Surescripts and Allscripts Join Forces to Make Patient Medication History Data Available to Pharmacists in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170906006529/en/Surescripts-Allscripts-Join-Forces-Patient-Medication-History

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

Hi Steve my name is Sxxxxx… I am on disability I am on Social Security I am on Medicare and I also have freedom Health as a subsidiary… anyways I’m not sure how to go about this so please bear with me… we have a hurricane coming our way I am in Florida and right now regardless of which way it goes we are going to get hit by the hurricane at some point… our area should get hit by Monday (September 11)… I have a prescription from my doctor to be filled on September 13th… I called my insurance company, they told me to go ahead and get it filled early but I would have to clear it through my doctor and the pharmacist so I called my doctor they said they refuse to change the date on my prescription and that I would just have to discuss it with my pharmacist and there should be a protocol for hurricanes for people to have their prescription filled early… I called the pharmacy that I have been dealing with for the past 3 years or more this particular one for 3 years and they refuse to fill my prescription… I called back the manager of the store and he refuses to help me also… I don’t know what to do… I’m worried that we’re going to lose power and on the 13th I will not be able to fill my prescription… could you please help me do something before everybody closes down due to the hurricane and then there be nothing I can do about it… I don’t know how much more to explain but if you have any questions please get back to me.

A week ago I  posted this  https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=21849   Doing the MATH    where I suggested that in the Houston area of 2.3 million that some 23,000 chronic pain pts could be running out of their medication for each day local pharmacy services are not available… AND… I got this comment on this post …

“You make a good point however with what we see of so many coming out to help I think your conclusion is patently unfair.”

I received the above email tonight from a pt in FLORIDA…  IMO… first of all it is ILLEGAL for a prescriber to POST DATE a controlled prescription.. the law states that a prescriber must DATE the prescription on the date written… however.. it is legal for the prescriber to put a DO NOT FILL BEFORE MM/DD/YY… that does not appear what this prescriber did.

Also this prescriber may be also guilty of PATIENT ABANDONMENT… KNOWINGLY throwing a pt into cold turkey withdrawal…. besides pt abuse.

The hurricane IRMA with 185 MPH winds (CAT-5) is headed for Florida and projected landfall is Sunday 10th…  what do you think that status of available services will be within 3 days after IRMA comes ashore 

Hurricane Irma damage could be “potentially catastrophic” – National Hurricane Center deputy

Knowingly denying a chronic pain pts their medical necessary medications is – IMO – PATENTLY UNFAIR !!

Filed under: General Problems | 5 Comments »

Emerging Drug Threats and the Whac-a-Mole Theory

https://www.thefix.com/emerging-drug-threats-and-whac-mole-theory

As soon as one drug is made illegal, another similar chemical pops up to take its place.

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

Gov. Rick Scott asks POTUS to declare pre-landfall emergency

http://www.wtxl.com/news/gov-rick-scott-asks-potus-to-declare-pre-landfall-emergency/article_5bb7c316-9260-11e7-95e4-37e7647882bb.html

INSURANCE

• The Department of Financial Services and the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has activated its internal Incident Management Team (IMT) for coordination of activities related to Hurricane Irma and is preparing to respond to deployments as needed, and prepared to order property insurers to submit claims information from Hurricane Irma.
• Additionally, in response to the Governor’s Office Executive Order, OIR has notified all entities writing health insurance in the state of their statutory obligation to allow for early prescription refills. OIR is also coordinating with the Agency for Healthcare Administration and Department of Health.
• The Chief Financial Officer DFS is encouraging all Floridians to keep all insurance and banking information in one, easily-accessible place, consumers can download a copy of the Department’s free Emergency Financial Preparedness Toolkit. The Toolkit serves as a one-stop shop for all finance, emergency and insurance contact information. Download and complete the toolkit today.
• OIR has updated its “Hurricane Season Resources” webpage, which contains links to information provided by the Governor, Chief Financial Officer, Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture, Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, and contact information for Florida’s property insurers.

Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »

President Trump Appoints Anti-Marijuana Congressman as New Drug Czar

https://www.civilized.life/articles/trump-appoints-anti-marijuana-drug-czar/

President Donald Trump has appointed a lot of questionable officials to major posts in his administration. Whether it’s someone who’s against environmental regulations to lead the EPA or appointing a guy who said he wanted to eliminate the Department of Energy to be the Secretary of Energy. But his choice as his new drug czar actually makes sense, in that he’s an anti-marijuana politician who will most likely continue Trump’s attacks on cannabis.

Congressman Tom Marino has been selected as President Trump’s choice to lead the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, informally known as the “drug czar.” Marino was originally supposed to take the position last spring, but his mother developed a serious heart condition and he withdrew from consideration in May. But he’s now returned to the position.

Marino served as a U.S. Attorney before being elected as a congressman in Pennsylvania in 2010. He was also one of the earliest Congressmen to support Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Despite his possible qualifications, Marino does have a somewhat controversial past that could prevent him from getting confirmed. Marino has consistently voted against marijuana legislation in all forms, whether it’s allowing military veterans to use it medicinally or protecting states’ that have already legalized it. But that’s really par for the course with Republicans. He also supported legislation last year that would prevent the DEA from preventing pharmacies from over-dispensing certain medications. And he’s previously advocated for drug addicts to be incarcerated in “hospitals-slash-prisons.”

But Marino’s biggest controversy involves his time as a district attorney when he tried to get a friend’s conviction for selling cocaine expunged from his record. On top of that, Marino served as a U.S. Attorney and provided a reference for a convicted felon who wanted to open a casino. In fact, Marino’s office was actively investigating the convicted felon at the time of the reference. Marino resigned shortly after this was made public, and actually went on to work for that convicted felon.

So Trump’s new drug czar thinks marijuana should be illegal, but is totally cool with cocaine dealers getting their records expunged and convicted felons running casinos.

Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »

Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The Patient’s Bill Of Rights

https://www.forbes.com/sites/amino/2016/03/21/heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-patients-bill-of-rights/#33d8d99a6d01

This is the first in a series of articles that focuses on your rights as a patient—both inside the hospital and out. First up, we explore the “Patient’s Bill of Rights” (yes, that’s a thing!).

If you’ve ever been hospitalized and felt that you were at the mercy of the medical staff, you’re not alone. But you’re wrong.

As a patient, you have right to expect certain things during your hospital stay and from your healthcare team. In fact, those rights are spelled out in something called the Patient’s Bill of Rights.

(Photo by Adobe)

What is it?

For starters, it’s not one bill or single document, but a list of guarantees to every person who seeks treatment in a hospital or other healthcare facility. Typically, these guarantees are that you’ll be kept informed about your condition and treatment, treated fairly and have autonomy over medical decisions, among other things.

 

The Patient’s Bill of Rights sets the foundation for open, honest communication between you, your family members and your healthcare providers. And it explicitly encourages you to take an active role in making decisions about your treatment and care (more advice on how to do that here).

A brief history

“A Patient’s Bill of Rights” was the name of a document the American Hospital Association (AHA) introduced in the early 1970s. It was revised in 1992. It’s a list of 12 expectations you should have regarding information about your case, communication with your health care team, treatment, medical records and more.

 

The AHA encouraged each healthcare facility in the United States to adapt these 12 rights to fit the needs of their particular patient community. That’s why there’s not one single version of the Patient’s Bill of Rights, but many versions.

In 2003, in an effort to promote the idea that healthcare is a partnership between you and your provider, the AHA replaced its original Patient’s Bill of Rights with The Patient Care Partnership. This is simply a brochure (available in multiple languages) that tells you in plain, easy-to-understand terms what you can rightfully expect during your hospital stays.

Expectations include:

• High-quality care
• A clean, safe environment
• That you’ll be involved in your care
• That your privacy will be protected
• Help when leaving the hospital
• Help with billing claims

You can ask for a copy of The Patient Care Partnership when you’re admitted to the hospital.

Extra protections against insurance companies

Perhaps the most sweeping changes to patients’ rights legislation happened in June 2010, when President Barack Obama announced regulations that protect you as a patient when dealing with insurance companies. Many of those protections took effect in September 2010, after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Others were phased in slowly and took effect in 2014.

 

Two of the most significant of protections deal with dependents and insurance coverage for preexisting conditions. New regulations allow you to get health insurance even if you have a medical condition you’ve been wrestling with for a long time.

Prior to the passage of this new Patient’s Bill of Rights, insurance companies could deny you coverage if you had a preexisting condition.

What’s more, the Patient’s Bill of Rights under the Affordable Care Act allows you to get some preventative health screenings, like annual physicals, without extra fees or co-pays. Read the document in its entirety here.

 

Lorrie Klemons, a North Carolina-based patient advocate, says these initiatives play a key role in helping patients feel more empowered about their care. “These new protections create an important foundation of patients’ rights in the private health insurance market that puts Americans in charge of their own health.”

In the next article in this series, we explore the topic of informed consent—a critical component of patient empowerment.

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

THIS IS TOTAL ADULT POPULATION OF UNITED STATES. WHEN YOU THROW AROUND WILDLY EXAGGERATED FIGURES, LIKE 100 MILLION PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC PAIN IN UNITED STATES, IT MAKES YOU AS SPOKESPEOPLE LESS TRUSTWORTHY:

ADULTS:249,485,228 Percent77%77%77%77%77%

Total 323,127,513

CAUTION: DON’T PICK UP A FIGURE/STAT  FROM SOME BLOG OR OTHER PAIN ADVOCATE WEBSITE  OR FACEBOOK PAGE THAT DOESN’T COME FROM SOME RIGOROUSLY RESEARCHED/RESPECTED GOVERNMENT WEBSITE OR ACADEMIC JOURNAL. IF THEY DON’T HAVE THE PROOF/CITE, DON’T USE THEIR FIGURES. EVER.

The above statement… was made by someone who questions the the 100+ million number that is routinely stated as the number of chronic pain pts in the USA.

That 100+ million chronic pain pts that is normally claimed… HAS NEVER stated that all of those chronic pain pts are using/dependent on opiates 24/7.

If one looks at the number of surviving Baby Boomers (65 million) and the number of citizens > 70 (28 million)… these two groups – total of 93 million –  would most likely be a group suffering from age related chronic pain.

Has anyone ever noticed that TV commercials – especially during prime time – there is a BUNCH of ads for OTC pain meds (NASID’s, Tylenol/APAP, etc)… they are not continually running all of these commercials and not selling products.

Some chronic pain pts can manage their chronic pain on a day to day business with these OTC products, but may also use opiates for those times of activity induced pain.. like cutting grass, working in the landscape or garden.  Not everyone can afford to have all their maintenance around their house done by someone else, but taking opiates on those days when some of those task have to be done… the need for opiates comes into play for a chronic pain pts on a PRN basis.

Just like a lot of other things when dealing with chronic pain pts… jumping to conclusion based on a few facts… is not a true representation of what reality really is.

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

CDC Ignored Warning About Opioid Guidelines

www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/9/5/cdc-ignored-warnings-about-opioid-guidelines

By Pat Anson, Editor

A consulting company hired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the agency last year that many doctors had stopped prescribing opioid pain medication and that chronic pain patients felt “slighted and shamed” by the CDC’s opioid guidelines.

“Some doctors are following these guidelines as strict law rather than recommendation, and these physicians have completely stopped prescribing opioids,” PRR warned in a report to CDC in August 2016, five months after the CDC released its guidelines.

“Pain patients who have relied on these drugs for years are now left with little to no pain management options. Chronic pain is already stigmatized. Now chronic pain patients face the stigma of addiction, even when they are using opioids responsibly for pain management.”

PRR is a well-connected marketing and public relations firm based in Seattle that has worked for a number of companies and public agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Starbucks, Nike, and the University of Washington.

PRR was hired by the CDC to improve the agency’s public image and to develop a communication strategy to help educate the public about the CDC’s controversial opioid guidelines.

Those guidelines, which discourage doctors from prescribing opioids for chronic pain, are voluntary and only intended for primary care physicians. But they’ve been widely adopted as mandatory throughout the U.S. healthcare system, causing additional pain and anxiety for millions of pain sufferers.

“Chronic pain patients feel or perceive that the CDC has failed them because doctors are making extreme generalizations in determining appropriate care for their pain patients,” PRR found.

The PRR report to CDC was obtained by Pain News Network under the Freedom of Information Act.  Excerpts from the report can be seen by clicking here.

PRR recommended that CDC take a number of steps to understand why the guidelines were being so poorly received by patients.

“CDC should consider conducting more research to understand the fears and concerns of patients with chronic pain conditions. Understanding this group’s perceptions and fears of the PDO (prescription drug overdose) guidelines will help the CDC more successfully communicate with patient advocacy groups and will help insure their targeted messages are being disseminated to patients,” PRR recommended.

“Overall, this will help CDC message and communicate to those living with chronic pain and help providers and patients understand best care options available to enhance and improve quality of life.”

No CDC Response to Recommendations

There is no evidence that CDC has followed through on the recommendations. When asked if the agency had conducted any research or surveys of pain patients in response to the PRR report, the CDC gave us only a brief and vaguely worded statement. Note the use of the word “will.”

“CDC will evaluate the uptake, utility, and public health impact of the guideline and will monitor and assess physician and patient response to the guideline; based on this information, we will update the guideline in the future, as needed.

CDC continues to develop resources for patients and providers about the risks and benefits of opioid therapy for chronic pain to improve the safety and effectiveness of pain treatment and reduce the risks associated with long-term opioid therapy, including opioid use disorder, overdose, and death.”

CDC pledged in March 2016 to make changes to the guideline “if new evidence becomes available” and said it was “committed” to evaluating the guideline’s impact – “both intended and unintended.”

But in the 17 months since that pledge was made, there has apparently been no effort by CDC to assess the guideline’s impact on pain care, doctors, patients, suicides, addiction or overdoses — at least none that the agency will talk about.

“We’ve provided you our statement,” a CDC spokesperson said in an email.

PRR also declined to answer any questions about its report or if any follow-up research is being done.

“We are proud of our work, and we respect client communications protocols. Therefore, we refer you to the CDC to ask your questions directly,” said Jennifer Lynch, PRR’s business development manager.

For the record, this reporter was one of five individuals interviewed by PRR last summer, and asked a series of questions about the CDC guideline. Others who were surveyed include Barby Ingle of the International Pain Foundation, Paul Gileno of the U.S. Pain Foundation, chiropractor Sean Konrad, and Dr. Lynn Webster, a pain management expert and past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.   

“I was contacted by the PRR firm as well.  I was told that the CDC wanted to know what they did wrong with the opioid prescribing guidelines,” recalled Webster. “I think it is clear that the CDC should have had more input from the pain community in developing the opioid guidelines.

“Any intervention by the CDC or any government agency that affects millions of people should be accompanied with a plan to assess the effect of the intervention. In other words, the CDC should have planned to measure the effect on intended goals and any unintended consequences from the intervention.”

“CDC recommends close follow-up for patients who are using opioids to treat chronic pain, but they don’t seem to be eager to apply that same advice to their own intervention,” said Bob Twillman, PhD, Executive Director of the Academy of Integrative Pain Management. “CDC seems to be eager to evaluate the impact of its guideline in terms of metrics such as number of opioid prescriptions written, but they seem to have little concern about assessing the extent to which decreased prescribing is adversely affecting people with pain.

“In all the discussion about the evidence base supporting the guideline, what seems to have gotten lost is a need to develop the evidence base to show how effective or ineffective that intervention has been. Unfortunately, this lack of evaluation is consistent with CDC’s lack of interest in evaluating the prevalence and demographics of chronic pain itself.”

Guidelines Made Pain Care Worse

There have been many unintended consequences caused by the guidelines. In a survey of over 3,000 patients and nearly 300 healthcare providers by PNN, eight out of ten patients said their pain and quality of life had grown worse. Many patients are having suicidal thoughts, and some are hoarding opioids or turning to illegal drugs for pain relief.   

Over half of the healthcare providers said they had stopped prescribing opioids or were prescribing lower doses. Many providers also believe the guidelines are ineffective or have made pain care worse:

• 40% believe CDC guidelines have been harmful to patients, while only 22% consider them helpful
• 67% believe guidelines have made it harder for pain patients to find a doctor
• 63% believe the guidelines have not improved the quality of pain care
• 66% believe guidelines have not been effective in reducing opioid abuse and overdoses
• 35% of providers are worried about being prosecuted or sanctioned for prescribing opioids

“I am not sure the CDC is aware of the increased legal trouble many physicians are experiencing as a result of the guidelines. Most of these physicians are just trying their best to help people in pain but are being accused of criminal conduct,” said Webster.

Webster was apparently the only pain management physician interviewed by PRR. The company also reviewed 11 online articles and blogs (about half written by doctors), which gave the guidelines mixed reviews.  PRR’s bare bones analysis could hardly be called comprehensive, yet two federal health officials portrayed it as a ringing endorsement of the guidelines by physicians.

“Practitioners are excited to see action taken to address the PDO epidemic,” wrote Tonia Gray and John O’Donnell of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in an appendix to the PRR report. “From our scan of responses, PRR found that many agree this is a step in the right direction to help providers make informed decisions and stem the PDO issue.”

That assessment certainly doesn’t reflect the thoughts of Dr. Webster.

“I would urge the CDC to reassess their process and attempt to understand the unfortunate consequences their well-intended but misinformed decisions have had,” said Webster.

“One presumably unintended consequence is the recommendations/guidelines have been adopted as rules and laws, which has resulted in a significant change in care for millions of patients.  The guidelines were never intended to do that – they lack the backing of scientific evidence to be treated as a law.”

CDC has made few efforts to remind doctors, insurers, politicians and state regulators that the guideline is voluntary and only intended for primary care physicians. One of the few was a letter from a top CDC official to Richard Martin, a retired Nevada pharmacist disabled by chronic back pain.

“All of you at the CDC and like-minded groups, individuals, etc. are causing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, to suffer in pain needlessly,” wrote Martin, who sent 27 letters and emails to the agency before getting a response from Debra Houry, MD, Director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention.

“The Guideline is a set of voluntary recommendations intended to guide primary care providers as they work in consultation with their patients,” wrote Houry, who oversaw the development of the guideline. “The Guideline is not a rule, regulation, or law. It is not intended to deny access to opioid pain medication as an option for pain management. It is not intended to take away physician discretion and decision-making.”

Houry’s letter to Martin was dated June 1, 2016, a full two months before CDC received the PRR report, suggesting that CDC was already aware that problems were developing with the guideline and that many physicians considered it mandatory.

CDC ‘Propaganda’

To be clear, PRR’s review of patient and doctor attitudes about the guideline was only a small part of the work it performed for CDC. PRR also provided media training to CDC officials, analyzed news and social media coverage of CDC projects, developed logos and brands, shot promotional videos and pictures, and performed other work traditionally associated with public relations projects.

PRR also developed a series of fact sheets and graphics to help CDC promote the opioid guideline – many of which are still in use today.

The graphics advise doctors that “opioids are not first-line or routine therapy for chronic pain” and that physicians should “start low and go slow” when opioids are prescribed. They also encourage doctors to tell patients that “there is not enough evidence that opioids control chronic pain effectively long term.”

One PRR graphic claims that “as many as 1 in 4 people” who take opioids long-term become addicted. The graphic is based on a single study that even the author admits may have been biased and used unreliable data. A longtime critic of the CDC calls the graphic “propaganda.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, only about 5% of patients taking opioids as directed for a year end up with an addiction problem. Other estimates put the addiction rate higher and some lower.

prr designed graphic

It’s been difficult to assess how much PRR was paid for its work. Invoices sent to CDC indicate the original budget for the project was $240,596, but there were numerous delays and changes in the work performed. The invoices have been heavily redacted by the agency at the request of PRR, which considers the information proprietary.   

Filed under: General Problems | 4 Comments »

Dr. Andrew Kolodny: Opioid crisis ‘not an abuse crisis, it’s an addiction epidemic’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/postlive/dr-andrew-kolodny-opioid-crisis-not-an-abuse-crisis-its-an-addiction-epidemic/2017/06/21/789fa53c-568a-11e7-840b-512026319da7_video.html

VIDEO ON ABOVE LINK

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Co-Director of Opioid Policy Research at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University says that the crisis of opioid addiction was originally “misframed” as a problem that only affected drug abusers. He calls it an “addiction epidemic” and notes that for the vast majority of people, opioids are not safe and effective treatments dealing with chronic pain.

Filed under: General Problems | 7 Comments »

DEA does not think Trump border wall will stop drugs

www.oxygenemag.com/dea-does-not-think-trump-border-wall-will-stop-drugs/

President Donald Trump says his wall at the US-Mexico border will help stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. There’s one  problem with the plan: The drugs coming into the US Northeast often arrive by plane, boat, or hidden in vehicles, according to an  intelligence report by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A 24-page report prepared by the DEA in May found that drugs coming from Mexico do often enter through the southwestern border, but they do so concealed in vehicles, like tractor-trailers. Moreover, drugs coming from Colombia are more often transported by plane and boat,
the reports notes.

Transnational criminal organizations “generally route larger drug shipments destined for the Northeast through the Bahamas and/or South Florida by using a variety of maritime conveyance methods, to include speedboats, fishing vessels, sailboats, yachts, and containerized sea cargo,” the reports reads. “In some cases, Dominican Republic-based traffickers will also transport cocaine into Haiti for subsequent shipment to the United States via the Bahamas and/or South Florida corridor using maritime and air transport.”

Speaking Monday at a joint news conference with Finland’s president, Trump turned his attention back to the wall he has promised to build along the US border with Mexico. “The drugs are pouring in at levels like nobody has ever seen,” Trump said. “We’ll be able to stop them once the wall is up.”

The DEA report does not address the wall but details how drugs enter the country, and many of the examples illustrate that it is not through land routes. “According to DEA reporting, the majority of the heroin available in New Jersey originates in Colombia and is primarily smuggled into the United States by Colombian and Dominican groups via human couriers on commercial flights to the Newark International Airport,” the document states.

DEA agents load bales of cocaine into a van after a news conference at the U.S. Coast Guard base in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. Associated Press/Ricardo Arduengo

The report, which focuses heavily on the growth of Domg cocaine-filled suitcases on commercial flights — sometimes with the help of airline employees — or via mail.inican trafficking groups, outlines a variety of ways drugs enter the United States, including via couriers carrying The drugs are often transported by boat from the Bahamas or Venezuela up through Miami. The main hubs for transport include the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

“Due to Puerto Rico’s proximity and status as a US territory, Dominican Republic-based traffickers commonly direct drug shipments to Puerto Rico, where they are partitioned into small units and sent directly to the Northeast, mainly through the US postal system, parcel mail service, and couriers on commercial flights,” the report states.

At the end of the intelligence report, the DEA makes a recommendation, but it doesn’t involve building a wall.

“As key distributors of heroin, controlled prescription pills, and fentanyl—in their various forms—Dominican traffickers play a critical role in fomenting the national opioid epidemic, specifically in the Northeast,” it states.

The report adds that “successful targeting of their networks by US law enforcement would be an essential component to any broad strategy for resolving the current opioid crisis.”

The DEA did not respond to a request for comment about the report.

A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle patrols near the U.S-Mexico border on May 11, 2017 in San Diego, California.
Getty Images/John Moore

Trump this week appeared to be emphasizing drug trafficking as a rationale for the border wall, as he is claiming illegal crossings already have declined under his administration. “We’re up to almost 80 percent” reduction in illegal immigration, Trump said at Monday’s press conference. (There are questions, however, about the numbers Trump cited. )

“But you need the wall to do the rest, and you need the wall for the drugs,” Trump added. “The drugs are a tremendous problem. The wall will greatly help with the drug problem.”

Though Trump continues to insist that Mexico will pay for the wall — or at least reimburse the costs of it — the DEA report notes the role of Dominican networks in the Northeast. “Although Mexican traffickers may threaten their dominance in future decades, Dominican traffickers continue to position themselves to remain a significant element of the regional drug trade regardless of their extent of influence or role,” the report reads.

It’s also unclear how a wall would help curb the influx of illegal drugs if the shipments are entering the country by air and sea. Moreover, the Trump administration at one point was to the US Coast Guard, which is responsible for drug interdiction at sea, in order to fund the border wall.

The president’s proposed budget request ended up maintaining funding for the service at the same level , but the head of the Coast
Guard told reporters in April that even current spending wasn’t enough to interdict all of the drug shipments spotted.

“We have an awareness of over 80 percent of the maritime flow of drugs in the Eastern Pacific where most of it takes place, but also in the Caribbean,” Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft said. “But last year, with all of that awareness, there were 580 events that we had at least one level of information on that we just did not have enough ships or enough planes to track those down.”

The OFFICIAL WAR ON DRUGS started in 1970 with the passage of The Controlled Substance Act which created the BNDD ( Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs) which evolved into the DEA on July 1st,1973.

The Controlled Substance Act (CSA) replaced the Federal Narcotics bureau which had a 2 million/yr budget with the BNDD with a 43 million/yr budget and 1500 new employees charged with fighting the war on drugs.

Now 47 yrs later with a estimated 81 billion/yr spent on fighting the war on drugs… the DEA seems to admit that they are unable – or the war on drugs itself – is a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE…but Coast Guard’s Paul Zukunft stated that they need MORE MONEY.

It is claimed that the drug cartels generate 100 billion/yr in revenue from the sales of illegal drugs… so we are quickly approaching a point where we will be spending more money than we are trying to stop.

We are dealing with people with mental health issues and after nearly FIVE DECADES… those who wish to self medicate the demons in their heads and/or monkeys on their back.. seem to continue to find drugs… Would we have fewer OD’s, and fewer crimes committed to fund their drug seeking if we provided pharmaceutical grade opiates and clean needles to those who’s interest in abusing opiates cannot be changed.

Likewise, it can be expected that there will be a dramatic drop in the spread of HIV, HEP B &  C  from the sharing of “dirty needles”.

Filed under: General Problems | 2 Comments »