https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/dea-waiting-for-analysis-kratom-may-soon-be-banned/759828681

SEATTLE – Kratom grows in Southeast Asia. Its leaves can be chewed, made into pills, ground and steeped into tea or added to food.

The leafy green plant is widely available and advertised as a safe, organic and natural “cure” for opioid addiction, pain relief and even cancer.

In 2016, kratom products exceeded sales of $1 billion in the U.S. alone.

But there’s a problem.

Kratom — a natural opioid — has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and may soon be banned in the U.S.

“I don’t know anything about the cancer claims,” said Kenneth Thummel, PhD. “That’s a bit of a stretch to me.”

Thummel, the chairman Chair of the University of Washington’s department of pharmaceutics, is concerned by the lack of research that has been done on kratom to determine its efficacy and safety.  

He’s also concerned kratom is widely available for sale – in stores and online — with no instructions for dosage or serving size.

“The dose makes the poison,” he told KIRO 7 from his office at UW on Wednesday. “How much are people taking, and is there any instruction about what you shouldn’t exceed?” he asked. 

Another problem, according to Thummel, is “adulteration of the product. There’s no regulation on the manufacturing of it. There are cases where products clearly were adulterated with very potent opioids to enhance the product, and that can be fatal,” he said.

The FDA claims kratom has contributed to the deaths of at least 36 people. Click here for more information.

On Wednesday, Special Agent Melvin Patterson told KIRO 7 that the Drug Enforcement Administration is “still waiting for analysis” before deciding whether to designate kratom a Schedule I drug, illegal because it has high abuse potential, no medical use and severe safety concerns.

Heroin, LSD and cocaine are all Schedule I drugs.

Shilo Jama believes making kratom illegal “would be the most idiotic thing” the DEA could do.  

As executive director of the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance in Seattle, Jama said he’s seen people successfully treat their opioid addictions using kratom.

“I’m not against kratom in any way,” Jama said. “Kratom has shown to be successful, and for the people who use it for treatment, I think it’s great they found an easy solution that they don’t have to go through a doctor” to utilize.

Jama said kratom is a valuable option for addicts who live in areas where treatment options are not widely available.

He believes, however, that the strength and dosages of kratom should be regulated.  “I am for regulations. I’m not for limiting people’s access to a potential treatment option” he said.

Before consumers believe the widespread claims that kratom can cure addictions abd even cancer, Dr. Thummel would like it to be carefully studied, which he admits would be more difficult if it is designated a Schedule I drug.

“The public is taking a risk in believing the claims,” Thummel said.  “I’m not saying that it’s a very unsafe product, but research needs to be done to establish one way or the other about safety.”

What is the difference in the terms “contributed to the deaths” and “caused the death”.. quite a bit… if a person OD’s and there is a “cocktail” of various substances … it is nearly impossible to determine which single substance was the cause of death…  BUT… if your agenda is to POINT A FINGER… you come out stating that it “contributed” to the OD. Similar to the concept of GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT..

36 deaths.. over what time frame ?… last year… 48 kids/babies died because their parent left them in a closed car. But apparently the death of 48 INNOCENT BABIES does not rise to the level of a “epidemic” as opposed to 36 people who have CHOSEN to take several legal/illegal substances in an attempt to GET HIGH.

NOTHING has changed about it being IMPOSSIBLE TO LEGISLATE MORALITY.

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https://www.conspiraciesagainstwellness.com/

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Psychological Interventions Beneficial for Chronic Pain in Older Adults

https://www.clinicaladvisor.com/pain-information-center/psychological-interventions-for-chronic-pain-treatment/article/767105/

Patients with noncancer chronic pain can benefit from psychological interventions, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Bahar Niknejad, MD, of the Department of Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, and associates conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to understand if older adults with chronic pain would benefit from psychological therapies and the effectiveness of such treatments.

The main outcome studied was pain intensity, with secondary outcomes including pain interference, depressive symptoms, anxiety, worsening beliefs, self-efficacy for pain management, physical function, and health.

The investigators examined 22 studies involving 2608 volunteers (69% women; average age, 71.9 years). Average differences were standardized and recorded for pain intensity (d_D=-0.181), pain interference (d_D=-0.133), depressive symptoms (d_D=-0.128), anxiety (d_D=-0.205), worsening beliefs (d_D=-0.184), self-efficacy (d_D=-0.193), physical function (d_D=0.006), and physical health (d_D=0.160) at posttreatment.

The only category with evidence of persisting effects after posttreatment analysis was pain (d_D=-0.251).

“Psychological interventions for the treatment of chronic pain in older adults have small benefits, including reducing pain and catastrophizing beliefs and improving pain self-efficacy for managing pain,” the authors reported.

“These results were strongest when delivered using group-based approaches. Research is needed to develop and test strategies that enhance the efficacy of psychological approaches and sustainability of treatment effects among older adults with chronic pain,” they concluded. 

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Florida is a sicker state because of Gov. Rick Scott’s partisanship

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/fl-op-column-randy-schultz-florida-health-care-rick-scott-20180529-story.html

In a new Senate ad, Gov. Rick Scott claims that voters must send business executives like himself to Washington. “If you’re not getting the results, you’re not in business.”

So let’s look at Scott’s results as governor on health care in Florida.

They stink.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just reported that the rate of Floridians without health insurance rose again last year, to 20.1 percent from 19.8 percent. Since Scott took office in 2011, Florida has ranked near the bottom on access to basic health coverage.

It gets worse. The Commonwealth Fund just ranked Florida above only Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi, based on a study of 43 health care metrics. Commonwealth ranked Florida below average in the South, which was by far the worst region.

Florida fared a little better in the new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Mortality rates among women for breast cancer, lung cancer and heart disease have declined. So has the number of women diagnosed with AIDS.

The report also noted, however, that “Florida ranks poorly on a cluster of data points related to women’s mental health — suicide mortality, average number of days per month of poor mental health, and average number of days per month that women have limited activity due to poor mental or physical health.” More women need “adequate access to preventive care.”

Only education consumes a larger share of the state budget than health care. Education and health care thus should be among any governor’s priorities. Education isn’t a Scott priority. Nor is health care for the man whose hospital company paid a $1.7 billion fine for defrauding the federal government.

The main reason for Florida’s poor performance is that Scott has refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Though Scott expressed support for Medicaid expansion in 2013, he quickly backed off. Two years later, he sided with the Florida House against a Senate proposal that could have provided coverage for about 800,000 of the state’s working poor.

Every credible survey has shown that Medicaid expansion benefits those who obtain coverage and the states themselves. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that the roughly 15 million new Medicaid enrollees nationwide had fewer out-of-pocket medical expenses, lower medical debt and better credit. They also were less likely to face bankruptcy.

Unlike Scott, other Republican governors and legislatures have looked past their party’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act and focused on helping their states. Under GOP leadership — notably Gov. John Kasich — Ohio expanded Medicaid. Among enrollees, Kaiser reported, 50 percent no longer have any medical debt. Providers in Ohio have had to eat less in uncompensated care.

Medicaid expansion began in January 2014. In upholding most of the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court made expansion a state option, not a requirement. The federal government paid 100 percent of states’ expansion costs for three years. It’s now 95 percent and will be phased in to 90 percent by 2020.

So Scott and Republican leaders in Tallahassee have passed on many billions that could have improved lives, boosted Florida’s economy and made the state’s health care system better. That 2015 Senate plan to expand Medicaid included Republican favorites such as work requirements and co-pays by recipients. Expansion would have ended if federal reimbursement fell below 90 percent.

Yet the governor who stresses “results” has chosen politics and ideology — he opposed the ACA as a private citizen — over policy. Scott also ignores what Kaiser determines to be 202 studies refuting criticisms that Medicaid expansion limits access and provides poor care.

Scott might have a defense if he had offered any alternative to Medicaid expansion. But his only health care initiative was the hospital commission he formed in 2015. He did that to distract from his administration’s incompetence that nearly cost Florida federal money for hospitals that treat the uninsured.

Under Scott, Florida did lead the nation in one health care category — rate of new AIDS infections. That came after Scott had cut public health budgets for several years. The Scott administration responded by “revising” the number of new cases downward.

With more Floridians living paycheck to paycheck, health coverage becomes vital to keeping them stable. Scott has had nearly eight years to work on this issue. The results speak for themselves.

Randy Schultz’s email address is randy@bocamag.com.

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Is This A Treatment For The Opioid Crisis The DEA Doesn’t Want You To Know About?

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https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/dea-gives-some-pfizer-s-injected-narcotic-allotment-to-competitors-to-alleviate

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Another close friend of mine with an uncurable chronic condition also had Walmart refuse her pain medication after going to that exact pharmacy 2 years! I refuse to go go Walmart, CVS or anywhere that will hurt me or other pain patients. I contacted Walmart and will again on Monday. I’m calling the corporate complaint number. There are too many suicides over scared doctors and now we have to deal with judgemental businesses!
Here’s what was shared:
Found out a couple of weeks ago that my husband has cancer. Today I had a fight with the walmart pharmacist on the phone because “they” didn’t want to fill the full prescription of liquid hydocodone. I asked who “they” were that know so much better than my husband’s doctor. She said it was Walmart’s policy. I said The man has cancer & cries every time he tries to swallow! Oh, she didn’t know he had cancer, that changes everything.

She called his doctor to verify the diagnosis. My son wrote this as his status after my pit bull fight with the pharmacist. He put it into words I could never find.
“My dad has cancer. Possibly 2 types of cancer. Rant follows:
There is some truly messed up stuff going on in this country. People were shouted down when they made comments about “death panels” in relation to Obamacare. That’s where a licensed medical doctor and all the knowledge and experience they’ve gained, studied and paid for are overruled by a group of people with no medical training or certification. Let that sink in. A licensed person with intimate knowledge of your medical history and condition orders a test or procedure in your best interest. Well, some panel at an insurance company somewhere decides that you don’t need that test or procedure because it’s too expensive and your doctor must have had a lapse in judgement and didn’t order the cheaper tests first. Even though those tests won’t show what your doctor needs to know to effectively treat you. So when my father’s doctor ordered a PET scan, of course the insurance company balked. Fast forward through an arduous 3 months of daily fighting with the insurance company, useless tests and back and forths with the doctors office and the random person of the day at the insurance company as to who’s lying when they say the appropriate paperwork hasn’t been correctly filled out and submitted, dad finally gets the PET scan. Guess what? That educated, licensed medical doctor was right. It’s cancer. Cancer that’s been allowed to grow unchecked for 3 months with all the added stress of everything listed above.

Fast forward to today:

Dad had a biopsy on a spot in his throat. It’s cancer too. The man can’t swallow now. Reduced to tears every time he takes a pill or tries to stay hydrated because I won’t let him run that risk. The doctor gives a prescription for a liquid – wait for it – opioid. That’s right. We have an opioid “epidemic” in this country and we all know that just one taste of a medically prescribed pill for a legitimate reason will reduce you to a heroin addict overnight. We must protect you from yourself. And in that light,

Walmart has a policy about just how much of that opioid you can have. Again, your doctor must have had a lapse of judgement and almost condemned you to a life of shooting heroin. But here comes Walmart to the rescue! They know what’s best for you.

Ignore your doctor and his uneducated, misguided ways. During an argument with the pharmacy it slips that dad is a cancer patient. Walmart immediately back pedals. “Oh! We didn’t know he was a cancer patient! That changes everything.” Well no shit you didn’t know! You’re not a medical professional with a right to that information according to HIPPA. How does that knowledge change anything? Oh because Walmart’s policy allows them to fill the full prescription for cancer patients. But the rest of you opioid dependent, heroin overdose waiting to happen people can only have what Walmart thinks you need.”

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