DEA agents meet in Orlando to discuss pain medication access

National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators conference held in Orlando

http://www.wesh.com/news/dea-agents-meet-in-orlando-to-discuss-pain-medication-access/36511702?utm_campaign=WESH

ORLANDO, Fla. —Hundreds of law enforcement agents, including those with the Drug Enforcement Administration, are in Orlando to talk about Florida and the nation’s prescription problems.

The group turned its attention to the plight of patients who can’t get their needed pain medication.

WESH 2 News spoke with a doctor who is trying to help law enforcement see the other side of the issue.

“I think what needs to happen is, to have them recognize we’re on the same team,” said Dr. Gerald Aronoff, medical director of Carolina Pain Associates.

Aronoff is working with police and DEA agents from across the United States in an effort to help real patients suffering with pain to get their medication.

Industry leaders are attending the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators conference to address the issue WESH 2 News Investigates has reported on for almost a year.

Patients in Florida and elsewhere shared stories of those who have committed suicide after being denied legitimately prescribed pain medication.

“Unfortunately, many of our law enforcement members, they only meet the abusers. So part of our commitment and when we do our training is talking about the legitimate patient,” said Charlie Cichon, with the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators.

Aronoff said pharmacists reported supplies cut by as much as 80 percent from wholesalers. Purdue Pharma, a drug manufacturer, said since 2012 the company has received more than 350 complaints from patients in Florida who have had their legitimate prescriptions rejected.

“I think it’s tragic. Sometimes when you try to make policy with a blunt instrument, people get hurt and that was not the intent,” said Dr. J. David Haddox, of Purdue Pharma.

A state committee created after a series of WESH 2 News reports will meet again in three weeks to continue working to find a solution to the prescription access problem.

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Robeson woman stung by DEA destruction of backyard hive

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Lawmakers demand acting DEA chief’s ouster after he calls medical marijuana ‘a joke’

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/20/lawmakers-demand-acting-dea-chiefs-ouster-after-calls-medical-marijuana-joke.html

A bipartisan group of lawmakers say the acting DEA chief’s dismissal of medical marijuana as ‘a joke’ is no laughing matter — and they want him out of the job.

Chuck Rosenberg, who came on as the acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration after embattled head Michele Leonhart resigned in May, told reporters on Nov. 4 that calling marijuana a medicine is “a joke,” and that smoking marijuana “has never been shown to be safe or effective as a medicine.”

“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not,” he said.

Currently, some 23 states and the District of Columbia disagree, having medical marijuana laws on the books allowing for the use of pot to treat a range of ailments and illnesses, including chronic pain, glaucoma, muscle spasms, seizures, and to counter appetite loss in cancer and HIV/AIDS patients. Another 17 states have approved measures that allow the use of cannabinoids, the chemical compound found in the pot plant, for medicinal purposes.

Seven lawmakers signed a letter delivered to the White House Thursday, telling President Obama that “Mr. Rosenberg is not the right person to lead the DEA.” The letter was spearheaded by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and included signer Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., who has been fighting for medical marijuana acceptance in congress for over a decade. While four states and D.C. have fully legalized pot, and scores of states have decriminalized it, marijuana, including the use of it for medicine, remains illegal at the federal level.

President Obama, however, has directed his Justice Department to take a largely hands-off approach to medical marijuana and pot as a whole in states that have legalized it. He removed longstanding barriers to streamlining federal medical marijuana research this summer.

The lawmakers said that for millions of Americans, medical marijuana is serious business. Entire families have moved thousands of miles to legal states like Colorado to help treat their children suffering from crippling diseases like epilepsy, for example.

“There is no doubt in my mind that my son Jagger is still alive today because of medical cannabis,” said Sebastien Cotte, who helped deliver a petition to the DEA Friday with a group of medical marijuana patients and caregivers. The petition, hosted online by Change.org, also calls for Rosenberg’s replacement. It had over 101,000 signatures Friday afternoon.

“Cannabis has tremendously decreased the pain and seizures caused by his mitochondrial disease, while improving his quality of life. For our family, that’s no joke,” she added.

“Mr. Rosenberg’s statements send a clear signal to the American people that the federal government isn’t listening to them. It erodes trust,” the lawmaker’s letter reads. “Cavelier statements like these fly in the face of state policy and the experience of millions of patients.”

On Friday, the DEA clarified Rosenberg’s remarks in a statement sent to Foxnews.com.

“We’ve been trying to make clear that Acting Administrator Rosenberg indicated that marijuana should be subject to the same levels of approval and scrutiny as any other substance intended for use as a medicine,” the DEA said.

“In fact, DEA supports efforts to research potential medical uses of marijuana. To this end, DEA has never denied a registration request from anyone conducting marijuana research using FDA approved protocols.  Acting Administrator Rosenberg has also been clear to point out there are a number of marijuana components and/or extracts which appear to show promise as medicines, but have not yet been approved as safe and effective.”

This is not how the lawmakers interpreted Rosenberg’s comments, rather, they charge, “the only reason there are remaining doubts about the safety and effectiveness of marijuana, or questions about the proper applications of extracts or component parts, is because federal policies have routinely hampered medical marijuana research for decades.”

In May, a Harris Poll found that some 81 percent of Americans supported the legalization of medical marijuana. Furthermore, according to the most recent Gallup Poll, 58 percent of Americans now think marijuana would be fully legal.

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Scientists: Earth Endangered by New Strain of Fact-Resistant Humans

https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/scientists-earth-endangered-by-new-strain-of-fact-resistant-humans/

By Andy Borowitz

MINNEAPOLIS (The Borowitz Report) – Scientists have discovered a powerful new strain of fact-resistant humans who are threatening the ability of Earth to sustain life, a sobering new study reports.

The research, conducted by the University of Minnesota, identifies a virulent strain of humans who are virtually immune to any form of verifiable knowledge, leaving scientists at a loss as to how to combat them.

More worryingly, Logsdon said, “As facts have multiplied, their defenses against those facts have only grown more powerful.”

While scientists have no clear understanding of the mechanisms that prevent the fact-resistant humans from absorbing data, they theorize that the strain may have developed the ability to intercept and discard information en route from the auditory nerve to the brain. “The normal functions of human consciousness have been completely nullified,” Logsdon said.

While reaffirming the gloomy assessments of the study, Logsdon held out hope that the threat of fact-resistant humans could be mitigated in the future. “Our research is very preliminary, but it’s possible that they will become more receptive to facts once they are in an environment without food, water, or oxygen,” he said.

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Mali hotel attack ends: At least 21 dead

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/africa/mali-shooting/index.html

This has been wall-to-wall on the news media today… also today – on average – 22 veterans committed suicide because of inadequate care. I may have missed that on today’s news reports ?

Malian and U.N. security forces launched a counterattack at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako and escorted guests out. By late afternoon, no hostages were believed to remain in the building, army Col. Mamadou Coulibaly told reporters.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a written statement that the attack had ended.

Twenty-one people were killed, said Olivier Salgado, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. At least six people injured in the attack have been hospitalized, Mali Health Minister Marie Madeleine Togo told state broadcaster ORTM.

Video aired by ORTM showed security personnel leading people out of the building.

“We’re still hearing erratic gunfire,” journalist Katarina Hoije told CNN from near the scene Friday afternoon.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Radisson Blu Hotel is in an upscale neighborhood outside the center of Bamako, rising high above the dusty streets and surrounding houses. With 190 rooms and suites, it is known as a hub for international guests such as diplomats and businesspeople, and it is a 15-minute drive from Bamako-Senou International Airport.

Why terrorists target hotels

Mongi Hamdi, head of the U.N. mission in Mali, said the diplomats’ meetings, which began Thursday, were a possible reason for the attack.

“I think this attack has been perpetrated by negative forces, terrorists, who do not want to see peace in Mali,” Hamdi said.

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‘War on drugs means millions are needlessly dying in pain’

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/17/opinions/controlled-medicines-access-gcdp/index.html

Where you live determines whether you will be able to access to controlled medicines, particularly opiates, when confronting an acute terminal, chronic or painful illness. Ninety-two per cent of the world’s morphine is consumed by only 17% of the world’s population, primarily the United States and Europe. Seventy–five percent of the world’s people in need do not have access to pain relieving medicine.

In other words, most of the global population, outside the affluent countries in the North, dying in pain, including from terminal cancers, do so in the absence of dignified palliative care.

 

Ruth Dreifuss, former President of Switzerland.

This is a horrendous situation for millions of patients and families. Essential medicines such as morphine, taken for granted as the standard relief of severe pain in the global North, do not enjoy the same status in the global South. Quite the opposite. Chances are, if a person living in any developing country ends up with an illness associated with extreme and avoidable pain, they will endure the pain simply because their government has created obstacles to morphine use in hospitals.

Read: Man’s blood has saved the lives of 2 million babies

Because of unfounded fears of addiction, doctors are hesitant to prescribe these pain relieving drugs. Additionally, people who inject drugs are often denied access to controlled medicines to treat opioid dependence, including methadone and buprenorphine.

This is unacceptable but what is more, this global crisis of pain is avoidable.

‘The international drug control system is broken’

The Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) sees the problem of access to controlled medicines as a critical global issue and finds that restrictions and conditions to avoid these medicines being used for illicit purposes by international drug control bodies and national governments has caused millions of people to needlessly suffer. Because of the stigma associated with certain controlled medicines, particularly opiates, it is more difficult for health systems, doctors and hospitals to access these medicines for their patients.

 

Michel Kazatchkine, former executive director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

According to U.N. drug control conventions, states have an obligation to properly provide these treatments to all people who require them. However, barriers such as discrimination, lack of training for clinicians, and heavy bureaucratic restrictions translate into lack of access and uncontrolled pain.

The United Nations and member states must strike a fair balance between ensuring access and preventing medical substances from entering the black market, with a clear focus on health and human rights.

Read: The contact lens with a built-in telescope

The international drug control system is broken and human suffering is not taken into consideration because of this imbalance. Correcting this gross imbalance is one step in the right direction of moving away from law enforcement towards a public health approach to drugs.

There are solutions.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Model Lists of Essential Medicines provides the minimum that governments should provide to people in need, including morphine, buprenorphine and methadone. These controlled medicines should be accessible, affordable and available through mechanisms that are acceptable to the people in need.

Guaranteeing access to the controlled substances enshrined in the international drug control conventions, many of which are essential medicines, would alleviate the suffering of millions of people around the world. We must make sure that access to the essential medicines on the WHO lists does not become a casualty of the “war on drugs.”

‘Reducing the global suffering of all people’

 

Anand Grover, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, India

As we look towards the upcoming United Nations General Assembly Special Session on drugs (UNGASS) to be held in April 2016, we urge member states to acknowledge this gap in access, to recognize their obligations under international law, to prioritize the treatment of pain, to remove barriers to access, and address the knowledge and investigative gap created by prohibitionist policies around controlled substances, including cannabis.

Scientific understanding of the many varied uses of these controlled medicines remains low because of the obstacles governments have put in place, the stigma associated with them and the imbalanced approach to drug policy.

Where you are born should not be a determining factor in whether you are forced to live with avoidable pain in the event of illness.

UNGASS provides a key opportunity for national governments and the relevant UN. bodies to ensure equal access, to balance our drug control policies toward health and human rights and ultimately prioritize reducing the global suffering of all people. The capacity and tools exist, but does the political will?

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http://blog.chron.com/narcoconfidential/2015/11/luck-goes-from-bad-to-worse-for-meth-smuggler/#photo-706000

It is claimed that every POUND/KG that is confiscated by law enforcement.. that there is 99 POUNDS/KGS that gets thru to their final market destination. Having a OPEN/unsecured southern border sure won’t hinder the importation of illegal drugs.

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DEA Chief to Receive 100,000-Strong Petition After Calling Medical Marijuana a “Joke”

https://upvoted.com/2015/11/20/dea-chief-to-receive-100000-strong-petition-after-calling-medical-marijuana-a-joke/

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Dr. Ibsen case: Examiner’s order rejected, lawyers eye sanctions

http://helenair.com/news/local/article_1e057986-22aa-54f8-b511-da25e39a02b4.html

IMO.. this inquisition into Dr Ibsen’s medical practice has turned from a WITCH HUNT into a vindictive futile exercise. I have heard of attorneys and those in the judicial system that will resort to any and all means to have a WIN.  I recently posted about a chemist that ran the state drug lab https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=12537 and is now serving 3-5 yrs for “helping” prosecutors win their cases with falsified lab tests.  So Dr Ibsen’s case as went from the accusation of OVER-PRESCRIBING pain killers .. to bad hand writing and/or sloppy record keeping.. Besides, who ever heard of a doctor with very bad penmanship ?

There is a article that I posted this week ..  https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=12599 penned by another Pharmacist complaining about prescribers not properly filling out prescriptions.. to the point that they were not considered LEGAL…

Where does seeking justice start and end and malicious prosecution begin ?

After rejecting an order that would have placed Helena doctor Mark Ibsen’s medical license on probation, a state board asked attorneys to recommend sanctions for not meeting standards of care in his record-keeping. 

The two physician members of the Board of Medical Examiners said at a Thursday hearing they would like to suspend Ibsen’s medical license in the meantime. Though his license could have been suspended more than two years ago when an investigation into allegations of over-prescribing painkillers began, that is no longer an option. 

Attorneys for the state and Ibsen will draft their recommendations prior to a board meeting in January. 

“Once again, the finish line in this marathon has moved,” Ibsen said after Thursday’s hearing. 

The board rejected a 50-page order written by a hearing officer for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry called for Ibsen’s medical license to be placed on probation for 180 days. The order was submitted in June. 

“I thought we won in June,” Ibsen said. “I’m completely stunned and mystified.”

The officer deemed Ibsen’s prescriptions were for legitimate medical reasons and that he employed and encouraged alternatives to medication for chronic pain. For failing to meet standards of care for record-keeping, the order recommended Ibsen complete a seminar on how to properly maintain records. 

The board voted unanimously to reject the order after voicing concern with the testimony of a witness deemed an expert in pain management and questioning the legality of some of the findings.  

This case began in July 2013. The order followed four days of hearings last December spawned by allegations by a former employee of Ibsen. More than 20 witnesses testified. 

Ibsen is currently working at his clinic, Urgent Care Plus, with an active and unrestricted license. 

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