Fentanyl seized by law enforcement doubled in 2016, DEA says

Fentanyl seized by law enforcement doubled in 2016, DEA says http://www.wlwt.com/article/fentanyl-seized-by-law-enforcement-doubled-in-2016-dea-says/9886466 The United States is seeing a dramatic increase in drugs containing fentanyl, newly released data from the Drug Enforcement Administration shows.  From 2015 to 2016, more than twice as many drugs seized by law enforcement agencies and submitted to labs have tested positive for […]

A country of “drug seekers”

There is abt 4.5 BILLION prescriptions filled – in community pharmacies and via mail order pharmacies –  in the USA EVERY YEAR and we have some 320 million residents… doing the math that means that each person would have 14 prescriptions filled each year. What can be estimated that most of the prescriptions are filled […]

DEA: New opioid could be Narcan-resistant

DEA: New opioid could be Narcan-resistant http://www.richmondregister.com/news/dea-new-opioid-could-be-narcan-resistant/article_4432deb0-3cc0-11e7-bd64-1398a5e0b408.html     This article is from a Richmond KY newspaper and the reporters/editors involved are so “moronic” that they pull a graphic of legal Fentanyl patches which appears to have various descriptions on the boxes IN GERMAN.  The article is about an ILLEGAL FENTANYL ANALOG and they use […]

Court issues important decision for dietary supplement industry

Court issues important decision for dietary supplement industry http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=649a9107-dba6-4341-be5c-693eacadebf7 On April 18 2017 Judge Vasquez granted summary judgment to Bayer in a consumer class action over its probiotic dietary supplement Phillips’ Colon Health in In re Bayer Phillips’ Colon Health Probiotics Sales Practices Litigation.(1) This important decision should help to rein in the onslaught of […]

The Myth of Available Pain Care

The Myth of Available Pain Care https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-of-available-pain-care/ America is in the midst of an ongoing epidemic of undertreated chronic pain. This fact is confirmed by surveys such as “Chronic Pain in America: Roadblocks to Relief,” which is posted on the American Pain Society website (www.ampainsoc.org/ whatsnew/toc_road.htm). The economic cost of this epidemic can be estimated, […]

medication errors cause at least one death every day and injure 1.3 million people annually

Macon man says health declined after receiving someone else’s prescription http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/67-year-old-man-recieves-someone-elses-prescription-saying-it-harmed-his-health/440925340 According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, medication errors cause at least one death every day and injure 1.3 million people annually in the United States. Nicole Butler met up with a Macon man who has recently suffered from being given someone else’s […]

SNITCHES should get STITCHES not $$$

For some airline workers, tipping off the DEA pays off big http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/some-airline-workers-profit-big-tipping-off-dea-watchdogs-united-airlines-ohare-airport-glen-ellyn/ The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has paid some airline employees hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide flight itineraries of suspected drug traffickers, leading to the seizure of millions of dollars and prompting concerns about the constitutionality of the cash grabs. In Chicago, the […]

Medical Academia weighs in on the “opiate epidemic” and the FDA

Friday Feedback: Should Opioids Be FDA’s Top Priority? Experts review agency’s actions thus far & offer additional strategies https://www.medpagetoday.com/painmanagement/painmanagement/65433 During the new FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s first all-hands address to agency staff, he declared the opioid abuse epidemic as the agency’s “greatest immediate challenge.” As opioid abuse and overdose deaths continue to rise, it’s clear […]

IOWA: < 50% of hospitals get ABOVE AVERAGE GRADE on Pt Safety and ERRORS

Iowa hospitals get grades from nonprofit group for safety, injuries http://siouxcityjournal.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/iowa-hospitals-get-grades-from-nonprofit-group-for-safety-injuries/article_500b4f97-750c-5797-99bc-411bc0ab3366.html SIOUX CITY | Sioux City’s two hospitals scored average grades for patient safety from a national nonprofit organization that calls attention to deaths and injuries that result from medical errors.  UnityPoint Health — St. Luke’s Spring 2017 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade remained unchanged from […]

At least 10 Indiana police agencies now own drones: using appears to be against the law in Indiana.

Indiana police departments want drones. There’s just one big problem. http://www.whas11.com/news/local/indiana/indiana-police-departments-want-drones-theres-just-one-big-problem/441173901 (INDYSTAR.COM) – Indiana’s two largest police departments both want drones; one for crowd surveillance at major gatherings Downtown, the other to monitor traffic at events such as the Indiana State Fair. There’s just one problem. Both uses appear to be against the law in Indiana. […]