PHARMACIST STEVE

Democratic Candidates Take on Opioid Addiction Docs need to ‘get their act together’ and stop overprescribing, Sanders says http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/ElectionCoverage/55345?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2015-12-21&eun=g578717d0r MANCHESTER, N.H. — Physicians have to “get their act together” to help stop the opioid addiction epidemic, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said at a Democratic presidential candidates’ debate here Saturday. “I think we have got to […]

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Judge in Another Narco-terror Case Questions Proof https://www.propublica.org/article/judge-in-another-narco-terror-case-questions-proof A federal judge in Washington last week threw out the narco-terrorism conviction of an Afghan man whom U.S. authorities had touted as an example of the dangerous alliances between terrorists and drug traffickers. Haji Bagcho, in his mid–70s, was one of the first people prosecuted under a […]

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What?!? Private prisons suing states for millions if they don’t stay full Low crime rates bad for business for private prisons; they demand states keep them full http://rollingout.com/2013/09/26/what-private-prisons-suing-states-for-millions-if-they-dont-stay-full/ The prison-industrial complex is so out of control that private prisons have the sheer audacity to order states to keep beds full or face their wrath with […]

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Opioid Overdose Deaths Keep Rising Prescription opioid and heroin overdose deaths hit record high http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PublicHealth/55337?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2015-12-19&eun=g578717d0r Overdose deaths from opioids — both prescription opioids and heroin — reached an all-time high in 2014, according to the CDC. Following a relative plateau around 16,000 deaths per year, prescription opioid overdose deaths shot up 16% in 1 year […]

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Congress Blocks DEA Interference in Medical Marijuana States, Ends Needle Exchange Funding Freeze The omnibus spending bill approved by Congress today includes important drug reform provisions, but not everything activists were looking for. http://www.alternet.org/drugs/congress-blocks-dea-medical-marijuana-states-ends-needle-exchange-freeze The omnibus spending bill approved by Congress this morning includes several drug reform provisions, although reformers didn’t get everything they wanted. […]

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Did Hospitals Kill Her Mom? http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/18/did-hospitals-kill-her-mom.html Paula Schulte couldn’t survive a cascade of medical mistakes. After that, her family couldn’t get answers—or accountability. by Marshall Allen and Olga Pierce, ProPublica Over the course of her lifetime, Paula Schulte survived painful scoliosis that contorted her spine, a head injury that left her in a coma for […]

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Opioid-Benzo Combo Raises Deadly Drug Overdose Risk http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/Opioid-Benzo-Combo-Raises-Deadly-Drug-Overdose-Risk Concurrently prescribed opioids and benzodiazepines increase the risk for deadly drug overdose in veterans.   A new study published in the British Medical Journal found 27% of US veterans who received opioids between 2004 and 2009 were taking benzodiazepines at the same time. Roughly half of the […]

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Opioid Abuse & The Missing Information http://www.thehonestapothecary.com/2015/12/03/opioid-abuse-the-missing-information/ This is a post from a fellow Pharmacist blogger ( Jason Poquette) … I often talk about how the DEA/DOJ use vague and/or bulk numbers to get their point across about our “drug abuse epidemic”.  Jason looks at the issue of how data/information is being obfuscated to create […]

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Sugar Land-area CVS pharmacy gives woman wrong prescription — twice http://abc13.com/news/local-pharmacy-gives-woman-wrong-prescription—-twice/1125404/ SUGAR LAND, TX (KTRK) — A Fort Bend County woman says she was given the wrong medication by a pharmacy, not once, but twice. Wendy Flory says she picked up a prescription from the CVS pharmacy located on Crabb River Road near Sugar Land […]

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DEA ignored prosecutor’s warning about illegal wiretap warrants, now it’s losing big http://boingboing.net/2015/12/15/dea-ignored-prosecutors-parn.html For years, the DEA relied on a Riverside, California magistrate judge, Helios Hernandez, to write illegal wiretap warrants, making Hernandez the national champion of wiretapping warrants, signing off on five times more than any other judge in America. Despite warnings from their […]

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