUING SOURCE: NY county goes after opioid drug makers

http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/2016/09/01/suing-suffolk-county-opioid-addiction-oxycontin/89707544/

Remember the TOBACCO SETTLEMENT from the last of the 20th century … where the tobacco manufacturers agreed to:

the original participating manufacturers (OPM) agreed to pay a minimum of $206 billion over the first 25 years of the agreement.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agreement

That money “dries up” in 2025 and you know how slow our legal system is … with the time involved in the appeal(s) process. Is the pharmaceutical manufacturers the target to “replace” those funds… like a addict looking for their next “FIX” ?

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — A suburban New York county struggling to curb an epidemic of opioid overdoses sued 11 pharmaceutical companies Wednesday, including the makers of OxyContin and Percocet, alleging they misled the public and doctors about the addictiveness of powerful prescription painkillers.

Suffolk County filed the lawsuit against pharmaceutical giants Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin; Endo Health Solutions, which makes Percocet and Percodan; and Johnson & Johnson, the maker of painkillers Duragesic and Nucynta.

The suit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, alleges the companies engaged in deceptive business practices by marketing highly addictive and dangerous pain medication and “misleading consumers and medical providers” about the risks of taking the drugs.

It follows on the heels of similar lawsuits elsewhere in the country in the past few years, including claims by the city of Chicago and two counties in California. Purdue Pharma settled a lawsuit last year brought by Kentucky for $24 million, but did not admit any wrongdoing.

A spokesman for Purdue Pharma declined to comment Wednesday.

Jessica Castles Smith, a spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson’s drug company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, said the allegations in the suit were “both legally and factually unfounded.”

She said the company acted appropriately and in the best interests of its patients. The company’s painkillers, she noted, carry federally-required warning labels alerting consumers about the risks of addiction.

An Endo spokeswoman said the company had not been formally notified of the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation.

Suffolk County legislator Rob Calarco, a Democrat, said at a news conference Wednesday with the county’s executive, Steve Bellone, that the pharmaceutical companies encouraged doctors to prescribe the powerful pain medication without properly warning medical providers that patients could become easily addicted.

The companies “not only misled the public, but more importantly they misinformed doctors who are responsible for prescribing the medication,” he said. “Despite the best evidence proving otherwise, they deceptively told our doctors and the public at large these things are safe.”

County officials said they believe a surge in addiction to legal painkillers ultimately fueled a broader opioid addiction epidemic on Long Island that has led many users to an illicit drug, heroin.

There have been more than 200 fatal overdoses and more than 1,000 non-fatal overdoses in Suffolk County this year, said the county’s police commissioner Tim Sini.

“There’s no question that the intelligence we’ve gathered suggests the start of this epidemic was from painkillers,” he said. “When an Oxy pill can cost $80 on the street, people couldn’t afford to keep their habits and gravitate toward heroin, which is sometimes as cheap as $5 a bag.

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https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/drug-related-hospital-emergency-room-visits

In 2009, there were nearly 4.6 million drug-related ED visits nationwide. These visits included reports of drug abuse, adverse reactions to drugs, or other drug-related consequences. Almost 50 percent were attributed to adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals taken as prescribed, and 45 percent involved drug abuse. DAWN estimates that of the 2.1 million drug abuse visits—

• 27.1 percent involved nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals (i.e., prescription or OTC medications, dietary supplements)
• 21.2 percent involved illicit drugs
• 14.3 percent involved alcohol, in combination with other drugs 

In one SINGLE YEAR… 650,000 ER visits were contributed to the consumption of the drug ALCOHOL

DEA Argues That Public Comment Is Unnecessary Before Kratom Ban

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2016/08/31/dea-argues-that-public-comment-is-unnecessary-before-kratom-ban/#5a4d5a05388b

People with substance dependence issues or chronic pain were dealt a blow yesterday when the DEA announced their intent to effectively ban the medicinal chemicals present in the plant, Mitragyna speciosa, or kratom.

Chuck Rosenberg, acting administrator of the DEA, claims the action “is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety.” As an example of the risks of kratom, the DEA cites a CDC study published this summer that counted 660 poison control calls during a five-year period from 2010 to 2015 on behalf of people suffering untoward reactions to the herb or teas made from the plant material.

The relative magnitude of this “hazard to public safety” has been called into question by kratom users and commenters here at Forbes. To put kratom risks in perspective, poison control centers received 6,843 reports of young children ingesting single-load laundry pods in just the first seven months of 2016.

When I first wrote about kratom for another publication earlier this summer, I had assumed that it was primarily used for recreational purposes because it has mild, self-limiting effects on opioid receptors. To my surprise, more than three-quarters of reader comments at Forbes and on my Twitter and Facebook feeds are from people who’ve been using kratom to relieve chronic pain, clinical anxiety and depression, and in recovery from opioid and alcohol dependence.

I’m truly fascinated by these testimonials despite the effects not being quantified in a controlled clinical trial. Very recent work from researchers at Columbia University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have revealed that the alkaloids in kratom have modest but distinctive effects on opioid receptors by selectively activating beneficial pathways over those that cause the majority of opioid side effects. These test tube and animal studies require further confirmation in clinical studies.

But my reading of the DEA’s notice of intent, as published today in the Federal Register, reveals that these accounts and the recently published data were not among the considerations leading to the temporary placement of mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine onto Schedule I of the U.S. Controlled Substances Act.

But since this ruling will not take effect for 30 days–September 30, 2016–one would think that the agency would implement a public and scientific comment period and field the concerns of those who were blindsided by the announcement.

Well, that’s probably not going to happen.

Near the end of the Federal Register publication is this section on regulatory matters:

Inasmuch as section 201(h) of the CSA directs that temporary scheduling actions be issued by order and sets forth the procedures by which such orders are to be issued, the DEA believes that the notice and comment requirements of section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 553, do not apply to this notice of intent. In the alternative, even assuming that this notice of intent might be subject to section 553 of the APA, the Administrator finds that there is good cause to forgo the notice and comment requirements of section 553, as any further delays in the process for issuance of temporary scheduling orders would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest in view of the manifest urgency to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety. [emphasis mine]

To the contrary, an objective examination of the 100+ comments I’ve received here at Forbes tells me that foregoing the notice and comment requirements is in direct opposition to the public interest. At the very least, it’s an imbalance between the alleged risks of kratom and the anecdotal benefits of the herb.

In fact, banning kratom may cause more damage that leaving it as-is, bought and used as a botanical tea.

In my next article, I’ll speak with kratom users and the academic scientists who are revealing how the bioactive compounds in kratom contrast from strong, highly addictive opioids.

For more health and pharmaceutical news and commentary, follow me on Twitter @DavidKroll, or here at Forbes.com.

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CVS to Pay Massachusetts $795K, Tighten Policies for Opioids

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/cvs-pay-massachusetts-795k-tighten-policies-opioids-41801206

CVS Health Corp. has agreed to pay Massachusetts $795,000 and will tighten its policies for dispensing opioids following an investigation into its drug prescription practices, Attorney General Maura Healey said Thursday.

Healey said a settlement reached between the state and the Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based drug store giant resolves past allegations.

Prior to March 2013, Healey’s office says certain CVS locations failed to provide pharmacists with sufficient internet service to access the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program. The online database provides a patient’s prescription history and is designed to curb the abuse of addictive medications.

Healey’s office said the investigation also showed that certain CVS pharmacists failed to use “sound professional judgment” when dispensing controlled substances.

At a news conference in Boston on Thursday, Healey said some CVS pharmacists dispensed prescription drugs to customers even after receiving warnings not to.

“This is a problem,” she said.

In a statement, CVS said that the company, which has about 350 pharmacies and 1,200 pharmacists in Massachusetts, recognizes the importance of the state’s prescription database as a tool to detect and prevent drug abuse.

Since the deficiencies were revealed, the company has been requiring its Massachusetts pharmacists to review the customer’s prescription history on the database before dispensing certain prescribed drugs. It has also revised its prescription drug policies and improved pharmacist training.

Healey says the agreement marks the first time CVS has instituted a specific requirement for its pharmacists to check a state prescription drug database.

“This is a big deal,” she said Thursday.

Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, CEO of The Dimock Center, the Boston health center where Healey made the announcement, said the settlement represents an important first step in enforcing critical opioid prevention measures.

Over 1, 500 people died from opioid overdoses in 2015, state officials said Thursday. Healy’s office says $500,000 of the $795,000 that CVS has agreed to pay the state will go to drug abuse programs.

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I just finished my fourth year as a blogger on this website… starting out with no particular set direction.  Just by chance it was about the same time that the war on drugs/pts started ramping up. It quickly got to a point that I had more material to blog about than I  had time.

The ensuing four years really has been a education in many areas… first of all that there are many laws on the books that no state/federal agency is interested in enforcing.. particularly when they revolve around the DEA and law enforcement in general.

I have tried several things to help the chronic pain to create some unity and I have come to the conclusion that the chronic pain community is so dis-jointed, unconnected, not paying attention or some other unknown reason.. unity within the chronic pain community continues to seem illusive

Over the years, I have watched the number of Face Book pages literally EXPLODE… in regards to those focused on chronic pain.

I have watched time and time again that people have put up a petition to the WHITE HOUSE and others…needing 100,000 signatures for them to even look at it – doesn’t mean that they will even do anything at that point.. and few – that I have seen – have exceed 1,000 signatures.. let alone 100,000.

Now it seems like two different groups are planning a rally/protest on THE HILL in Oct… on the SAME WEEKEND… but different days… While all the members of Congress are in recess and back in their home districts campaigning for re-election.  They are going to have a rally in front of a EMPTY HOUSE.

Over the next 60 days I am going to start pulling back from cross posting on most/all of other chronic pain FACE BOOK pages. IMO, I am just encouraging all the dis-unity within the chronic pain community by doing so.  I am going to continue to post on www.pharmaciststeve.com,  my Face Book page https://www.facebook.com/pharmaciststeve  and my twitter account @pharmaciststeve  and anyone can use the RSS feed at the top of the blog to get a automatic email when something new is posted, or follow my FACE BOOK page or Twitter feed.

I will continue to be a advocate for the chronic pain community.. just what form/shape that takes has yet to be determined.

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