You either RIDE THE WAVE or you STAY IN PLACE AND TREAD WATER

Posted on July 7, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

Men’s Health Month — 13 tips to help men live happier, healthier and longer lives

 

TL;DR

  • It’s possible to develop habits that not only help to boost your mood on a daily basis, but may also help you live a longer, healthier life.
  • The foods you eat impact your body in many ways. A healthy diet helps keep the body functioning at its best and can improve your mood. Try out the very Best semen volume pills.
  • Strengthening relationships with good friends is a great way to relax and improve your mood. Go fishing, hiking, out for a bite to eat or to a movie with a friend.
  • Staying active can help you maintain a healthy body weight, strengthen heart health and build muscle tone, among other mood-enhancing benefits.
  • Restore and refresh your mind by taking a walk in nature.

We all want to be happy and healthy, but it’s often something we feel like we have no control over. While it’s true that external circumstances can impact happiness and health, it’s possible to develop habits that help improve your life. This can not only help to boost your mood on a daily basis but may also help you live a longer, healthier life. Consider these simple tips to help you live a happier, healthier and longer life.

 

Watch What You Eat

The foods you eat impact your body in many ways. A healthy diet helps keep the body functioning at its best and can improve your mood. For example, omega-3 fatty acids are great for the heart, brain and skin plus they help reduce stress. Fruit is another healthy choice that can lift your spirits, probably because many types of fruit contain vitamin C which can help improve your mood. Check out more from these best appetite suppressant pills.

 

Pay Attention to How You Eat

It’s not just what you eat that’s important—how you eat can also impact health. For example, slicing food thinly can make the same portion seem like more food so you trick yourself into eating less. Chewing whole foods also helps increase satiety and reduce calorie intake. Swapping a glass of fruit juice for a piece of whole fruit is one way to increase chewing.

Pairing certain foods can also be beneficial. The acid in vinegar helps prevent spikes in blood sugar by interfering with the enzymes that break down carbohydrates. Adding a slice of lemon to your tea can boost the antioxidant levels.

 

Seek Alternative Compensation

Focusing too much on money tends to raise stress levels and lower happiness. Seeking raises at work can actually make you less content. When people earn more, they tend to adjust to the new pay and aren’t satisfied with what they can afford. Try asking for compensation in a different form, such as the ability to telecommute.

 

Spend Time with Friends

Strengthening relationships with good friends is a great way to relax and improve your mood. Go fishing, hiking, out for a bite to eat or even smoke a Coochie Runtz Weed Strain with a friend. Stay open to conversations about challenges which can deepen your friendship.

 

Workout Regularly

Exercise is great for your body and mind. Staying active can help you maintain a healthy body weight, strengthen heart health and build muscle tone, among other benefits. It also provides a mood-enhancing boost that can lift your spirits. When it comes to prostate health, supplements like Prostadine can help regulate the production of testosterone and prevent prostate issues. You can learn more about it at Geeks Health.

 

Set Your Sleep Cycle

A good night’s sleep is important to help you feel and function at your best. Help maintain a healthy sleep cycle by exposing yourself to bright light early in the morning. Drink your morning cup of coffee by a sunny window or turn on bright daylight bulbs. For improved results visit tea burn website.

 

Check Out Workplace Programs

Find out if your workplace offers wellness or coaching programs. If so, take advantage of these resources to help develop your mind and body.

 

Exercise Your Ears

Try using music to fine-tune your ears. Turn down the volume to a level that allows you to carry on a normal conversation, then practice focusing on a single instrument. This can help train your ears to perceive more details in sound.

 

Savor the Little Things

Pay attention to pleasing sights, smells and sounds throughout the day and take a moment to savor them. Building short-term positive emotions can change your outlook and lead to greater happiness.

 

Practice Mindful Breathing

Learning and practicing techniques for mindful breathing help reduce negative thoughts and promote relaxation. Try building up to 10 minutes of mindful breathing each day.

 

Take a Walk

Getting outside is a great mood booster. Restore and refresh your mind by taking a walk in nature; it’s great for your mental state and your body.

 

Compliment Your Spouse

A healthy marriage can help to increase happiness levels and can actually be good for your health because it may lower your chance of getting sick or suffering from depression. One easy way to strengthen your marriage is developing the habit of regularly telling your spouse things you respect or admire about them.

 

Stop Comparing

People tend to be happier when they don’t compare themselves to others. Try doing something to distract yourself every time you start thinking about how a colleague makes more money or your neighbor drives a better car.

Make the most of your daily routine by developing habits that help you live a happier and healthier life. Try some of these tips to get started.

Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »

Cancer killed Kathleen Valentini, but prior auth shares the blame

Posted on July 5, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

Is this another example of one of many middlemen within our healthcare system whereas all involved in providing healthcare are dividing responsibilities as to  what and how much care any particular pt gets and when things GO WRONG.. they can point fingers at each other as to has the ultimate responsibility and until the point that they have all “muddied” the water and the facts so much… it is hard to tell which party/middleman made the real crucial contribution to the final outcome.

Cancer killed Kathleen Valentini, but prior auth shares the blame

https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/prior-authorization/cancer-killed-kathleen-valentini-prior-auth-shares-blame

Kathleen Valentini had crucial medical care delayed as she awaited prior authorization from eviCore, a third-party administrator that her health plan contracted with for prior authorization reviews. It was a delay that caused her immense suffering and, ultimately, her life.

AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians

An ambitious roadmap aims to renew our country’s commitment to physicians so patients can receive the high-quality care they deserve. You took care of the nation. It’s time for the nation to take care of you.

Now, physicians tell the court, the company must be held responsible for how its actions affected the patient.

“EviCore asserts that, contrary to its own representations, its duty was only to the insurance companies that contracted with it and not to Mrs. Valentini. EviCore is wrong. Under the New York law of negligence, eviCore had a duty to Mrs. Valentini, and it should be held to its promises. EviCore, not Mrs. Valentini, should bear the consequences of its misrepresentations,” says an amicus brief from the Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies, the Medical Society of the State of New York, the Vermont Medical Society and the Connecticut State Medical Society to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Physicians at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital said eviCore’s delay meant that a less radical, and possibly more successful, chemotherapy treatment was no longer an option for Valentini. By delaying care, her cancer went undetected. She was in pain and her leg, hip and pelvis were amputated. She ultimately died.

“No one can ever know how Mrs. Valentini’s fate would have been different if eviCore had not deceptively designed its website. But eviCore should bear the burden of that uncertainty,” the brief says. “Allowing eviCore to escape liability would be illogical and immoral.”

Fixing prior authorization is a core element of the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians. You took care of the nation. It’s time for the nation to take care of you. It’s time to rebuild. And the AMA is ready.

Prior authorization is overused and existing processes present significant administrative and clinical concerns. Find out how the AMA is tackling prior authorization with research, practices resources and reform resources.

A company’s patient promises

The promises and misrepresentation the brief refers to come from the claims eviCore made on its website where, among other things, the company’s CEO in a video told visitors that “the patient comes first” and that eviCore is there “really to assure that the patient gets the best care.”

Other areas of eviCore’s website claimed that the company’s approach is:

  • “Not to deny care that is needed but rather to redirect providers and patients to more appropriate testing and treatment options.”
  • To apply “up-to-date evidence-based guidelines and advanced technologies to ensure that the right evidence-based care is delivered.”
  • To “address the full spectrum of potential care and treatment, from holistic and conservative approaches to more advanced and invasive procedures.”

The website further said that the “strong evidence supporting our criteria allows us to make appropriate decisions on patients’ behalf.”

Valentini had every reason to believe the review company would employ sound medical judgment as to what medical tests she should undergo, says the AMA Litigation Center’s brief in the case, Valentini et al. v. Group Health Inc. et al.

But eviCore “did exactly the opposite of what it promised on its website” and delayed an MRI Valentini’s physician ordered, according to the brief, which urges the court to find that the company and other defendants had a legal duty to—in fact—put patients’ needs first, just as it promised on their website. That’s in addition to the duty of care the company owed Valentini because of “the seriousness of her medical condition and the evident need for prompt treatment,” the brief says.

Prior authorization hurts patients

Valentini’s case is an extreme example of how prior authorization harms patients. But the practice commonly harms patient care, physicians tell the court, citing an AMA survey of physicians (PDF) that found prior authorization often negatively affects patients and the practice of medicine. For example, in that survey, 34% of physicians reported that prior authorization has led to a “serious adverse event” for a patient, such as hospitalization, disability or even death.

In late May, the AMA released additional physician survey results (PDF) showing that despite mounting evidence that insurer-imposed authorizations for drugs and medical services can be a hazardous and burdensome administrative obstacle to patient-centered care, the health insurer industry continues to show apathetic or ineffectual follow-through on mutually accepted reforms.

“Although this practice may save money for insurance companies, it is deleterious to patient health and causes substantial inconvenience and frustration to patients and to health care providers, including physicians,” says the physicians’ brief in the Valentini case. “As evident from this case, the prior authorization requirement can endanger health and even lead to loss of life. This case presents an especially egregious case of prior-authorization abuse. Amici seek to ensure that such abuses are minimized and that, when they occur, insurance companies are properly held responsible.”

Find out more about the cases in which the AMA Litigation Center is providing assistance and learn about the Litigation Center’s case-selection criteria.

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

PROP Keeps Lying About Opioids – This Time They Got Caught

Posted on July 5, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

PROP Keeps Lying About Opioids – This Time They Got Caught

https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/07/05/prop-keeps-lying-about-opioids-time-they-got-caught-16409

If there’s any reason to doubt the veracity of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP) there is now more. The group lied about the results of a June debate on the cause of the opioid crisis. We caught it.

Photo Credit: Piotr Siedlecki , Public Domain Pictures

As I wrote recently, I attended a debate at the SoHo Forum in New York in which Dr. Jeffrey Singer, a practicing surgeon (and ACSH advisor), and Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, a member of the anti-opioid group Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP), which I have criticized multiple times for their unfamiliarity with the truth. In fact, Fugh-Berman either lied to my face or displayed her ignorance during the question and answer period when she dodged my question about her over-exaggeration of the number of overdose deaths from prescription opioid drugs. Following her “answer” she added the following:

“And we’ll also point out that the American Council on Science and Health is very heavily industry-funded.” 

My written response (See A Surgeon And A Non-Practicing Anti-Opioid Zealot Walk Into A Bar: The Singer Fugh-Berman Debate) pointed out that her claim was ridiculous and all our financials were disclosed (public record) in our 990 Form, which we must file every year. Our total industry contribution for 2021 totaled $23,000 – about 1.8% of our total revenue (1), which prompted me to wonder: “Is [Fugh-Berman] lying or merely ignorant?

Either way, Fugh-Berman is a hypocrite, criticizing us for being an industry front while she made $120,000 – more than five times our total – by charging $500 per hour as an expert witness for California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who was suing Johnson & Johnson for an allegedly defective pelvic mesh. 

Lies or Ignorance?

Since I do not know what Dr. Fugh-Berman did or did not know about ACSH, let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and concede that she was ignorant and made her claim by mistake. 

This makes a recent item on the PROP website even more intriguing. PROP claims that it won the debate with Dr. Singer. This is a flat-out lie.

Source: Support PROP

In deciding between ignorance and dishonesty it is difficult to believe the former since it takes approximately five seconds to find the following on the SoHo Forum site (2). 

 

Original source: SoHo Forum

Yes, PROP proclaimed Fugh-Berman the “winner,” which is, let’s just say, not entirely accurate.

This morning I spoke with Gene Epstein, the Founder, and Director of the SoHo Forum about the PROP claim. He was displeased:

The statement on the PROP site gets the facts reversed. Their statement claims that Fugh-Berman got 45.3% of the vote [in favor of the debate proposition] while Singer got 39.5% [against]. Those numbers are the exact opposite.

Gene Epstein, Director of the SoHo Forum, Private Communication, July 5, 2022

Some questions to consider:

  • If PROP is lying about debate results what else are they lying about? And why?
  • Why does PROP dismiss ACSH as an industry front when their members are making small fortunes as self-proclaimed experts testifying against the drug companies? (Andrew Kolodny, the current president of PROP made about $500,000 ($725 per hour) testifying for the state of Oklahoma in a suit against Johnson & Johnson for the company’s alleged role in “creating a public nuisance.)
  • Is it possible that the driving force behind PROP’s militant anti-opioid stance is self-enrichment?
  • Based on their mangling of the debate results, is PROP dishonest or merely stupid?
  • Either way, why does this group have such an oversized role in determining America’s disastrous opioid policy?

Of course, there are many more questions, especially from those of you who have been involuntarily cut off from the pain medications that keep you functioning. Perhaps you want to join PROP and ask them yourself. Just don’t expect an honest answer.

In case you don’t believe Epstein or me, feel free to watch the last two minutes of the debate when the results were announced. It’s on YouTube.

NOTES:

(1) We also collected an “immense sum of $32,600 from trade associations, in case that makes any difference.

(2) The SoHo event was an Oxford Style Debate, where the audience is polled before and after the debate. The winner is decided by which debater changed the most minds with their argument. You can see from the figure above that it was dead even, both Singer and Fugh-Berman changing the opinions of 8.14% of those who voted. There is no way PROP can claim victory regardless of which number is used. 

 

 

Filed under: General Problems | 4 Comments »

New 3-digit phone number offers a lifeline for mental health crisis resources

Posted on July 4, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

New 3-digit phone number offers a lifeline for mental health crisis resources

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/fcc-new-number-mental-health

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the U.S., and it’s on the rise. Vulnerable groups like veterans, LGBTQ youth, and Black teens are particularly at risk.

To help address this urgent public health issue, the FCC tomorrow is expected to approve plans to establish 988 as the new, nationwide, 3-digit phone number for suicide prevention and mental health crisis counseling. This decision will enhance mental health care in our country by helping people easily access potentially life-saving resources.

Millions of Americans struggle with mental health issues and are often stigmatized for seeking help. It is critical that people in emotional distress have rapid access to mental health services because suicide is preventable, and many mental health issues are treatable.

A healthy mind is just as important as a healthy body. Dialing 988 for mental health crises will save lives, just as dialing 911 saves lives in cases of medical emergencies.

Now more than ever, in these challenging times, it is important that people in pain can easily access a lifeline and be connected with the help and health resources they need.

 

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

THE TIDE IS TURNING: Drug distributors win landmark opioid case brought by West Virginia local governments

Posted on July 4, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

Drug distributors win landmark opioid case brought by West Virginia local governments

https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2022/07/04/drug-distributors-win-west-virginia-landmark-opioid-case/

The three largest drug distributors in the United States cannot be held liable for the opioid crisis that has racked Huntington and Cabell County, a federal judge has ruled.

Nearly a year after the landmark trial in Charleston ended, U.S. District Judge David Faber sided with the companies: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. 

“The opioid crisis has taken a considerable toll on the citizens of Cabell County and the City of Huntington,” the judge wrote in his ruling. “And while there is a natural tendency to assign blame in such cases, they must be decided not based on sympathy, but on the facts and the law.”

The city and county had argued that the companies created a “public nuisance” because of the sheer numbers of opioid painkillers they shipped to the area over several years.

Lawyers for the drug distributors argued that West Virginia’s public nuisance law was meant to provide communities relief from situations like polluted air or water from a single factory or business. 

Faber agreed with the companies that the city and county shouldn’t be allowed to use the state’s public nuisance law that way.

The judge noted that none of the West Virginia cases involving the state’s public nuisance law was focused on the sale or distribution of a product, such as opioid painkillers. “The extension of the law of nuisance to cover the marketing and sale of opioids is inconsistent with the history and traditional notions of nuisance,” he wrote in the ruling.

He wrote that two lower court rulings, in Marshall and Boone counties, that did allow public nuisance law to be applied to opioid distribution were “not persuasive” and were inconsistent with how the state Supreme Court has interpreted the law.

“To apply the law of public nuisance to the sale, marketing and distribution of products would invite litigation against any product with a known risk of harm, regardless of the benefits conferred on the public from proper use of the product,” the judge wrote.

The drug distributors also argued that they shouldn’t be held liable for the effects of the opioid epidemic, because all the companies did was supply prescription drugs to licensed pharmacies, as a result of doctors writing prescriptions.

“The volume of prescription opioids in Cabell/Huntington was determined by the good faith prescribing decisions of doctors in accordance with established medical standards,” Faber wrote. “Defendants shipped prescription opioid pills to licensed pharmacies so patients could access the medication they were prescribed.”

Lawyers for Cabell County and Huntington said that the companies shipped 81 million pills to a county with fewer than 100,000 residents over eight years. More than 700 people died of opioid overdoses in Cabell County between 2015 and 2020, according to the state Office of Drug Control Policy.

In their lawsuit, the city and county had asked for $2 billion from the drug distributors for a plan to, among other things, provide more behavioral health services and address the abuse of controlled substances through multiple generations.

On a state level, West Virginia had previously settled its lawsuit with the same three big drug distributors for a total of $73 million. But West Virginia counties, cities and other municipalities weren’t bound by that settlement.

They could have joined the national settlement with the drug distributors, and drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, that was proposed last year and finalized this February for $26 billion.

But Huntington and Cabell County officials, as well as dozens more across West Virginia, chose not to be part of the settlement and to pursue lawsuits against the drug companies.

Another trial, with dozens of West Virginia cities, towns and counties suing the same three big drug distributors, is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Charleston. Although this trial is in state court and being handled by Mercer Circuit Judge Derek Swope, many of the other participants, including the lawyers, are the same.

Filed under: General Problems | 5 Comments »

ACR Statement on Recent Events: The Patient-Doctor Relationship Must Be Preserved

Posted on July 4, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

Looks like some Medical Societies are starting to growing a “back-bone” and finding a “pair”…hopefully there will be more.

ACR Statement on Recent Events: The Patient-Doctor Relationship Must Be Preserved

The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) supports the privacy and integrity of the physician-patient relationship. Physicians have a responsibility to recommend appropriate care for all clinical circumstances based on the best available evidence and careful consultation with their patients. The relationship between physicians and their patients is sacred; it must not be jeopardized by non-medical outside interference, including federal, state and local government intrusions beyond public health measures. Instead, physicians, legislators, regulators and patients must work together to ensure access to safe, effective and equitable healthcare for all patients.

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

Lawyers, bureaucrats & judges should not get between a pt and their doctor on medical decisions

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

https://youtu.be/zKEhmZe_w9o?t=180

I clipped this video to start at abt 3 minutes in the video… to what is the “meat of the matter’

This is a interesting quote from a “my body my choice” side of the political spectrum… I wonder what this person and others in our population with the same opinion, would say if/when they were asked about those same lawyers, bureaucrats & judges getting between a chronic pain pt and their doctor about if/how their pain is – or is not – treated ?

After all it is claimed that Congress is typically 40% attorneys and back in 1969-1970 that passed the Controlled substance act and it was signed into law by an attorney and the enforcement of this law was handed to the DOJ.  Back then – and some people still believe today – that addiction is a choice and there is no mental health issues involved. The only “tool” that the DOJ had to enforce this law, was jail or prison.

The CSA was passed about 4-5 yrs after the Civil Rights Law was passed and addressed discrimination against those with disabilities. I have seen videos of the Governors of NY & CALF, in particular, claiming that they are going to do whatever possible to not let any law get between a pt and their doctor.. in regards to abortions, but I have not heard these same Governors saying anything about chronic pain pts receiving appropriate care in regards to their pain management.

Unless things have changed in NY, that state several years ago imposed a “Rx opiate tax” on prescriptions. It would appear that the puritanical thread in our societal fabric causes bureaucrats to tax something if they can’t ban or abolish a particular product or activity… just look at tobacco, alcohol, gambling.  Over the last couple of decades, it would seem that the bureaucrats and certain GREEDY LAW FIRMS.. have decided that taxing is just not enough…now they are suing a industry for the perceived “damages” that the selling of a otherwise legal product has caused to individuals in our society , and our society as a whole.  I may be wrong, I have not seen any of the money collected from these law suits being shared with those individuals within our society that have theoretically harmed.  The Tobacco settlement in the late 90’s, where the final agreement… the bureaucracies were to put the money they shared into anti-smoking campaigns, nut many states just threw the $$ that they collected into their GENERAL FUND.

When the CDC 2016 opiate dosing guidelines were published, I did not see any state’s Attorney General going to court, to get those guideline declared unconstitutional. So the denial of care and discriminating against chronic pain pts.. is a bipartisan issue ? 

Filed under: General Problems | 2 Comments »

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: Civil Rights: Filing a Civil Rights Complaint

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

Filing a Civil Rights Complaint

Filing a Civil Rights Complaint

If you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, or religion in programs or activities that HHS directly operates or to which HHS provides federal financial assistance, you may file a complaint with OCR. You may file a complaint for yourself or for someone else.

If you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your disability by a State or local government health care or social services agency, you may file a complaint with the OCR. You may file a complaint for yourself or for someone else.

Many people has tried to file a discrimination – because of disability – and being denied appropriate, medically necessary medication.  Historically people have been directed to the DOJ and seemingly everyone who tried to file a complain with the agency within the DOJ that is suppose to enforce both the Americans with Disability Act and the Civil Rights Act. Every pts that has attempted and reached out to me, got from the DOJ agency “we don’t have the resources to pursue”

I thought that was because this agency and the DEA are both under the same Presidential Cabinet position – DOJ.  I saw something a couple of days ago… that HHS ( Health & Human Services ) has a dept that deals with discrimination under American with Disability Act & Civil Rights Act.

I doubt if HHS will go after a individual provider, but with the new – soon to be pubished CDC opiate dosing guidelines… which is based on the MME system that has NO SCIENCE, nor DOUBLE BLIND CLINICAL STUDIES and the FDA professional prescribing literature does not recognize the MME system as part of its recommended dose range FOR ANY FDA APPROVED MEDICATION. Also the MME system was developed in the mid-1970’s by a OBSERVATIONAL STUDY of post operation pts’ surgical induced acute, decreasing pain and has no application in treating chronic pain.

Could HIHS/OIG consider those entities (hospitals, chain pharmacies, insurance/pbm) who create a “broad brush” approach as to certain mgs/day limits on acute & chronic pain pts without any consideration of the individual’s valid medical needs.  Also any entity that REFUSES to accept pharmacogenomics testing that would indicate that the pt is a fast/ultra fast metabolizer and/or the pt’s metabolism indicates that one specific medication would be best used by the pt’s metabolism.

 

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

CVS HEALTH/Caremark: Have your Rxs filled where we tell you, or YOU PAY ENTIRE COST.

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve


There is more and more issues coming to light of how the PBM industry is extracting a “boat load’ of excessive profits from just about any entity/person within our medication distribution system from Medicare/Medicaid/Insurance, pharma, wholesaler, pt.  It is possible that there could be HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INVOLVED in overcharging by the PBM industry.  The largest 4-5 PBM – now all owned by insurance companies – control some 85-90% of all prescriptions.

Perhaps this is how CVS Health is fighting back against what it appears to be some cost controls coming down on this Industry.  CVS Health owns 10,000 community pharmacies, specialty & mail order pharmacies, Aetna Insurance, Caremark PBM, Silver Scripts Part D.

According to this, it would appear that CVS Health makes so much money on filling prescriptions from kickbacks/discounts/rebates from the Pharmas and “spread pricing”  paying the pharmacy filling the pt’s Rxs a fraction of what they charge the final payer (Medicare/Medicaid/Insurance)… that they will “settle” with just collecting the insurance premium and forcing the pt to pay for the ENTIRE COST OF THEIR MEDICATIONS.  Just because you use a “cash Rx discount card”, doesn’t mean that a PBM won’t get a kickback/rebate/discount from a Pharma and/or collect you and your Rx information and sell all that data to some entity willing to pay for it.

Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »

Alleged drug traffickers released from California jail days after caught with 150K illegal fentanyl pills

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Pharmaciststeve

These two “bad boys” were caught in the possession of illegal Fentanyl tablets and charged with possession, transportation and selling of illegal drugs.  Apparently in CALF, those who are arrested are put thru some “risk assessment” by the county probation dept to evaluate if those arrested, if released on their own recognizance or kept in jail.  Apparently, it was decided that these two “bad boys” did not presented a risk to public safety. Perhaps it was determined that these two “bad boys” would cost the system too much money/time for.. law enforcement, jail, prosecutor, public defender, court cost on what is probably nothing more than a couple of “mules” transporting illegal fentanyl into our country.

It would appear that the DEA did not even bother to become involved with the violation of the Federal Controlled Substance Act.  In reality, the illegal Fentanyl tabs have no financial value, in fact may be more of a financial liability to any part of the bureaucracy that has to deal with these illegal drugs, for the cost of inventorying, storing and destroying the illegal drugs.   Perhaps, these two “mules” were not going to get paid until they delivered the illegal drugs to their final destination.

The traffic stop created a potentially large financial risk to the CALF bureaucracy, if the existing laws were enforced.  The bureaucrats most likely knew that what illegal fentanyl drugs they had seized, was perhaps a very small percentage of these sorts of illegal drugs that actually gets to our streets and these two “bad boys” had no money or assets worth confiscating. So they just turned them back to the street from where they came.

Alleged drug traffickers released from California jail days after caught with 150K fentanyl pills

https://www.ktvu.com/news/alleged-drug-traffickers-released-from-california-jail-days-after-caught-with-150k-fentanyl-pills

Two alleged drug traffickers in California who were arrested last week for being in possession of 150,000 fentanyl pills — enough to kill millions of people — were released back onto the streets, officials said.

Jose Zendejas, 25, and Benito Madrigal, 19, both from Washington, were arrested during a traffic stop-turned-drug bust in Tulare last Friday. They were booked into the Tulare County Pre-Trial Facility on charges of possession, transportation and selling of illegal drugs, officials said.

In a surprising twist of events, the two inmates were released just days later.

The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office received a court order to release both suspects from custody on their own recognizance,” officials said.

“All inmates booked into Tulare County jails are sent through what is known as the Risk Assessment Process through the Tulare County Probation Department. That ‘Risk Assessment’ is then sent to a judge with the court, who, then, determines whether or not the individual arrested is held on bail or if they are to be released,” The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office added.

Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said he strongly disagrees with the decision to release the traffickers, citing public safety concerns, but said his office was forced to comply with the court order.

Investigators seized 150 packages with 1,000 fentanyl pills in each – enough to potentially kill several million people. Officials aid each pill sells for about $5 – meaning the bust netted about $750,000 worth of deadly drugs.

Filed under: General Problems | 4 Comments »

« Previous Page — Next Page »