“The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick and the needy, and the handicapped.” – Hubert Humphrey
passionate pachyderms
Pharmacist Steve steve@steveariens.com 502.938.2414
Thank you to all that responded. I appreciate the advice . The pharmacy we use is not a mom and pop but a large independent one. The letter that was given by the pharmacist to my friend mentioned not only the DEA but also pharmacy wholesalers not supplying to pharmacies with patients receiving opioids above the 90 mme. I have not heard of this component to the issues patients are facing. See the attached portion of the letter he was handed. He has been with this pharmacy for close to 10 years. They have always been helpful and understanding. I am just confused as to what the wholesalers role is in denying medications?? Has anyone else heard of this?
Apparently in Georgia the HIPAA covered pt medication information is made available to the Pharmacy board, DEA and numerous pharmacy wholesalers do “data mining” on this database. Also apparently some entity in Georgia have decided that the CDC opiate dosing guidelines as “standard of care” and “best practices”. The above letter was handed to a pt when the pt’s opiate pain management meds were DENIED…
Someone needs to read the law that established the PMP in Georgia and see if this sort of data mining is authorized by that law… and if so then someone needs to hire a law firm because that may make it in conflict with the Americans with Disability Act and if there is a complimentary state ADA law as well.
The vast majority of pts being prescribed controlled meds… are dealing with subjective diseases… most of which would make these pts covered entities under the ADA law.
So does a state have the legal authority to pass a law that is in conflict with the ADA and does that make the state law – UNCONSTITUTIONAL. ?
A Kentucky sheriff accused of stealing drugs from a drop box for his own personal use won re-election by a landslide despite the charges pending against him and a public letter from his deputies stating that he has an addiction.
Dewayne Redmon is once again Graves County sheriff after securing 47.2 percent of the vote in the election held on Tuesday. He faced off against six write-in candidates, with second place Jason Clark picking up 26.2 percent and third place Davant Ramage on 18.2 percent.
Redmon was indicted by a grand jury in August on two counts, reported WKMS. One count was of first degree possession of a controlled substance, a felony, and the second of official misconduct, a misdemeanour.
In September, he pleaded not guilty to the charges and is due back in court Wednesday—the day after his re-election.
The sheriff is accused of taking hydrocodone from a drug drop box for his own use instead of destroying the prescription medication as he was supposed to do. Hydrocodone is an opioid derived from codeine.
“I appreciate the confidence that the voters have once again put in me,” Redmon said after his election, reported The Mayfield Messenger. On the issue of his indictment, Redmon said: “We’ll just wait until the court system plays out to see how it goes any further.”
Sheriff Dewayne Redmon of Graves County, Kentucky, was re-elected despite the drugs charges against him. Graves County Sheriff’s Office
A letter co-signed by a number of deputies in the Graves County Sheriff’s Office was sent out to the media in October accusing Redmon of having an addiction and pledging to support him and his family in overcoming it.
It said Captain Jeremy Prince spotted Redmon with a pill bottle that had “pain” written across the top of it after the sheriff had taken control of responsibility for the drug drop boxes.
Empty pill bottles with other people’s names on them were allegedly discovered in Redmon’s vehicle and the matter reported to Kentucky State Police, which opened an investigation.
“Sheriff Redmon admitted to stealing pain medication from the Sheriff’s Office drug drop box numerous times,” the letter states, according to a copy published by WPSD. “Sheriff Redmon was also offered treatment for his drug addiction, but he stated that he did not need any help because he did not have a problem.
“Once a Sheriff, Deputy Sheriff, Police Officer, State Trooper or other law enforcement officer has violated their code of ethics and their oath, their ability to do their job has been compromised… Once a person commits crimes, no matter the reason, they can no longer be respected and trusted in a law enforcement role.”
In October, Redmon’s attorney Bryan Wilson responded to the letter, accusing the sheriff’s department of a “blatant attempt to try Sheriff Redmon through the media and to influence the court of public opinion.”
Wilson told WPSD: “The fact that Election Day is drawing near should not be lost on anyone. Make no mistake, this letter was posted for political gain without consideration to the ramifications its contents would have on the pending criminal case.”
Just picked up my mom from the hospital. She had her appendix out, gallbladder out and a large cancerous mass in her colon removed. AND GUESS WHAT?! They sent her home with no pain medication. She is to take Tylenol if she has pain! I’m so angry!!! Right now she still has iv pain meds in her, but I’m sure she will be in a lot of pain once that wears off. What is wrong with these doctors and our medical system? I guess they think she will either overdose or become addicted if they give her prescription pain medications. If she is in agonizing pain, I will not let them treat my mother like this. I just don’t understand in what world that this is okay. This is inhuman treatment!!! Shame on the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital! Dr. Kline states that, we need to start calling out the people and places that treat patients with gross negligence. We need to stop with the silence. It’s just allowing these entities to continue treating patients in this way. I will no longer be silent!!!
I was told – by someone I trust – that in Texas … the TX Medical Licensing Board is taking a “hard line” on pharmacists changing a pt’s prescription (LOWERING daily dose/quantity) without contacting the prescriber.
One of the basics of the practice of medicine is the starting, changing, stopping a pt’s therapy.
Apparently when complaints are filed with the TX Medical Licensing Board gets a complaint about a pharmacist changing the pt’s prescription – generally involving a controlled substance, particularly a opiate… they are going after these pharmacists for practicing medicine without a license.
All health professional licenses are managed at the state level… and these various state Medical practice act and what they say is the legal practice of medicine do not vary that much.
So if one state is looking into/doing this… the other 49 states could probably find some statue verbiage in their practice act to take action against pharmacist who are changing a pt’s prescription without conferring with the prescriber.
So if one state is doing it… it is probably within the other states practice acts to take similar actions
It is also against the Control Substance Act for a legally licensed prescriber to prescribe a controlled substance to a pt that they have not done a in person physical exam on.
Pharmacists have neither the training nor legal authority to do a in person exam and few would not even have the space to do a in private in person exam.
So would a pharmacist found guilty of practicing medicine without a license also be in violation of the Controlled Substance Act ?
It has been reported that some of the chain pharmacies have implemented corporate policies mandating that their employee pharmacists MUST NOT DISPENSE CERTAIN CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ABOVE A CERTAIN DAYS SUPPLY AND/OR MGS/DAY.
I have also been told my some pts that some pharmacists will call the prescriber and tell the prescriber and demand that the prescriber LOWER the pt’s dose and if the prescriber refuses the pharmacist threatened to call the DEA on the prescriber.
Of course, if neither the pt nor the prescriber file complaints with the state Medical Licensing Board NOTHING WILL CHANGE !
While there’s early evidence that the explosive rate of opioid deaths has started to slow, opioids killed more than 49,000 people in the United States in 2017, according to preliminary data. A new study reveals which part of the country has been affected the most by the ongoing epidemic.
In a study of opioid deaths from 1999 to 2016, “we found that, in general, opioid mortality is skyrocketing,” said Mathew Kiang, a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Population Health Sciences.
More specifically, the study, published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that the mortality rate from synthetic opioids in 28 states more than doubled every two years from 1999 to 2016. The District of Columbia saw the greatest increase in its opioid mortality rate, which more than tripled every year since 2013.
Synthetic opioids are manmade drugs such as fentanyl, as opposed to semi-synthetic opioids such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, or natural opioids such as codeine and morphine.
Fentanyl is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin, and just ¼ of a milligram can be deadly. For comparison, a standard low-dose aspirin is 81 mg. If you were to cut that tablet into 324 pieces, one of those pieces would equal ¼ milligram.
“One thing I do want to highlight is that, despite the large differences in deaths across states, there’s no evidence to suggest that there’s differences in use,” Kiang said. “What we think is happening is that the heroin just continues to get more and more potent in the eastern United States, whereas heroin [in] the western United States has traditionally been this brown tar heroin. It’s much harder to lace with fentanyl or other synthetic opioids.”
At the national level, opioids were responsible for shaving 0.36 years off Americans’ life expectancy in 2016, the study says. That’s a greater loss of life than caused by guns or motor vehicle accidents.
New Hampshire and West Virginia saw the biggest drops in life expectancy, of more than a year, due to opioid deaths. Montana and Oregon were the only states to see a decline in opioid deaths from 1999 to 2016.
According to the report, “emerging research … suggests the opioid epidemic has evolved as a series of 3 intertwined but distinct epidemics, or waves, based on the types of opioids associated with mortality”:
1990s-2010: Prescription painkillers
2010-present: Heroin
2013-present: Synthetic opioids
Utilizing data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics and the US census, Kiang and his colleagues identified 351,630 opioid-related deaths from 1999 to 2016. Over that 18-year period, deaths from opioids increased by 455%. Men, on average, died at age 39.8, women at age 43.5.
Kiang said that, if anything, the number of opioid deaths is probably underreported because synthetic opioids require additional testing by a medical examiner. He hopes testing for synthetic opioids will become standard whenever the cause of someone’s death is classified as an overdose.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the co-director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, said, “to talk about solutions, you have to frame the problem the right way.” To him, that means looking at the opioid crisis not as an overdose epidemic but as an addiction epidemic.
“Preventing opioid addiction is necessary for the long term, so that this crisis ultimately comes to an end. And preventing opioid addiction really means much more cautious prescribing.”
Kiang agrees that there are multiple factors at work. “We need to make treatment at least as accessible, available and affordable as heroin,” he said. “It shouldn’t be harder to get help than it is to get heroin.”
Facebook recently told law enforcement to stop using fake accounts as a ruse to bust people on its service. The social media giant also shut down several law enforcement accounts that violated its policy against phony accounts.
The fake accounts came to light in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Tennessee against the Memphis Police Department. The ACLU uncovered evidence that fake Facebook accounts were created to gather intelligence on activist groups. When Facebook was made aware of the fake accounts, it shut them down and issued a notice to Memphis police to stop creating fake accounts.
In a letter to Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings on September 19, 2018, Facebook requested the department to “cease all activities on Facebook that involve the use of fake accounts or impersonation of others.” Facebook reminded Rallings that its policy forbids users from misrepresenting their identity, misusing Facebook profiles, and impersonating others on its service—and that “Facebook has made clear that law enforcement authorities are subject to these policies.”
Memphis isn’t alone. The Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as police in Georgia, Nebraska, New York, and Ohio, also were found to be using the same tactics. Even prosecutors have endorsed the practice.
At the 2016 Indiana Child Support Conference, a slide presentation told prosecutors that “police and federal law enforcement may create a fake Facebook profile as part of an investigation even though it violates the terms and policies of Facebook” in order to gather evidence in a case.
Facebook has since updated its policy banning fake accounts to be more clear that everyone— including law enforcement—must follow its policies, or their accounts will be deleted.
Whether this will deter law enforcement from creating fake accounts is questionable, considering their blatant disregard for the rules in the past.
On February 20, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously to limit a key drug war policy that allows state and local law enforcement agencies to seize items or property that they deem connected to crime.
The Court has previously limited the ability of federal law enforcement to do the same.
The justices concluded that the eighth amendment’s prohibition on “excessive fines” also applies to states, under the due process clause of the 14th amendment. In the case at hand, law enforcement had seized a $42,000 Land Rover owned by plaintiff Tyson Timbs. The Supreme Court did not rule on the question of whether the seizure of the vehicle actually amounted to an “excessive” fine, leaving that up to lower courts. But they did say that it was “grossly disproportionate to the gravity of Timbs’s offense,” which included dealing in a controlled substance—heroin—and conspiracy to commit theft.
To be clear, the Court’s ruling does not ban outright civil asset forfeiture, a practice notorious for being abused for the financial benefit of public law enforcement.
“People are still going to lose their property without being convicted of a crime, they’re still going to have their property seized,” Timbs’s lawyer, Wesley P. Hottot of the Institute for Justice, told The New York Times. “The new thing is that they can now say at the end of it all, whether I’m guilty or not, I can argue that it was excessive.”
The Times article references two other cases, one involving a woman who was almost dispossessed from her home because an illicit drug sale occurred on her property, and another where a family in fact lost their house because of a drug purchase made by their teenaged son.
It’s no surprise that so many forfeitures are associated with cases involving drug charges. That’s because the war on drugs invented civil asset forfeiture as we know it today. In an amicus brief filed in the Timbs case, a coalition of organizations including the Drug Policy Alliance, the NAACP, and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP)* noted that Congress developed the “federal asset-forfeiture regime” with the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 in an effort to “cripple drug trafficking organizations and their kingpins.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) claims it operates its current civil asset forfeiture program “to disrupt the financial dealings and dismantle the financial infrastructure of illegal drug traffickers.” Seized items often include firearms, computers, and vehicles. But it is unclear how some items seized are implicated in the “financial infrastructure of illegal drug traffickers.”
For example, the DEA and collaborating agencies seized huge sums of high-priced jewelry, totaling over $560,000 in the fourth quarter of 2018. Other items included “assorted televisions” and designer shoes.
But luxury items aren’t the typical seizure. Rather, the usual assets are mostly those of lower-value. That’s because low-income people and those indirectly involved in drug trafficking—rather than “kingpins”—are the ones swept into the DEA’s asset forfeiture program. And in around 80 percent of cases, the owner is not even charged with a crime.
“These days,” explains the amicus brief, “states do not seize the assets of drug kingpins (if they ever did), but of ordinary Americans, often with little or no connection to criminal activity. And, because the proceeds of a forfeiture proceeding often go to the enforcement agency itself, state agencies employ these proceedings as a mechanism for funding their operations—with assets seized predominantly from the poor and people of color.”
Additionally, DEA’s civil asset forfeiture program exploits the particular circumstances of the drug trade to maximize the value of assets seized. According to a Drug Policy Alliance report, California police were incentivized to carry out “cash grabs,” or in other words, to wait for the completion of a drug transaction to intervene. That way, the agency accrues cash, instead of drugs—which they’re required to destroy.
While some of the media reports on the Supreme Court’s decision may have over-hyped its significance, it is nevertheless an important step for the Court to recognize, as Justice Ginsberg wrote in the Court’s opinion, that “[p]rotection against excessive punitive economic sanctions […] is, to repeat, both ‘fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty’ and ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.’”
NEW YORK – So long, El Chapo. El Mayo is still around. And El Mencho is on the rise.
El Chapo – the internationally notorious drug trafficker born Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera – faces life in prison for running a continuing criminal enterprise.
Federal prosecutors say the Sinaloa drug cartel leader smuggled tons of cocaine and other drugs into the United States, generating billions of dollars in illegal profits over more than two decades.
The jury in Guzmán’s federal trial agreed last week, voting to convict on each of 10 criminal counts. He still faces charges in other U.S. courts.
Officials declared victory, touting the deterrent effect and symbolic value of taking down the world’s most famous drug trafficker.
But analysts and researchers on Mexican crime organizations that the actual impact on the transnational drug trade might be minimal.
The Sinaloa cartel remains a strong drug-smuggling and violence threat on both sides of the Southwest Border, they say, and a newer, rival crime group, the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, poses similar danger.
“The conviction is a great moral victory for the United States, Mexico and other countries that have been severely damaged by the flow of illegal drugs coming from the flow of Chapo Guzmán and the Sinaloa cartel,” said Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
“The unfortunate aspect is that the Sinaloa cartel continues to function and is just as powerful,” Vigil said.
He likened the organization to “a very strong NFL team that has a great backup quarterback,” along with a “diversified income stream.”
That new Sinaloa boss isn’t actually new at all. He’s Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who was indicted with Guzmán, but never captured. The longtime cartel leader is believed to be living in Mexico, government testimony during the trial showed.
Zambada’s son and brother testified against Guzmán during the trial. But Zambada himself remains a force in Mexico, Vigil and other say.
As Guzmán’s trial opened in November, the Sinaloa cartel remained prominent in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2018 assessment of Mexican transnational criminal organizations.
“It maintains the most expansive international footprint compared to other Mexican transnational criminal organizations,” the DEA reported.
The Sinaloa cartel still smuggles wholesale quantities of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin and the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States through border crossings in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the DEA said. Distribution is handled through hubs in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago, and other cities.
Major drug seizures in recent years demonstrate the cartel’s reach.
Linked to the Sinaloa cartel, it was the largest fentanyl haul in the United States up to that time, the DEA said.
The Ventura County, California, Sheriff’s Office arrested 13 suspects with alleged Sinaloa ties in October 2018. Detectives seized 161 pounds of methamphetamine, 121 pounds of cocaine, 13.2 pounds of heroin and 6.6 pounds of fentanyl – a haul with a combined street value of more than $10.8 million.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers reported a record load of hidden fentanyl last month at the border crossing in Nogales, Arizona. They say they discovered nearly 254 pounds of the opioid hidden in a special floor compartment of a tractor-trailer truck carrying a load of cucumbers from Mexico. The compartment also held almost 395 pounds of methamphetamine, they say, bringing the combined street value to an estimated $4.6 million.
Driver Juan Antonio Torres Barraza, a Mexican national, was arrested on drug charges. He said he had no knowledge of the illegal cargo. The case against Torres is still at an early stage, and federal investigators have not yet publicly linked the incident to a specific Mexican drug cartel.
David Shirk, director of the Justice in Mexico project at the University of San Diego, says the Sinaloa cartel and its rivals plunged into the growing fentanyl market after Guzmán’s reign peaked.
“Fentanyl is shaping the drug trade in Mexico today,” said Shirk. “It’s cheaper, and so much more potent. With a small amount of fentanyl, you can make the same profit” as with cocaine or other drugs.
By many accounts, the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación is vying with the Sinaloa organization for market share.
Described by the DEA as “one of the most powerful and fastest growing cartels in Mexico and the United States,” the organization maintains drug distribution hubs in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta. It smuggles drugs through several border cities, including Tijuana, Juarez, and Nuevo Laredo, the agency said.
Nathan Jones researches drug policy and Mexican security issues at Sam Houston State University in Texas.
He says the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación began a rapid rise in 2010 – aided in part by the U.S.-Mexican strategy of targeting drug kingpins that captured Guzmán.
The group enlisted “orphan” criminal cells left by the fragmentation in Mexico’s organized crime groups, Jones wrote in a study last year.
Notorious mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been convicted of drug-trafficking charges at a trial in New York. (Feb. 12) AP
The rise of the new cartel shows how organized crime groups adapt after leadership structures have been disrupted, Shirk and co-author Lucy La Rosa concluded in a separate study, also released last year.
The organization now rivals the Sinaloa cartel as the primary suspects in smuggling fentanyl across the Southwest Border, the DEA said.
The Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación is also suspected of smuggling “high heat” cocaine, a high-end product reported as more than 97 percent pure.
Investigative reporting from San Diego “identified a wholesaler operating between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego who was seeking to import ‘High Heat’ cocaine into the U.S. supplied by CJNG for prospective clients,” the DEA reported.
Federal authorities in North Carolina charged six suspects last week with conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine and cocaine. A confidential informant linked the alleged trafficking to the CJNG, authorities said in a court filing.
The Treasury Department targeted alleged Jalisco Nueva Generación leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera-Cervantes under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act in 2015.
Oseguera and 10 other alleged members of the cartel were charged in new or superseding drug-trafficking indictments in October.
But U.S. efforts to break or disrupt the alleged criminal organization could prove difficult. In recent years, the cartel has diversified its operations, reportedly making drug trafficking just part of its income stream.
“Kidnaping and extortion have become part of the business model,” along with tapping into fuel lines in Mexico and “forcing businesses to sign contracts with vendors favored by the cartel,” Jones said.
Follow USA TODAY reporter Kevin McCoy on Twitter: @kmccoynyc
I am a chronic pain patient. I have been harmed by the current governmental push restricting opioids. Diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia after becoming ill in 2001, my pain had been effectively and safely treated since 2003. I have had pain since my teen years, long before I knew what opiates were.
In January of 2018 the Xanax I had been safely taking since 2001 for severe sleep issues was suddenly, unexpectedly, forcefully, rapidly tapered. Four weeks into the drastic taper I had a stroke. My son took me to the doctor with confusion and altered consciousness. Instead of looking for a cause the doctor assumed I had mis-taken medications, wrote a refill for the pain medication I was on, and a small amount of Xanax, and told my son to take me home. Later that same day my son took me to the hospital. I was there four days. A gross mistake was made on my intake history, a medication I had been prescribed for sleep, Seroquel, was recorded as being taken “100 MILLIGRAMS FOUR TIMES A DAY” instead of the correct “one 100 milligram tablet at bedtime”. With this wrong assumption in place it was, again, assumed I was having a medication problem and assumed, again, wrongly, that I had a psychiatric disorder such as bipolar.
When I awoke in the hospital my right hand was curled in a fist and I could not straighten my right leg. In the hospital records it is recorded that I had “drooping on the right side of my face.” In the political push to demonize opiates proper diagnosis of the stroke I experienced was not done. Once I could eat, drink, and walk, with stable vital signs, I was discharged. It was suggested I stop two medications. I did, not understanding all the mistakes made in my “care”. After the hospital stay I had to find a new primary care doctor, my old physician had dismissed me because he suspected, wrongly, that I mis-took my medications. The new physician did not know me. I was struggling to understand what had happened. About 8 weeks after the hospital stay an MRI was done. The new primary care physician told me I had two small strokes. I asked for physical therapy to help me walk better and to help the pain. I also asked for a neurologist appointment and pain management. The doctor said, “We don’t know when the strokes occurred, physical therapy won’t be covered, do you want to see a chiropractor?” What? Really? I know when it happened…
Did the rapid, forced taper of Xanax contribute to, or cause, the strokes?
That was just over a year ago. I have had zero stroke care, no PT, no neurologist appointment, and no pain management. This current governmental push to limit opioids has many victims. I am one. My 23 year old daughter moved back here from another state to help me, her life also altered by these events. After going to a few doctor’s appointments with me she believes, as do I, that what was written in my medical records has drastically altered my ability to get rational medical care.
I have been slandered by a doctor, mistreated by a hospital, denied care by the system and, with no pain medications I am now housebound. I cannot drive, I cannot go shopping by myself, it is very painful to just get around in the house. With the pain medications I can walk, shop, even ride my bike on a good day, as well as look for part-time work. If doctors had not been pushed to drop chronic pain patients I don’t think this would happening to me. These policies are a nightmare for many people. This ILLEGAL DRUG CRISIS should have never been allowed to interfere in the doctor patient relationship. People are dying and I am trying to not be a casualty of this war.
In a Facebook post that has since been deleted, a Republican candidate for Oklahoma governor suggested euthanizing the poor and the disabled in order to cut down on the amount of money spent on programs like food stamps. Christopher Barnett claims that he didn’t write the post, but it was on his official Facebook page for his campaign. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains. Link – https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/okla… Support us by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon, and help keep progressive media alive!: https://www.patreon.com/TheRingofFire Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire’s video content! Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/theringoffire Be sociable! Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RingofFireRadio Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RingofFireRadio Google+: http://plus.google.com/11841583157319… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffiren… Follow more of our stories at http://www.TROFIRE.com Subscribe to our podcast: http://www.ROFPodcast.com Few people outside of the state of Oklahoma know who Christopher Barnett is but just in case you were wondering, he is a Republican candidate right now for governor in the state of Oklahoma. And this week on his Facebook page he actually advocated for euthanizing the poor and the disabled in the United States as a way to cut back on the amount of money we have to spend, as a country, on food stamps. Here is the Facebook quote that his campaign posted on their official Facebook page that is supposed to be speaking for the candidate, “The ones who are disabled and can’t work, why are we required to keep them? Sorry, but euthanasia is cheaper and doesn’t make everyone a slave to the government.” Now, the post has since been deleted. It was deleted I believe sometime on Tuesday evening after huge public backlash, after everyone found out what a disgusting person Chris Barnett is, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was there. Now Barnett says he didn’t write the post, he just didn’t know. He won’t say if the page was hacked or if it was a staffer or if maybe he had a few too many and decided to let his real thoughts out. But regardless, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who wrote the post because it’s a page for him, so he represents everything that is said on that page from the official account. And to be honest, this is just another in the long line of Republicans accidentally saying what they actually believe, like when we had the Colorado Republican Party recently tell us that they hate poor people. Well this guy’s just doing the same thing, except he’s going one step further. It’s not just hate, he’s saying, “Hey, here’s a great idea! Let’s just kill them.” This is what Republicans want. The party that’s so pro-life thinks that if you’re disabled, or hell even if you’re just poor, you should just die, just die. Remind me again which party is the one that Republicans say is just for killing babies, killing people, when you have these Republicans out there literally advocating for euthanizing those who aren’t wealthy enough to pay for their campaigns. And that’s what it’s about at the end of the day, they’re just pissed off that these people don’t have enough disposable income to donate money to their campaigns. You don’t hear them calling for the euthanasia for these corporate CEOs who poisoned one million people by dumping their toxic chemicals in the waterway, you know, the real criminals responsible for generations of people developing incurable cancers. No, because those people fund their campaigns. But if you’re poor, if you’re disabled, if you have to rely on the federal government program, food stamps or Medicaid or social security, just in order to survive, Republicans want to kill you. And that’s not me talking, that’s just us using their own words to tell you what they really think of you.
This just validates my opinion that both parties have “loose screws” within the party and we have a mental health crisis in this country
Apparently in Georgia the HIPAA covered pt medication information is made available to the Pharmacy board, DEA and numerous pharmacy wholesalers do “data mining” on this database. Also apparently some entity in Georgia have decided that the CDC opiate dosing guidelines as “standard of care” and “best practices”. The above letter was handed to a pt when the pt’s opiate pain management meds were DENIED…
