‘I want to offer an alternative’: Local Navy vet, pharmacist wants to fight against opioid crisis
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local Navy veteran and former addict is on a mission to fight back against the opioid crisis in the U.S. where an average of 115 people die every day from an opioid overdose.
Steven Mougeot plans to open a compounding pharmacy on St. Johns Bluff Road S. where he’ll mix his own drugs, offering an alternative to the schedule two narcotics that continue to claim the lives of loved ones.
Mougeot served eight years in the U.S. Navy, earned a degree in psychology a doctorate in pharmacy and was once addicted to drugs.
“My first drink was age 8,” he said. “My first drug was age 12 and by 17, I went into rehab. I really wanted to focus on something very meaningful to my own life. I’ve been clean and sober for almost 27 years.”
He’ll be missing out on big business by refusing to sell highly addictive drugs, but the father of two who knows all too well about the struggles of addiction says he simply doesn’t care. Once his shop is open he plans to tithe all proceeds.
“I’m here to help you make your best life but I’m not gonna carry some of those schedule two opiates, narcotics and amphetamines,” he said. “You can get that from other pharmacies.”
Opioid overdoses accounted for more than 42,000 deaths in 2016 and roughly 40 percent of those deaths involved a prescription opioid.
“It’s not just the person shooting heroin on the street, it’s what’s in your medicine cabinet and why you keep going back for that,” he said. “I want to offer an alternative that doctors can write for.”
A pharmacist can refuse prescriptions over any doubt. They are encouraged to call the doctor to resolve any concerns. Pharmacists are urged to use a state database established to crack down on abuse.
Mougeot aims to open Thrive Pharmacy in August pending final approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
If you have any questions, you can contact Mougeot by email at thrivepharmacy1@gmail.com.
DId you notice that they are still using the “old CDC OD numbers” and not distinguishing between legal pharma opiates and illegal pharma opiates.. and notice that they stated that 40% of OD’s involved pharma opiates … not the fact that 60% of the OD’s involved ILLEGAL OPIATES nor mention how many of the OD’s from pharma opiates… were obtained ILLEGALLY and the person did not have a legal Rx for them.
If this pharmacist is not going to dispense any of those C-II opiates, Narcotics and Amphetamines… but.. he is waiting for his Federal DEA license ? So what controlled substances is he going to dispense ? According to the DEA, ALL CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES … have a certain degree of potential addiction ? Otherwise, he would not need a Federal DEA license.
Pharmacist Mougeot must have had some home life as a kid… drinking by SEVEN and abusing drugs by TWELVE and in REHAB by SEVENTEEN. He must not have been charged/convicted of any drug charges… or without some sort of SPECIAL DISPENSATION… would not have been able to obtain a pharmacist license.
Maybe he is going to try and make a living selling Narcan and Suboxone type meds. Suboxone is a C-III and our healthcare system seems to prefer that a addict/substance abuser be “dependent” on Suboxone C-III than a C-II controlled substance like METHADONE
This news station appears to be in the Jacksonville, FL area https://www.firstcoastnews.com/
Filed under: General Problems
How in the world is snythibg this man plans on doing go to help with the illegal drug crisis? Does this man really believe this??
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There is absolutely nothing this man is going to do that helps the fake “opioid crisis.” How in the world is what he plans on doing going to help the opioid crisis??
A squad of 50 of us could write 8 hours per day 5 days a week just correcting that one damn stat “64000 ods” or “42000” adjusted stat in the 1000s of newspaper, blogs, websites, social media, TV, even medical journals, speakers at conventiob, training, rehabs, counselors, doctors, and Kolodny & Krew
So easy to put twisted stats or factoids or whatever passes for investigative journalism these days. And I am reminded, brutally, daily how impossible it is to unring that bell.