“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
Still struggling to turn its manufacturing around, Dr. Reddy’s is recalling 569,000 store-brand famotidine tablets in the U.S., thanks to failed tests for impurities and degradation. It’s the India-based company’s second recall of the same medication since last July.
The meds were sold at CVS pharmacies as CVS Pharmacy Acid Controller and at Walmart under the Equate label, according to the FDA’s latest Enforcement Report. It’s a Class III recall, meaning the suspect drugs aren’t likely to cause injury to humans.
Dr. Reddys pulled more than 84,000 famotidine tablets, also produced for CVS, last July. In both cases, the company found an out-of-specification result during routine stability testing. The new recall is nationwide.
The latest recall comes as the generics maker continues to suffer FDA citations at multiple manufacturing plants, including some included in a 2015 warning letter. Its ongoing manufacturing problems triggered a decline in U.S. sales, making a dent in its fiscal 2017 results announced in May.
That same month, Dr. Reddy’s reported that an inspection of its Bachupally formulation plant in Hyderabad resulted in an FDA Form 483 with 11 observations.
That notice came as Harvard Drug Group recalled about 9,200 cartons of the antifungal drug fluconazole manufactured at the Bachupally plant. And it followed two other Form 483s, one in April and another in February, citing problems at active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) plants in Srikakulam and Miryalaguda that had featured in that 2015 warning letter.
The company’s manufacturing issues also prompted a fraud lawsuit from South Korea’s Mezzion. The FDA had rejected Mezzion’s drug candidate udenafil because of manufacturing problems. Mezzion alleged that Dr. Reddy’s repeatedly said it was compliant with FDA regulations when it was not and that Dr. Reddy’s “was the sole reason given by the FDA” for denying udenafil’s approval.
US Congressman William R. Keating, a Democrat from Bourne whose district includes Cape Cod, will introduce legislation repealing the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016.
As the House of Representatives is not currently in session, the bill will be introduced at the next opportunity, according to a release from Rep. Keating’s office on Monday, October 16.
Rep. Keating is a member of both the Congressional Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus, and the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force.
The Washington Post and “60 Minutes” jointly reported earlier this week that last year Congress helped derail the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to keep addictive opioids off US streets. Their report followed an interview with Joseph T. Rannazzisi, who ran the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control, the division that regulates and investigates the pharmaceutical industry.
Mr. Rannazzisi told “60 Minutes” that Congress, lobbyists and the drug distribution industry helped allow the spread of hundreds of millions of pills to “rogue pharmacies” and pain clinics.
A handful of members of Congress, The Washington Post said, “prevailed upon the DEA and the Justice Department to agree to a more industry-friendly law, undermining efforts to stanch the flow of pain pills.” The DEA had long opposed the effort.
A chief advocate of the law was Rep. Thomas Marino, a Republican from Pennsylvania whom President Donald J. Trump had nominated as the nation’s next drug czar.
The president announced Monday that Rep. Marino had withdrawn his name from consideration for the position.
Rep. Keating said the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016 made it harder for law enforcement officials to crack down on unsafe practices in the pharmaceutical industry.
“Recent media reports have shown the law severely impeded the DEA’s ability to suspend opioid distributions when the agency detected suspicious activity, allowing an oversupply of opioids in the marketplace,” he said.
Rep. Keating’s legislation, the release said, “would help restore the effectiveness of the DEA’s efforts to protect the members of our communities at risk of overdose from prescription opioids.”
“We are in the throes of an epidemic, and we need every tool available at our disposal,” Rep. Keating said. “We cannot be making it unnecessarily harder for our law enforcement agencies to do their job.”
Congress normally passed 200-400 new bills every year and when is the last time that anyone heard of Congress REPEALING a law that they have passed in the previous Congressional session.
When is the last time that you are told about a very antiquated law on the books that is no longer appropriate and no longer enforced… BUT… there is never a consideration on repealing those antiquated laws ?
With reports coming out that legal opiate prescriptions have been declining since 2012 and recent data on OD’s continue to increase and in some areas illegal opiates are found in up to 99% of the toxicology of those who OD’d.
It would appear that the legal distribution channel(s) of prescription opiates are not part of the current problem…BUT… there is more money to be had by the DEA from that group of DEA licensees…
Has anyone noticed that the Pharmas and pharmacy wholesalers… never had assets seized… none are put out of business … no exec of these corporations every go to jail… the DEA just fine the crap out of them… The same thing happens with the chain pharmacy industry..
HOWEVER, when they go after a prescriber or independent pharmacy… they PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS… seize all their assets and the individual goes to JAIL for sometimes DECADES…
There is little/no money for the DEA – and more likely to be shot at — by going after drug cartel and seizing illegal substances.
My money is on that Rep Keating being an ATTORNEY – part of the judicial system – doesn’t want his fellow “fraternal brothers and sisters” and our judicial system to be at risk of losing some of their budgets and the number of employees gets reduced. We may also find out that Rep Keating has a family member or friend or some friend with a family member that has been caught up in the opiate crisis because they suffer from mental health issues.
Kate Nicholson was working as a civil rights attorney for the Justice Department when a surgical error left her unable to sit or stand, largely bedridden, and in severe pain for almost 20 years. Using opioids as an appropriate pain management tool, she continued to function as a high-level federal prosecutor. In this talk, Kate pivots from her inspiring and excruciating story to examine the under-treatment of pain, showing how our approach to opioid abuse by 2.5 million Americans is hurting 50 million people in severe or persistent pain. Kate Nicholson served in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice for more than 20 years, practicing health-related civil rights law and securing powerful victories including in the U.S. Supreme Court. She is currently writing a book about her personal experiences with severe chronic pain. Kate is also an arts writer and enthusiast who helped found the new non-profit, Tilt West, www.tiltwest.org, recently named by Westword as the “best think tank for arts and culture” in the area. Kate was a Senior Fellow at Dartmouth College and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Drug Investigation Division (DID) is urging public caution, especially among recreational drug users, following recent evidence submissions to two TBI crime laboratories.
Several sample of cocaine, submitted by law enforcement agencies in Middle and East Tennessee in recent months, also tested positive for fentanyl, a powerful, narcotic painkiller, or one of its dangerous analogs. Previously, fentanyl had primarily been identified in samples of heroin or in clandestine pills compounded to resemble legitimate prescription opioids. The recent submissions mark the first time samples of cocaine have tested positive in a TBI laboratory for fentanyl. The investigation into the origins of the submitted samples remains active and ongoing by the local law enforcement agencies.
“For some time now, we’ve warned about the dangers surrounding fentanyl for those struggling with opioid or prescription drug addiction,” said T.J. Jordan, Assistant Director of the TBI’s Drug Investigation Division. “This submission, however, changes the game. It proves the serious risk now also applies to recreational drugs beyond opioids. To be blunt: What you might buy and use, thinking it’s a good time, could cost you your life.”
In certain doses, fentanyl can be 50 to 100 times as potent as morphine. The drug doesn’t necessarily need to be ingested to have an effect. It can absorb through the skin, so touching the substance can quickly put an individual at risk of opioid overdose.
The submission of substances submitted to TBI’s laboratories testing positive for fentanyl and its analogs continues to increase. In 2013, the TBI processed just 12 samples that tested positive for fentanyl. In 2016, the TBI’s Forensic Scientists tested 209 samples that tested positive for fentanyl or one of its analogs. With more than two months remaining in 2017, lab submissions of samples testing positive for fentanyl or one of its analogs total 320.
“Drug dealers don’t care about the lives of their customers. They only care about making money,” said TBI’s Tommy Farmer, who oversees the Tennessee Dangerous Drugs Task Force. “What you think might be high-quality cocaine may very well have been cut with any number of substances, some of them potentially deadly. Why take the risk with something that could kill you?”
Anyone struggling with drug addiction issues should contact the Tennessee REDLINE at 1-800-889-9789.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKBN) – Ohio will begin using a new tool in its fight against prescription drug abuse.
An upgrade to the state’s prescription drug tracking system will now include scores that calculate a patient’s possible risk of overdose and addiction. The scores will act as red flags to alert prescribers of potential safety issues.
The new tool offers several features, including interactive visualization of prescription data, messaging options to communicate with other healthcare providers and the ability to search for local addiction treatment providers.
The system will be made available at no cost to Ohio healthcare providers who use the Ohio Automated RX Reporting System.
“Ohio has been a national leader in tracking the dispensing of prescription drugs to patients,” said Ohio Department of Medicaid Medical Director Dr. Mary Applegate. “This upgraded drug monitoring platform will offer critical information to Ohio clinicians to help them provide better and safer treatment for their patients.”
Ohio has been strengthening its prescription drug monitoring program to give prescribers and pharmacists greater ability to prevent opiate abuse. As a result, doctor shopping – where individuals see multiple prescribers to obtain controlled substances illicitly – has decreased substantially and the total number of opiates dispensed to patients is down 20 percent over a four-year period. according to Ohio Board of Pharmacy.
Is this going to be another “guideline” to force prescribers/pharmacists into compliance … and/or used as a “gauge” for the bureaucracy to go after prescribers/pharmacists for being a “pill mill”… Once again this appears to be focusing on the “few” … while denying care to the many who have a valid medical need for this category of medications. Forget a pt’s CYP-450 liver enzymes that can cause a pt to metabolize opiates faster and/or the severity of pain of a particular pt. So is Ohio adding a “scoring system” on top of the DEA’s “red flag” system
An Indianapolis pharmacist has been reprimanded by the state for trying to access the medical records of the late pop singer Prince.
Katrina Kalb was issued a letter of reprimand by the Indiana State Board of Pharmacy after she accessed the state’s Indiana Scheduled Prescription Electronic Collection and Tracking (INSPECT) system. INSPECT keeps electronic records of controlled substance prescriptions; the information is supplied by pharmacists.
She accessed the system on April 22, 2016, at 6:44 p.m. She typed in the name of Prince Nelson and the singer’s birth date of June 7, 1958.
Prince died at his Minneapolis studio and home on April 21. News media had reported that Prince died of an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl.
At the time, Kalb was “not providing medical or pharmaceutical treatment or evaluating the need for providing medical or pharmaceutical treatment to Prince,” the board said in its finding.
As part of the state’s order, Kalb is to undergo 12 months of continuing education in the area of ethics and 12 hours of community service during the next six months.
The order states that she generated an INSPECT report but does not indicate if Kalb was successful in tracking Prince’s prescriptions.
According to a LinkedIn website, Kalb had been a pharmacist for a Marsh pharmacy west of Indianapolis.
I wonder how many complaints that have been filed with the Indiana Board of Pharmacy over HIPAA violations by community pharmacists speaking loud enough for other pts in the Rx dept area to over hear HIPAA protected personal health information (PHI) and the complaint(s) are dismissed without any action against the “offending Pharmacist” ?
WASHINGTON (AP) – Two Chinese nationals have been indicted on charges they manufactured tons of fentanyl and other powerful narcotics that were then peddled in the United States, killing at least four people and seriously injuring five others, Justice Department officials announced Tuesday.
Authorities said the men controlled one of the most prolific international drug-trafficking organizations, but with no extradition treaty with China, the chances are slim they will ever be brought to the U.S. to face the charges.
The men, who are not in custody, are accused of separately running chemical labs in China that produced the drug and other illegal opioids for sale online to Americans who were often unaware of its potency and susceptible to overdose. At least 21 other people were also indicted on charges they trafficked the drugs across the U.S. and Canada, often through the U.S. mail.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration suffered a setback in its efforts to call attention to the nation’s drug crisis. Its nominee to be the nation’s drug czar withdrew Tuesday from consideration following reports that he played a key role in weakening the federal government’s authority to stop companies from distributing opioids.
It also comes amid growing pressure on President Donald Trump to fulfill his pledge to declare the nation’s opioid epidemic a “national emergency,” as a commission he’s convened on the subject has urged him to do. An initial report from the commission in July noted that the approximate 142 deaths each day from drug overdoses mean the death toll is “equal to September 11th every three weeks.”
A sign of White House interest in the issue, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway quietly attended Tuesday’s news conference at the Justice Department.
Robert W. Patterson, acting administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the Chinese case represents “one of the most significant drug threats facing the country” because they were able to produce a wide array of synthetic drugs and hide their tracks with web-based sales, international shipments and digital currencies like bitcoin.
The Chinese men indicted were Xiaobang Yan, 40, and Jian Zhang, 38, who worked separately but similarly, authorities said.
Yan, who operated at least two chemical plants in China that were capable of producing tons of fentanyl, would monitor drug legislation and law enforcement actions in the U.S., changing the chemical structure of his drugs to avoid prosecution, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said. A 2013 traffic stop in Mississippi unearthed a domestic drug ring linked to Yan.
Zhang, along with five Canadians, two people from Florida and New Jersey man, were indicted in North Dakota for conspiracy to import the drugs from Canada and China. Prosecutors say Zhang ran at least four labs and sold the drug to American customers online. Investigators became aware of him after police officers responded to a deadly overdose in Grand Forks, North Dakota and traced the supply chain, officials said.
Rosenstein, who discussed the problem with Chinese officials last week during a high-level dialogue on law enforcement and cybersecurity, would not say whether the labs have been shut down. He said he was hopeful Chinese authorities would hold the men accountable.
Federal authorities are increasingly warning of the dangers of fentanyl, which can be lethal even in small amounts and is often laced with other dangerous drugs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that more than 20,000 Americans were killed by the drug and its analogues in 2016, and the number is rising, Rosenstein said.
(Reuters) – Pamela Storozuk, a petite 59-year-old, spent most of her career as a sales representative, dragging heavy suitcases filled with presentation materials. When her husband developed prostate cancer, she cared for him, often helping to lift him out of the bath or into bed.
A pharmacy employee dumps pills into a pill counting machine as she fills a prescription while working at a pharmacy in New York in this file photo taken December 23, 2009. Thousands of Americans are caught up in the U.S. government’s latest front in the war on drugs: prescription painkillers. From 1999 to 2009, the number of deaths from narcotic pain pills nearly quadrupled to 15,597, more than those from heroin and cocaine combined, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In response, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has beefed up its efforts to block the diversion of prescription drugs to the black market, using many of the techniques it employs to combat illegal drug use: wire taps, undercover operations and informants. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files
Eventually, the strain on her back caught up with her. Today she has five herniated discs and relies on painkillers to function.
Over the past six months, however, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, resident has found it increasingly difficult to get her medications. Her regular pharmacy is often out of stock, and others refuse to dispense painkillers to new patients.
“They look at you like you’re an addict, a lowlife,” she said.
Storozuk is one of thousands of Americans caught up in the U.S. government’s latest front in the war on drugs: prescription painkillers. From 1999 to 2009, the number of deaths from narcotic pain pills nearly quadrupled to 15,597, more than those from heroin and cocaine combined, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In response, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has beefed up its efforts to block the diversion of prescription drugs to the black market, using many of the techniques it employs to combat illegal drug use: wire taps, undercover operations and informants.
Such efforts have helped it dismantle hundreds of “pill mills” – sham pain clinics that write thousands of prescriptions with few questions asked – as well as dozens of rogue Internet pharmacies.
Now the agency is using the same tactics to prosecute the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain, which is required to maintain certain record-keeping and security protocols to prevent drug diversion.
Over the past three years, the DEA has stepped up its inspections and levied millions of dollars in fines against drug wholesalers for what it said were breaches of those rules.
In February, the DEA suspended the license of drug wholesaler Cardinal Health Inc to sell narcotic painkillers and other controlled substances from its center in Lakeland, Florida, saying it had failed to detect suspicious order volume from several pharmacy customers. Under a settlement, Cardinal has agreed not to ship controlled substances from the facility for two years.
Shortly afterward, the agency raided two CVS pharmacies and issued inspection warrants at a half-dozen Walgreen Co drugstores and a Walgreen distribution center.
NOT THE MEDELLIN CARTEL
“The techniques that law enforcement uses to combat drug traffickers, whether they’re Colombian organizations or Mexican cartels or Afghan drug lords, those techniques are very, very essential in combating prescription drug abuse,” DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart said in an interview.
But critics say applying the same strategy to the legitimate supply chain as to Colombian drug lords is ineffective and is also causing supply shortages that hurt pain patients.
“Going after a pharmaceutical manufacturer is not like going after the Medellin cartel,” said Adam Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting, which advises pharmaceutical manufacturers. “I don’t believe it is appropriate for the DEA to shrink the supply of prescription drugs, because it has unanticipated effects that have nothing to do with the problem.”
Florida has long been considered the epicenter of painkiller abuse, due to the spread of pill mills. But experts say those are only a small part of the problem.
“The majority of drugs that end up in the illicit trade come from otherwise well-meaning physicians who do not understand the consequences of their prescribing habits,” said former DEA agent Robert Stutman, whose Stutman Group management consulting firm designs substance abuse prevention programs.
Between 1991 and 2010, prescriptions for narcotic painkillers rose to 209.5 million from 75.5 million, according to National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Leonhart said that physicians, however, “now understand the problem.”
PRESSURE FROM CONGRESS
As prescription drug abuse has risen, the DEA has come under increasing pressure from Congress to show it is containing the problem. A report last year from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said the DEA had not shown its strategy was working and called for clearer performance measures.
Leonhart said the best benchmarks were and should be “quite similar to what we use on the nondiversion side, which is the disruption and dismantlement of the organizations and the networks, and we’re going in that direction.”
That has meant some changes at the agency. For one thing, Leonhart has begun breaking down barriers between the DEA’s nearly 5,000 special agents, who have focused on the illicit drug trade for most of their careers, and about 500 diversion investigators, who enforce rules covering handlers of controlled substances.
The agency has expanded its use of tactical diversion squads, which combine special agents, diversion investigators and local law enforcement officers to track down and prosecute prescription drug dealers.
Forcing the two sides to come together was not easy at first, Leonhart said, since special agents initially were reluctant to work on “pill cases.”
But the effort has shown some results. Asset seizures on the diversion side rose to $118 million in 2011 from about $82 million in 2009, Leonhart said.
CULTURE OF FEAR
Still, sending in tactical diversion squads to break up pill mills does not address the leaks occurring from medicine cabinets at home or the drugs passed along from friends and family. That is one reason the DEA is attempting to squeeze supplies at the wholesale level.
Pills line the shelves in the pharmacy at Venice Family Clinic in Los Angeles in this file photo taken April 16, 2007. Thousands of Americans are caught up in the U.S. government’s latest front in the war on drugs: prescription painkillers. From 1999 to 2009, the number of deaths from narcotic pain pills nearly quadrupled to 15,597, more than those from heroin and cocaine combined, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In response, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has beefed up its efforts to block the diversion of prescription drugs to the black market, using many of the techniques it employs to combat illegal drug use: wire taps, undercover operations and informan To match Feature DEA-PRESCRIPTION-DRUGS/ REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/Files
”Going after Cardinal has sent shivers up the distributor grapevine,“ said John Coleman, a former DEA chief of operations. ”Close a CVS pharmacy in Florida, and I guarantee every pharmacy within 500 miles will be checking their records.
“You don’t have to hit a horse with a whip,” he said. “You just have to show it to them once in a while.”
Pharmacists confirm that they are indeed fearful. Some are reluctant to take new painkiller customers. Others will only accept patients within a certain geographic area or refuse to accept cash.
“We turn away five or six people a day,” said Steven Nelson, owner of the Okeechobee Discount Drugs store in Okeechobee, Florida, and chairman of governmental affairs for the Florida Pharmacy Association.
Even large chains are leery. Walgreen spokesman Michael Polzin said that after looking into everything going on in Florida, “we’ve decided not to comment on our operations there at this time.”
CVS pharmacies across the state stopped filling prescriptions written by 22 of the top-prescribing physicians pending a review of their dispensing practices, according to court documents filed as part of the company’s dispute with the DEA.
The company declined elaborate on its actions, except to say that it will continue to monitor prescriptions for controlled substances and is “committed to supporting efforts to prevent drug abuse and keep controlled substances out of the wrong hands.”
Physicians are equally nervous. Many have stepped up patient monitoring, according to Storozuk’s physician, Dr. Martin Hale. That means more urine tests, more documentation, and more frequent “pill count” checks, where patients must go to the doctor’s office with their pill bottle to prove they have not sold or misused their medication.
“Every hour of the day I have concerns I’ll be audited, that my ability to take care of my patients and my family can be taken away, and I‘m as legitimate as you can get,” said Hale, who has a private orthopedic practice a few miles from Fort Lauderdale and is an assistant professor at Nova Southeastern University. “You’re constantly watching over your shoulder, and it takes a toll.”
CUTTING SUPPLIES
Over the past five years, Cardinal has cut supplies of controlled substances to more than 375 customers nationwide, including 180 pharmacies in Florida, it says.
Other wholesalers are similarly cautious. Rival AmerisourceBergen Corp says it now monitors orders for suspicious spikes of 20 percent to 30 percent in volume.
“All of us want to make sure that abuse is curtailed,” Chief Executive Officer Steven Collis said. But when it comes to the DEA’s requirements, he added, the rules have not always been clear.
Other wholesalers, pharmacists and physicians say they are also keen to help, but would welcome more communication from the DEA.
Leonhart rejects the notion that the DEA is uncommunicative. The agency repeatedly lays out its requirements in meetings and presentations, she said.
But John Burke, president of the nonprofit National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators, says the DEA behaves as though those it monitors are the enemy.
“The mindset is, these are folks we have to keep at arm’s length,” said Burke, whose organization tries to foster communication between law enforcement, regulators and industry.
The DEA’s strategy is also prompting new questions from Congress. Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island recently asked the GAO to study whether the agency’s actions are contributing to shortages of medications for pain patients.
Others say the DEA should not be in the business of regulating industry at all.
Scott Gottlieb, former deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, publicly fulminated against the DEA recently for tackling prescription drugs in the same way it pursues drug cartels.
“The problem is, the DEA may be the wrong enforcer here. It’s very difficult to separate appropriate use from illicit use with law-enforcement tools alone,” Gottlieb, who now sits on the board of biotechnology company CombiMatrix Corp, wrote in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.
The DEA’s confrontation with wholesalers and pharmacies follows a public dispute with manufacturers over who was responsible earlier this year for shortages of certain stimulants used to treat attention deficit disorder.
The DEA strictly controls the amount of an ingredient in a potentially addictive drug that its manufacturer can obtain each year, based on projected needs of legitimate patients. Makers of the stimulants said the agency did not always authorize enough material in time for them to supply customers.
For its part, the DEA said the shortages resulted from unspecified business decisions made by the companies.
With all sides in the prescription drug fight blaming each other, nothing will be achieved without more communication and cooperation, Stutman says.
“We need to take some really bright people on each side of the issue and say: ‘Where do we start today to make this problem better?’” he said.
In the meantime, patients like Pamela Storozuk are struggling to function. She has not been able to find oxycodone for five months. Replacement drugs have made her sick and even those are now hard to come by. She has lost 20 pounds and is frequently in pain.
“It’s a horrendous problem down here for people like me who need the medication,” she said. “You can’t even imagine.”
Las Vegas August 1, 2017 – A 93 year old pain management doctor was sentenced to 10 years in jail and called a drug dealer by a Las Vegas Judge. Some DOC readers believe that the real motivation for throwing this World War II veteran in jail and accusing him of drug dealing was to take his assets which the judged fined him 2.5 million dollars. Senior U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson imposed the prison term and the fine, hurtling allegations that the 93 year old Doctor Henri Wetselaar was supplying scores of drug addicts and dealers with powerful opioids.
A witness to the sentencing, Dave Stewart, said, “What in the hell in going on with these prosecutors and judges!” Apparently, the prosecutor had asked the judge to give Wetselaar 20 years in the slammer, to teach him a lesson for dealing with drug dealers and addicts. Dave said that government overreach and the prosecutors have crossed the line and he believes that the real reason for doctor Wetselaar’s lock-up and harassment, is the result of money. They need money, said Mr. Stewart, “Throwing his hands up in the air with disgust.” The government is plotting to rip-off the professional people of this country and take their hard earned savings and bank accounts. These are police outfits he said, and they are not interested in proving anybody innocent and showing evidence that would exonerate them.
Doctor Wetselaar Will Die In Jail
The doctor suffers from ailments that include prostate cancer, chronic renal failure, multiple heart valve disorders and brain atrophy. Throughout the court process, Wetselaar’s failing health caused several trial delays as he was in and out of the hospital. With all this stuff on his plate, the prosecutor still asked for a 20-year prison sentence. The prosecutor stuck to his 20 year prison term because he said, “Wetselaar’s behavior was far from that of a doctor,” prosecutors wrote in a separate sentencing memorandum filed last week. “Rather he was an individual who cared little for the health and well-being of his patients.”
The jury convicted doctor Wetselaar of all 11 drug counts, money laundering and related counts contained in a 2011 indictment against him. His medical assistant and a local pharmacist also were charged in the case. According to the indictment, Wetselaar prescribed large amounts of drugs — including oxycodone, hydrocodone, Xanax and Soma — to more than 230 people who did not medically need them. This is the same MO that is seen all around the United States. How much evidence did the prosecution withhold from the Jury? What kind of exonerative evidence was not given to the jury or concealed? Did DEA / Police misconduct play a role in the investigation?
The answers to all of these questions is highly possible, since the police misconduct is intentional hidden by prosecutors and judges. Doctor Wetselaar, at the age of 93 years old, was a sitting duck for law enforcement and greedy DEA agents to come and take his nice stash of money, totaling 2.5 million. The Medical Board should be the one getting jail time for letting a 93 year old work in a clinic and the prosecutor should be put in jail for going after his money and using government confidential informants to trick this doctor into giving them pills and then arresting him. It’s a cold world out there and I guess somebody has to do the devils work.
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HELP MAKE CHANGE: Sign our petition requesting that Congress enact a Medical Board Civilian Police Review Committee law to deter medical board police and prosecutorial misconduct and hold these officials responsible for their actions. The most common crime against doctors made by the medical board police teams are “FALSE REPORTS” that police officers refer to as accusations. These are criminal actions by law enforcement and they are not held accountable for making false statements, perjury, and manufacturing evidence. A Civilian Police Review Committee will help stop these senseless acts against healthcare providers and restore justice and constitutional rights. It is also possible to get bail bonds so why not try these out for time being in such cases?
93 Year Old Doctor Gets 10 Years In Jail