Snowmageddon 2015: Survival Tips From America’s Top Preparedness Experts

 http://www.inquisitr.com/1790125/snowmageddon-2015-survival-tips-from-americas-top-preparedness-experts/#uGiVe4VFPD3mCcIC.99

This is where the “rubber meets the road” and/or the “round brown smelling stuff hits the fan ”

with all of these “you must wait until you are out of your pain meds before I will refill them ” So now we have millions of people without electricity, heat, all the roads and subways are shutdown. How many pharmacies or stores with pharmacies are going to be open.  Will wholesalers or company warehouses even going to be able to delivery for days.

The only pain meds that a prescriber could call in is Tramadol,  Tylenol c Cod.. for someone in mod-severe pain.. the Tramadol is probably virtually worthless and how long will a store’s inventory of Tylenol c Cod going to last.

The area affected is some of the most densely populated area in the country.. as many as 15%-20% of the ENTIRE COUNTRY’S population could be adversely affected by this..

Let’s do the math… using a round figure of  50 million people being affected and 1/3 of them are chronic painers … we are now down to 17 million and roughly 3% are going to run out of their meds every day.. so we are down to a 500,000 chronic pain pts taking their last dose of pain meds EVERY DAY.. they can’t get their pain meds filled because of this natural disaster.. Each one within 24 hrs of starting into withdrawal… Don’t forget they don’t have any electricity or heat..  So now they have to try to keep warm, deal with elevated and untreated pain while dealing with withdrawal symptoms ramping up.

I hope that everyone is happy that you made these chronic pain people not have any spare doses or refill a couple of days early.. I guess those professionals that recommend that you have a 7 days “emergency supply” on hand..  are totally clueless about how that does not apply to those in chronic pain or some other subjective diseases and require controlled meds to maintain some quality of life …

BE WELL … BECAUSE YOUR HEALTH IS EVERYTHING !

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HSC pain center lowers state opioid abuse

http://www.dailylobo.com/article/2015/01/2015-01-26-nm-opioid-use-down

A new study released by the UNM Pain Consultation and Treatment Center shows that a new state-mandated training program for doctors and clinicians is resulting in significantly fewer opioid painkillers being prescribed to patients, which has led to less addiction and fewer overdoses.

Area 51 is in NEVADA… maybe some of those “visitors” have moved to NM.. to help solve some of our major social issues ?

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FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record American’s Whereabouts With License Plate Readers

The DEA is currently operating a National License Plate Recognition initiative that connects DEA license plate readers with those of other law enforcement agencies around the country. A Washington Post headline proclaimed in February 2014 that the Department of Homeland Security had cancelled its “national license-plate tracking plan,” but all that was ended was one Immigrations and Customs Enforcement solicitation for proposals. In fact, a government-run national license plate tracking program already exists, housed within the DEA. (That’s in addition to the corporate license plate tracking database run by Vigilant Solutions, holding billions of records about our movements.) Since its inception in 2008, the DEA has provided limited information to the public on the program’s goals, capabilities and policies. Information has trickled out over the years, in testimony here or there. But far too little is still known about this program.

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What costs $29.99 to $438? Same darn pills Mayo: From $29.99 to $438 for same pills; can anyone explain our screwy health system? – Sun Sentinel

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Mayo: What costs $29.99 to $438? Same darn pills * Drugs and Medicines

* Medicare

* CVS Health

Michael MayoSouth Florida Sun-Sentinelmmayo​@sun-sentinel.com

Mayo: A tale from the front lines of our screwy, incomprehensible health-care system

Mayo: From $438 to $29.99 for same generic drug? ‘It boggles my mind,’ says retiree

How could a product sell for $438 in one store and $29.99 a few blocks away? It’s a mystery that retired dentist Robert Fradkin is still trying to figure out.

“It boggles my mind,” said Fradkin, 77, of Delray Beach. “It just goes to show how screwed up the whole system is.”

The product in question: a 90-day supply of the cholesterol drug atorvastatin, the generic version of Lipitor.

Fradkin got a shock the other week when he went to fill his prescription at a local Walgreens. He was told his supply of 20-mg pills would cost $438. Then he checked with a local CVS, where he was told his prescription would cost $414.

Finally, he went to Sav A Lot, a pharmacy on Jog Road. He got his pills for $29.99.

“Now I know how Walgreens is making the money to build a store on every corner,” Fradkin quipped. He called the price disparity “ridiculous.” In England, a 3-month supply of the same generic drug sells for roughly $6.

Fradkin is on Medicare, the federal health-care program for those over 65, but he does not have supplemental drug coverage, known as Medicare Part D. That’s because he’s a veteran, and he can get his prescriptions filled reasonably at a local VA clinic. In the past, he’s had his generic Lipitor filled at the VA clinic for $9 a month.

But he said he sometimes goes to chain pharmacies for convenience’s sake.

“If you don’t have insurance, you’re really at their mercy,” Fradkin said.

I got the same shocking lesson at my pharmacy last week. I switched insurance plans this year, so before I could sort things out with my new card, I was quoted the “cash claim” (uninsured) price. A one-month supply of my daughter’s chewable generic Singulair asthma medication: $154.95. A one-month supply of my 10-mg generic Lipitor: $64.95.

The prices with insurance: $9.78 and $4.68.

When Fradkin was quoted the $438 price at his Walgreens, he called over a manager and said, “Something is wrong; this can’t be. It’s a generic. It’s a common drug.”

We’re not talking about an airline seat (whose prices can also fluctuate wildly) or a television set. We’re talking about drugs prescribed by doctors for health reasons. What happens to someone that doesn’t have a VA option or isn’t savvy enough to comparison shop?

A spokesman for Walgreens, Phil Caruso, wrote by email that “more than 95 percent of our patients purchase prescriptions using some form of insurance coverage, including Medicare Part D.” He said customers who aren’t on Medicare or Medicaid can sign up for the company’s Prescription Savings Club for discounts on 8,000 generic and name-brand drugs. The club price for a 90-day supply of generic Lipitor: $141.97.

A spokesman for CVS, Mike DeAngelis, said the company offers a discount club that offers a 90-day supply of another generic cholesterol drug (lovastatin) for $11.99, plus $15 annual enrollment fee.

As to the broader question, why the same product can vary in price by a factor of 14 for an uninsured person, the companies were mum.

“We cannot comment on a price comparison between competitors because different pharmacies’ varying business models may affect the prices they charge,” CVS’ DeAngelis wrote by email.

“Crazy,” Fradkin said.

And no cure in sight.

mmayo@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4508.

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This is what CVS Pharmacist see when their central pharmacy computer system is “down”.. Of course, they don’t have total access to all the pt’s information because THE SYSTEM IS DOWN… and all of the functions in the lower part of the graphic.. can’t be done without the access to all the pt’s prior information… but the corporation is apparently trying to CYA itself.. when – not if – things go wrong for the pt getting a contraindicated meds for them.. because in CAPITAL LETTER – RECOMMENDATIONS to the Pharmacist.. and if something goes wrong.. it is the Pharmacist’s professional discretion to do this.. of course, if nothing does go wrong.. the Pharmacist will probably be WRITTEN UP for not filling the pt’s Rxs in a timely manner …  Have you ever heard of no-win … no win ?

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State of Texas Forcing Epileptic Man to Suffer, Facing Jail Time for Trying to Self-Medicate

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/texas-epileptic-faces-prison-growing-3-medical-marijuana-plants/#lEVj7Gr4QGzsf3GT.99

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We all do it. Our companies force us to. The old people cost too much and have too much vacation. The new grads cost to too much to train. So keeping the pharmacist experience level between 3 to 8 years is perfect. I will even tell you how we fire the old people. When you have reached 8 years with us your name pops up on my screen. Then I get with the store manager and we write you up for everything you can think of until you quit, which saves us unemployment as is ideal or we fire you for too many violations. It is really tough at the well run pharmacies because the pharmacist always seem so confused, but my bonus is based on how fast you go.

So all you “good little corporate soldiers”… keep working off the clock.. keep running at a 110%… keep bending or breaking the rules..  keep trying to climb that corporate ladder… just watch out for those missing or broken rungs. Your bosses’ BONUS is based on how fast you go… appropriate/safe pt care is of      of little concern to this non-medical front end boss..  You make a med error helping him get his bonus.. it is not his license – cause he doesn’t have one… will be put at risk or be called before the BOP nor will he be fined by the BOP or have any financial liability on any fine or legal financial settlement from resulting law suits for harm/damages from the med error that you made.. processing Rxs faster than what professional prudence would suggest is safe.. So new graduates are not smart enough and as you get pay raises and more benefits.. the closer you get to “the edge”.. and they have plans in place to prohibit you from getting unemployment.

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Federal Officials Participate In New Mexico Pharmacists’ Association Meeting

http://krwg.org/post/federal-officials-participate-new-mexico-pharmacists-association-meeting

ALBUQUERQUE – Representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA participated in the New Mexico Pharmacists’ Association’s Mid-Winter Meeting held this weekend in Albuquerque, N.M., for the purpose of educating the Association’s membership about how prescription drug trafficking and abuse contributes to New Mexico’s heroin and opioid epidemic and enlisting their support in combating the epidemic.  Group Supervisor Richard Stark of the Tactical Diversion Squad at the Albuquerque Office of the DEA delivered a presentation entitled, “The Prescription Drug Epidemic in New Mexico:  How Promoting a Partnership between the DEA and Pharmacists Can Help.”   Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel R. Meyers, Supervisor of the Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, discussed the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative.  This Initiative, which was launched earlier this month, is a collaboration between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in partnership with the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative with the overriding goal of reducing the number of opioid-related deaths in the District of New Mexico.  

Special Agent in Charge Will Glaspy of DEA’s El Paso Division added, “DEA is committed to developing and maintaining strong working relationships with pharmacists and other registrants.  By ensuring that pharmacists have the education and tools they need so they can educate parents and young people about the dangers of prescription drug misuse and abuse, we can and will make a difference in combating this deadly epidemic.”

The HOPE Initiative comprised of five components:  (1) prevention and education; (2) treatment; (3) law enforcement; (4) reentry; and (5) strategic planning.  The participation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA in the New Mexico Pharmacists Association’s Med-Winter Meeting was undertaken under the prevention and education component of the HOPE Initiative.

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The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think

The new evidence will force us to change ourselves.

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/likely-cause-addiction-has-been-discovered-and-it-not-what-you-think

It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned – and all through this long century of waging war on drugs, we have been told a story about addiction, by our teachers, and by our governments. This story is so deeply ingrained in our minds that we take it for granted. It seems obvious. It seems manifestly true. Until I set off three and a half years ago on a 30,000-mile journey for my book ‘Chasing The Scream – The First And Last Days of the War on Drugs’ to figure out what is really driving the drug war, I believed it too. But what I learned on the road is that almost everything we have been told about addiction is wrong – and there is a very different story waiting for us, if only we are ready to hear it.

One of the ways this theory was first established is through rat experiments – ones that were injected into the American psyche in the 1980s, in a famous advert by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. You may remember it. The experiment is simple. Put a rat in a cage, alone, with two water bottles. One is just water. The other is water laced with heroin or cocaine. Almost every time you run this experiment, the rat will become obsessed with the drugged water, and keep coming back for more and more, until it kills itself.

The advert explains: “Only one drug is so addictive, nine out of ten laboratory rats will use it. And use it. And use it. Until dead. It’s called cocaine. And it can do the same thing to you.”

But in the 1970s, a Professor of Psychology in Vancouver called Bruce Alexander noticed something odd about this experiment. The rat is put in the cage all alone. It has nothing to do but take the drugs. What would happen, he wondered, if we tried this differently? So Professor Alexander built Rat Park. It is a lush cage where the rats would have colored balls and the best rat-food and tunnels to scamper down and plenty of friends: everything a rat about town could want. What, Alexander wanted to know, will happen then?

In Rat Park, all the rats obviously tried both water bottles, because they didn’t know what was in them. But what happened next was startling.

The rats with good lives didn’t like the drugged water. They mostly shunned it, consuming less than a quarter of the drugs the isolated rats used. None of them died. While all the rats who were alone and unhappy became heavy users, none of the rats who had a happy environment did.

At first, I thought this was merely a quirk of rats, until I discovered that there was – at the same time as the Rat Park experiment – a helpful human equivalent taking place. It was called the Vietnam War. Time magazine reported using heroin was “as common as chewing gum” among U.S. soldiers , and there is solid evidence to back this up: some 20 percent of U.S. soldiers had become addicted to heroin there, according to a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Many people were understandably terrified: they believed a huge number of addicts were about the head home when the war ended.

But in fact, some 95 percent of the addicted soldiers – according to the same study – simply stopped. Very few had rehab. They shifted from a terrifying cage back to a pleasant one, so didn’t want the drug any more.

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