Regulating Prescription Drugs

Finally we are starting to see some reccomendations for regulations on prescription drugs. This is good news for the chemical dependency counseling community 

"Trying to stem the scourge of prescription drug abuse, an advisory panel of experts to the Food and Drug Administration voted on Friday to toughen the restrictions on painkillers like Vicodin that contain hydrocodone, the most widely prescribed drugs in the country. 

The recommendation, which the drug agency is likely to follow, would limit access to the drugs by making them harder to prescribe, a major policy change that advocates said could help ease the growing problem of addiction to painkillers, which exploded in the late 1990s and continues to strike hard in communities from Appalachia and the Midwest to New England. 

But at 19 to 10, the vote was far from unanimous, with some opponents expressing skepticism that the change would do much to combat abuse. Oxycodone, another highly abused painkiller and the main ingredient in OxyContin, has been in the more restrictive category since it first came on the market, they pointed out in testimony at a public hearing. They also said the change could create unfair obstacles for patients in chronic pain. 

Painkillers now take the lives of more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined, and since 2008, drug-induced deaths have outstripped those from traffic accidents. Prescription drugs account for about three-quarters of all drug overdose deaths in the United States, with the number of deaths from painkillers quadrupling since 1999, according to federal data.

The change would have sweeping consequences for doctors, pharmacists and patients. Refills without a new prescription would be forbidden, as would faxed prescriptions and those called in by phone. Only written prescriptions from a doctor would be allowed. Distributors would be required to store the drugs in special vaults.

The vote comes after similar legislation in Congress failed last year, after aggressive lobbying by pharmacists and drugstores.

“This is the federal government saying, ‘We need to tighten the reins on this drug,’ ” said Scott R. Drab, associate professor of pharmacy and therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Pharmacy. “Pulling in the rope is a way to rein in abuse, and, consequently, addiction.”

But at the panel’s two-day hearing at F.D.A. headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., many spoke against the change, including advocates for nursing home patients, who said frail residents with chronic pain would have to make the trip to a doctor’s office. The change would also ban nurse practitioners and physician assistants from prescribing the drugs, making it harder for people in underserved rural areas.

Panelists also cautioned that the change would produce a whack-a-mole effect, pushing up abuse of other drugs, like heroin, which has declined in recent years.

“Many of us are concerned that the more stringent controls will eventually lead to different problems, which may be worse,” said Dr. John Mendelson, a senior scientist at the Addiction and Pharmacology Research Laboratory at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco.

The F.D.A. convened the panel, made up of scientists, pain doctors and other experts, after a request by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which contends that the drugs are among the most frequently abused painkillers and should be more tightly controlled.

If the F.D.A. accepts the panel’s recommendation, it will be sent to officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, who will make the final determination. The F.D.A. denied a similar request by the D.E.A. in 2008, but the law enforcement agency requested that the F.D.A. reconsider its position in light of new research and data.

While hydrocodone products are the most widely prescribed painkillers, they make up a minority of deaths, because there is less medication in each tablet than some of the other more restricted drugs, like extended-release oxycodone products, said Dr. Nathaniel Katz, assistant professor of anesthesia at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Oxycodone and methadone products account for about two-thirds of drug overdose deaths, he said, despite accounting for only a fraction of hydrocodone prescriptions.

The importance of Friday’s vote was more symbolic, he said, a message to doctors that they will need to think twice before prescribing hydrocodone, and to patients that the days of “unbridled access” are coming to an end. The tide has been turning against easy opioid prescriptions, as the medical system and federal regulators slowly make adjustments to reduce the potential for abuse.

“It will help shape thinking,” said Dr. Katz, whose clinical research company, Analgesic Solutions, is trying to develop other treatments for pain. “It’s an important marker in the progressively more conservative swing of the pendulum in opioid prescribing.”

He cautioned that patients who need the medications for pain should not suffer inappropriate barriers to access because of the change, a concern that the dissenters shared. Medical professionals battling the prescription drug abuse epidemic applauded the change.

“This may be the single most important intervention undertaken at the federal level to bring the epidemic under control,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chairman of psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in New York and president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a New York-based advocacy group. “This is about correcting a mistake made 40 years ago that’s had disastrous consequences.”

Testimony at the hearing included emotional appeals from parents who had lost their children to painkiller addiction. Senator Joe Manchin III, a Democrat from West Virginia, a state that has been hit hard by the prescription drug epidemic, pleaded for tougher restrictions.

“When I go back to West Virginia, I hear how easy it is for anybody to get their hands on hydrocodone drugs,” Mr. Manchin said. “For under-age children, these drugs are easier to get than beer or cigarettes.”"

NYTimes
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/he...s-vicodin.html

Age 11-14 Drug Ring, Busted

Wow, I've been writing these articles for over two years and these stories still suprise me! A drug ring run by a middle-school gang has been busted and it's not looking good for the children involved. The chemical dependency counseling community will need to work in the area as well as the police to clean up the aftermath, which may be addiction and more rings.

It's honestly, very sad to see this going on with kids so young, they have their entire life ahead of them. 

"Provo police have busted an elaborate drug ring spearheaded by an eighth-grade middle school student, who allegedly recruited sixth-graders to obtain the dope for him. 

Provo Lt. Mathew Siufanua said Monday that eight 11-year-olds would leave Franklin Elementary and a 14-year-old boy, who attended Centennial Middle School, would hand them money and send them to a drug house near the school.

The kids would buy the drugs and bring them back to the teen. The teen would then use some of the drugs and sell the rest, Siufanua said.

"As payment for doing this, he’d get [the sixth-graders] high," Siufanua said, noting that the kids all knew one another through gang associations. He said the sixth-graders would get high using marijuana and spice.

Police suspect the ring has been operating since at least October, he said.

"We’re glad we caught them, and we’re glad we put an end to it," Siufanua said. "Basically this is organized crime on an elementary level."

Siufanua said that Centennial Middle School Resource Officer Dan Smith received information on Jan. 7 that the 14-year-old was allegedly engaged in drug trafficking.

Siufanua, who sent a news release Monday about the case, said police are searching for the drug house and the people who were selling drugs to the sixth-graders.

The 14-year-old was arrested on suspicion of felony drug distribution and child endangerment. He could potentially face as many as 150 counts of child endangerment because of the number of times he sent the sixth-graders to drug houses, Siufanua said.

"[The drug houses] are putrid," he said. "They’re dangerous, usually with weapons and drugs."
Greg Hudnall, associate superintendent of the Provo City School District, called the drug ring an "isolated incident," since the students involved all knew one another.

The children involved in the drug ring will be suspended for breaking school policy, but the district also will arrange for them to get some professional help and counseling, Hudnall said. He did not say exactly how many students were suspended but said that it was "less than a dozen." The district also sent a letter home to the parents of all children at Franklin Elementary.

"Our goal is now to help the kids," Hudnall said.

Authorities plan to work closely with the courts to determine what should happen to them and to make sure they get the appropriate treatment."

By Janelle SteckleinAnd Kimball Bennion | The Salt Lake Tribune | January 14, 2013
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55...sixth.html.csp

Today you can be the seeds of change by taking a look into the chemical dependency counseling field. Centaur University offers one of the fastest certification programs to help you become a chemical dependency counselor and start making a difference! 

Candy Store Worker Charged for Selling Drugs

It's been a while since I've updated our page with Drug News for the chemical dependency counseling community. Each day it seems is a little bit crazier than the last with drug news. 

"A candy store worker has been charged after Chicago police found illegal drugs were being sold out of the South Side store.

The employee, Gloria Estrada, 46, of the 8200 block of South Houston Avenue, was charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of cannabis, according to a statement from the Chicago Police Department. She is expected in court Sunday.

South Chicago District tactical officers executed a search warrant at the store Saturday in the 3000 block of East 83rd Street in the South Chicago neighborhood and Estrada was arrested, according to the statement."

This news is honestly shocking! Even as a chemical dependency counselor you don't expect to hear these types of stories everyday! 

"Officers recovered four knotted baggies of crack cocaine as well as a large, clear bag containing 20 smaller baggies, each containing cannabis, the statement said. Police also seized cash believed to be the proceeds of narcotics sales.

"Drug spots like this contribute to violence in our communities," South Chicago District Tactical Lieutenant Kevin Milmine said in the release. "It is deplorable that a store of this type was used for drug sales, and it is tremendous work by my tactical officers to shut them down.""

By Rosemary Regina Sobol Tribune reporter
7:32 p.m. CST, January 5, 2013

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,3490271.story

Start thinking about making a difference. You CAN be a seed of change in the world and network around you! Become a counselor today with Centaur University and see how you can get your chemical dependency counseling certification!