Class action: Walgreens charges insured, Medicare customers too much for prescription drugs

Class action: Walgreens charges insured, Medicare customers too much for prescription drugs http://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/511098464-class-action-walgreens-charges-insured-medicare-customers-too-much-for-prescription-drugs A multi-state class action complaint filed March 23 in federal court in Chicago accuses Walgreens of fraud, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment in relation with the way it prices prescription drugs.  Named plaintiffs Dorothy Forth, Troy Termine, Cynthia Russo and the International […]

Illegal opiates: the law of supply and demand is ALIVE AND WELL

Underground labs in China are devising potent new opiates faster than authorities can respond http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/underground-labs-china-are-devising-potent-new-opiates-faster-authorities-can-respond Former addict Miller Atkinson remembers when fentanyl-laced heroin hit the streets in Cincinnati: “It started trickling in, and we were like ‘Wow, that was good, we need to get more of that.’” © MADDIE MCGARVEY Underground labs in China are […]

Since 2007, the DEA has taken $3.2 billion in cash from people not charged with a crime

Since 2007, the DEA has taken $3.2 billion in cash from people not charged with a crime https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/29/since-2007-the-dea-has-taken-3-2-billion-in-cash-from-people-not-charged-with-a-crime/ The Drug Enforcement Administration takes billions of dollars in cash from people who are never charged with criminal activity, according to a report issued today by the Justice Department’s Inspector General. Since 2007, the report found, the […]

a law that their lawyer called an unreasonable violation of federal law

Maine’s new opiate limits could be targeted in lawsuit http://bangordailynews.com/2017/03/28/health/maines-new-opiate-limits-could-be-targeted-in-lawsuit/ AUGUSTA, Maine — Two midcoast men who suffer from chronic pain informed state officials on Tuesday that they intend to sue over a new law that limits opiate prescriptions in an effort to stem Maine’s addiction crisis if it isn’t changed. The threatened lawsuit from […]

chronic pain pts: committing suicide as they see their lives turned upside down by doctors pressured to reduce

As a physician, I urge other doctors to cut back on prescribing opioids http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/326095-as-a-physician-i-urge-other-doctors-to-cut-back-on-prescribing Recently I met with a woman, a casualty of our nation’s clumsy efforts to curb its opioid crisis. Her story shows how a myopic fascination with numeric targets, which caused so much harm as our prescribing went up, is likely to […]

ACLU: defending legit pts or substance abusers or BOTH ?

ACLU Fights Against Warrantless Searches of Drug Database https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/03/27/us/ap-us-dea-lawsuit-prescription-drug-database.html SALT LAKE CITY — The American Civil Liberties Union and Utah state officials are arguing that a judge’s recommendation to allow the Drug Enforcement Administration to do warrantless searches of a prescription drug database violates people’s privacy rights, the ACLU said Monday. Safeguards are needed for […]

The DEA’s Approval of This Drug Highlights Its Own Hypocrisy

The DEA’s Approval of This Drug Highlights Its Own Hypocrisy http://www.attn.com/stories/15965/dea-approves-synthetic-marijuana In the eyes of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), not all weed is created equal. When its grown and used in its natural plant form, marijuana is an illegal and highly addictive drug with no accepted medical value, according to the agency. But when […]

Greenwich family sues drug company after overdose death of son

Greenwich family sues drug company after overdose death of son http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Greenwich-family-sues-drug-company-after-overdose-11031478.php GREENWICH — A lawsuit has been filed by the parents of a Greenwich college student who died of a heroin overdose against the manufacturer of a prescription drug they claim led to his death. Laurence and Michelle Allen are suing the makers of Suboxone, […]

Fine line between appropriate pt care and pt abuse/neglect

I pulled the bottom quote from a large law firm’s website in Louisville, KY.  The question has to be asked… isn’t some of the verbiage from this law firm’s website that describes pt abuse would also describe how many pts that have a medical necessity to be prescribed controlled substances are being treated by a […]

The CDC blamed over 33,000 deaths on opioids in 2015, less than half of which were linked to pain medicatio

CDC: Painkillers No Longer Driving Opioid Epidemic www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/3/26/cdc-painkillers-no-longer-driving-opioid-epidemic By Pat Anson, Editor A top official for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged that prescription painkillers are no longer the driving force behind the nation’s so-called opioid epidemic. In testimony last week at a congressional hearing, Debra Houry, MD, Director of the CDC’s […]