Opioid receptors are a group of G-protein coupled receptors with opioids as ligands. The endogenous opioids are dynorphins, enkephalins, endorphins, endomorphins and nociceptin. The opioid receptors are ~40% identical to somatostatin receptors (SSTRs).
Discovery
By the mid-1960s, it had become apparent from pharmacologic studies that opiate drugs were likely to exert their actions at specific receptor sites, and that there were likely to be multiple such sites.[1] The receptors were first identified as specific molecules through the use of binding studies, in which opiates that had been labeled with radioisotopes were found to bind to brain membrane homogenates. The first such study was published in 1971, using 3H-levorphanol.[2] In 1973, Candace Pert and Solomon H. Snyder published the first detailed binding study of what would turn out to be the μ opioid receptor, using 3H-naloxone.[3] That study has been widely credited as the first definitive finding of an opioid receptor, although two other studies followed shortly after.[4][5]
[edit] Major subtypes
There are four major subtypes of opioid receptors:[6]
Receptor Subtypes Location[7] Function [7]
delta (δ)
OP1 (I) δ1, δ2
* Brain
o pontine nuclei
o amygdala
o olfactory bulbs
o deep cortex
* analgesia
* antidepressant effects
* physical dependence
kappa (κ)
OP2 (I) κ1, κ2, κ3
* Brain
o hypothalamus
o periaqueductal gray
o claustrum
* spinal cord
o substantia gelatinosa
* Spinal analgesia
* sedation
* miosis
* inhibition of ADH release
mu (μ)
OP3 (I) μ1, μ2, μ3
* Brain
o cortex (laminae III and IV)
o thalamus
o striosomes
o periaqueductal gray
* spinal cord
o substantia gelatinosa
* intestinal tract
μ1:
* Supraspinal analgesia
* physical dependence
μ2:
* respiratory depression
* miosis
* euphoria
* reduced GI motility
* physical dependence
μ3:
* ?
Nociceptin receptor
OP4 ORL1
* Brain
o cortex
o amygdala
o hippocampus
o septal nuclei
o habenula
o hypothalamus
* spinal cord
* anxiety
* depression
* appetite
* development of tolerance to μ agonists
(I). Name based on order of discovery
The receptors were named using the first letter of the first ligand that was found to bind to them. Morphine was the first chemical shown to bind to mu receptors. The first letter of the drug morphine is `m', but in biochemistry there is a tendency to use Greek letters, thus turning the 'm' to μ. Similarly a drug known as ketocyclazocine was first shown to attach itself to kappa receptors,[8] while the delta receptor was named after the mouse vas deferens tissue in which the receptor was first characterised.[9] An additional opioid receptor was later identified and cloned based on homology with the cDNA. This receptor is known as the nociceptin receptor or ORL 1 receptor.
The opioid receptor types are ~70% identical with differences located at N and C termini. The μ receptor (the μ represents morphine) is perhaps the most important. It is thought that the G protein binds to the third intracellular loop of the opioid receptors. Both in mice and humans the genes for the various receptor subtypes are located on different chromosomes.
Separate subtypes have been identified in human tissue. Research has so far failed to identify the genetic evidence of the subtypes, and it is thought that they arise from post-translational modification of cloned receptor types.[10]
An IUPHAR subcommittee[11][12] has recommended that appropriate terminology for the 3 classical (μ, δ, κ) receptors, and the non-classical (nociceptin) receptor, should be MOP, DOP, KOP and NOP respectively.
[edit] Additional receptors
Sigma receptors (σ) were once considered to be opioid receptors due to the antitussive actions of many opioid drugs being mediated via sigma receptors, and the first selective sigma agonists being derivatives of opioid drugs (e.g. allylnormetazocine), however sigma receptors were found to not be activated by endogenous opioid peptides, and are quite different from the other opioid receptors in both function and gene sequence, so they are now not usually classified with the opioid receptors.
The existence of further opioid receptors has also been suggested, due to pharmacological evidence of actions produced by endogenous opioid peptides but shown not to be mediated through any of the four known opioid receptor subtypes.[13][14][15] The only one of these additional receptors to have been definitively identified is the zeta (ζ) opioid receptor, which has been shown to be a cellular growth factor modulator with met-enkephalin being the endogenous ligand. This receptor is now most commonly referred to as the opioid growth factor receptor (OGFr).[16][17]
Another putative opioid receptor is the epsilon (ε) opioid receptor. The existence of this receptor was suspected after the endogenous opioid peptide beta-endorphin was shown to produce additional actions which did not seem to be mediated through any of the known opioid receptors.[18][19] Activation of this receptor produces strong analgesia and release of met-enkephalin, and a number of widely used opioid antagonists such as the μ antagonist etorphine and the κ antagonist bremazocine have been shown to act as antagonists for this effect (even in the presence of antagonists to their more well known targets),[20] while buprenorphine has been shown to act as an epsilon antagonist. Several selective antagonists and antagonists are now available for the putative epsilon receptor,[21][22] however efforts to locate a gene for this receptor have been unsuccessful, and epsilon-mediated effects were absent in μ/δ/κ "triple knockout" mice,[23] suggesting the epsilon receptor is likely to be either a splice variant derived from alternate post-translational modification, or a heteromer derived from hybridization of two or more of the known opioid receptors.
[edit] Pathology
Some forms of mutations in δ-opioid receptors have resulted in constant receptor activation.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
We Are Able To Remove The Physical Opiates from Receptors, but if your on Suboxone, Heroin, & Methadone. Nobody can Remove them Honestly!...Because they are Opiates themselves & are Opiate antagonists, so you need to switch back to the Opiates you were taking before or the Doctor will write out a Prescription for a Fentanyl Patch for 3 weeks before detox takes place.
Get The Help You Need & Take Control of Your Life again, do it Right THE 1st Time. 8 Hours of Rapid Detox, no Foley Catheter, V.I.P. all the way through it. We take the 8 days of Withdrawals in 8hrs. While You Sleep Comfortably.
After-Care/Post op, You Are With the Chief of Staff Nurse, 1 on 1. Have a Choice of Rapid Detox, then go Back to Hotel to Rest With Nurse for Comfort, Meds, Education, Mimimal Exercise & Emotional Support. Or Go to our Solutions Recovery Center for Narcotics Anonymous, the Emotional Part, but you have the Choice. If you want to see you're own Psychiatrist, Counselor, Medical Social Worker, or Doctor of your Choice when you get back home, it's OK.
You're Hotel Stay With The Nurse is Included. No Problem because some Patient's Feel Anxiety Seeing Other People or Paranoid, Blurred Vision Extreme Exhaution & Meds are given to help Keep you Comfortable & allowing you to Socialize Slowly.
In all, We Just Try To Get The Physical & Emotional Re-Hab in 1 Stop. But it's not needed if you are out of town, and anyway they charge $500 a day for a Shared Bedroom Room/Shower & You Go Have To Group Therapy and no meds are given what so ever. Most Insurances May Cover, but unlikely. It's a 12 Step Program Re-Hab After Detox, in My Opinion it's like 2 detoxes. I know i Wouldn't Want To Go to 2 Detoxes, Meetings, Shared Rooms Etc...but you need to inform Dr Yee about your decision on if you want to go to Solution's Recovery or to stay in a Hotel with a Nurse That Can Call MD about any Changes in Your Condition. You Also Have Meds for Comfort, but non Narcotic so you don't have to worry about getting Addicted to them. You Can Just Go Home, Vacation, or Go Back To Work After a Week of Rapid Detox With Hotel Stay included.
So, In All It's Your Choice, Get Your Life Back for the New Year or for yourself & Family.
Rapid Detox Really Works Our Way, Because of the 8 Hours of Taking the Opiates out, takes that Long, because Opiates are also stored in you're Fat Cells. So No way, any other can offer what we can at the Price & V.I.P. Treatment. Trust!...Not Marketing, Just Educating. No Fancy Website, Dr Yee Answers all Calls, instead of a Marketer Promising to Get All Addictions Out???...Mission Impossible...
Here, an interesting Read on the Doctors Perspective that He Wrote:
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Dangerous mix: Teens finding new uses for parents' prescription pills with 'pharm parties'
By The Flint Journal
October 18, 2009, 6:00AM
pharm_parties. Prescription drugs such as Oxycontin and Vicodin have surpassed marijuana as the new gateway drugs for teens.Flint Journal file photo
GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — There’s a party going on in the family medicine cabinet. Unsuspecting parents are the host. The guest list is their own teenage son or daughter’s friends.
Welcome to the “pharm party” — a dangerous new trend that experts warn is growing fast among suburban teens and is helping to turn prescription medication into the No. 1 gateway drug.
“The pharm parties are absolutely elements of abuse,” said Dr. Mark Menestrina, medical director for Brighton Hospital’s detoxification unit. “(Teens) just get meds from their parents medicine cabinet and throw them in a candy dish. Kids just take pills from the candy dish (and) eat them.”
And, the dangers are very real.
“I OD’ed,” said a 17-year-old Shiawassee Township girl who asked not to be identified. “They were my grandma’s antidepressants. I don’t know what they were called, but I took a whole bunch and ended up in the hospital. It wasn’t the first time I took them, but it was the last.”
Since then, the girl said she’s heard about plans for local pharm parties with drugs such as the pain killer Vicodin, anxiety medication Xanax and the muscle relaxant Flexeril on the menu — all of which are readily available in lots of home medicine cabinets.
“We’re finding more and more kids with prescription drugs,” said Clio Police Chief James McLellan, who doesn’t think his community is as bad as others although he’s definitely seeing an increase.
Clio formed a task force and in May hosted a health fair to collect unused and expired medication. They got $5,000 worth of meds — the most commonly turned in was Vicodin.
The Clio School District this month also hosted a town hall meeting to inform parents and the community about the issue; 20 people attended.
“Anecdotally, you see it in the paper and you hear about it in school districts,” said Genesee Community Mental Health’s Manager of Substance Abuse Prevention Lisa Coleman. “We’re hearing about these things happening all throughout Genesee County, not just one particular area.”
• Last October, a Flushing High School student was rushed from school to the hospital when he randomly ate three pills he acquired from another student who police said had stolen them from his brother who was being treated for brain cancer.
The pills were beta blockers typically prescribed for high blood pressure. The drugs caused the student’s blood pressure to dip down to 30 beats per minute.
• In Clio last summer, a teen was caught selling random pills out of his backpack at a park.
• In 2003, a Swartz Creek student stole about 30 of his father’s Seroquel pills, an antipsychotic, and sold them to students at school. Two students passed out and were taken to the hospital after ingesting the drug.
Teens often plan pharm parties well ahead of time, stockpiling prescription drugs raided from the family medicine cabinet. When they get to the party, all the drugs are thrown in a bowl, called “trail mix.”
The pills sometimes are consumed by the handful and often washed down with alcohol.
The goal is to gobble up as many different types of prescription medicines as possible. Typically, teens don’t even know what they’re taking or mixing and what the side effects could be.
“We have had a couple overdose cases where kids took something and had no idea what it was,” said Swartz Creek Police Chief Rick Clolinger.
Clolinger said the thing that irked him most was that these kids just randomly took such drugs.
“Why would anyone want to ingest something when they have no clue what it is?” he asked.
Just how bad is the problem in Genesee County? No one’s really sure.
One of the major assessors of student drug abuse locally is the Coordinated Community Student Survey, an annual survey conducted by Genesee Community Mental Health and Michigan State University. Currently, the questionnaire only polls student’s drug use for marijuana, inhalants and street drugs.
In the future, Coleman said they plan to include questions specifically about prescription drugs.
A December study funded by the National Institute on Drug Use found that while traditional street drugs such as cocaine, crack and meth showed a marked decline in use among teens — prescription drug abuse remains at or near peak levels.
Meanwhile, even teens say families can help their kids avoid learning the hard way about prescription drug abuse, simply by locking medicine cabinets and talking to their kids.
Menestrina worries that teens aren’t aware of the dangers of eating these drugs, let alone mixing them.
“They have no idea what the pills are in many instances. Because it’s a pharmaceutical, their perceived risk is less. ... They think: It’s approved by the FDA, so it’s OK.”
Because of this misconception, a lot of teens turn to these drugs as the easiest way to get high.
“For years marijuana was known as the gateway drug. It was the No. 1 illicit substance that a young person was most likely to use first,” said Menestrina. “For the last four years now, it has been passed by prescription medications. The new gateway drug for many young people is prescription medication.”
Pharm Lingo
Big boys, cotton, kicker: Various slang for prescription pain relievers.
Chill pills, french fries, tranqs: Various slang for prescription sedatives and tranquilizers.
Pharming (pronounced “farming”): From the word pharmaceutical. It means kids getting high by raiding their parents’ medicine cabinets for prescription drugs.
Pharm parties: Parties where teens bring prescription drugs from home, mix them together into a big bowl (see ‘trail mix’), and grab a handful. Not surprisingly, pharm parties are usually arranged while parents are out.
Pilz (pronounced pills): A popular term used to describe prescription medications. Can also include over-the-counter medications.
Recipe: Prescription drugs mixed with alcoholic or other beverages.
Trail mix: A mixture of various prescription drugs, usually served in a big bag or bowl at pharm parties.
Source: Partnership for a Drugfree America
Where to get help:
RAPID DETOX LAS VEGAS
(800) 276-7021
October 18, 2009, 6:00AM
pharm_parties. Prescription drugs such as Oxycontin and Vicodin have surpassed marijuana as the new gateway drugs for teens.Flint Journal file photo
GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — There’s a party going on in the family medicine cabinet. Unsuspecting parents are the host. The guest list is their own teenage son or daughter’s friends.
Welcome to the “pharm party” — a dangerous new trend that experts warn is growing fast among suburban teens and is helping to turn prescription medication into the No. 1 gateway drug.
“The pharm parties are absolutely elements of abuse,” said Dr. Mark Menestrina, medical director for Brighton Hospital’s detoxification unit. “(Teens) just get meds from their parents medicine cabinet and throw them in a candy dish. Kids just take pills from the candy dish (and) eat them.”
And, the dangers are very real.
“I OD’ed,” said a 17-year-old Shiawassee Township girl who asked not to be identified. “They were my grandma’s antidepressants. I don’t know what they were called, but I took a whole bunch and ended up in the hospital. It wasn’t the first time I took them, but it was the last.”
Since then, the girl said she’s heard about plans for local pharm parties with drugs such as the pain killer Vicodin, anxiety medication Xanax and the muscle relaxant Flexeril on the menu — all of which are readily available in lots of home medicine cabinets.
“We’re finding more and more kids with prescription drugs,” said Clio Police Chief James McLellan, who doesn’t think his community is as bad as others although he’s definitely seeing an increase.
Clio formed a task force and in May hosted a health fair to collect unused and expired medication. They got $5,000 worth of meds — the most commonly turned in was Vicodin.
The Clio School District this month also hosted a town hall meeting to inform parents and the community about the issue; 20 people attended.
“Anecdotally, you see it in the paper and you hear about it in school districts,” said Genesee Community Mental Health’s Manager of Substance Abuse Prevention Lisa Coleman. “We’re hearing about these things happening all throughout Genesee County, not just one particular area.”
• Last October, a Flushing High School student was rushed from school to the hospital when he randomly ate three pills he acquired from another student who police said had stolen them from his brother who was being treated for brain cancer.
The pills were beta blockers typically prescribed for high blood pressure. The drugs caused the student’s blood pressure to dip down to 30 beats per minute.
• In Clio last summer, a teen was caught selling random pills out of his backpack at a park.
• In 2003, a Swartz Creek student stole about 30 of his father’s Seroquel pills, an antipsychotic, and sold them to students at school. Two students passed out and were taken to the hospital after ingesting the drug.
Teens often plan pharm parties well ahead of time, stockpiling prescription drugs raided from the family medicine cabinet. When they get to the party, all the drugs are thrown in a bowl, called “trail mix.”
The pills sometimes are consumed by the handful and often washed down with alcohol.
The goal is to gobble up as many different types of prescription medicines as possible. Typically, teens don’t even know what they’re taking or mixing and what the side effects could be.
“We have had a couple overdose cases where kids took something and had no idea what it was,” said Swartz Creek Police Chief Rick Clolinger.
Clolinger said the thing that irked him most was that these kids just randomly took such drugs.
“Why would anyone want to ingest something when they have no clue what it is?” he asked.
Just how bad is the problem in Genesee County? No one’s really sure.
One of the major assessors of student drug abuse locally is the Coordinated Community Student Survey, an annual survey conducted by Genesee Community Mental Health and Michigan State University. Currently, the questionnaire only polls student’s drug use for marijuana, inhalants and street drugs.
In the future, Coleman said they plan to include questions specifically about prescription drugs.
A December study funded by the National Institute on Drug Use found that while traditional street drugs such as cocaine, crack and meth showed a marked decline in use among teens — prescription drug abuse remains at or near peak levels.
Meanwhile, even teens say families can help their kids avoid learning the hard way about prescription drug abuse, simply by locking medicine cabinets and talking to their kids.
Menestrina worries that teens aren’t aware of the dangers of eating these drugs, let alone mixing them.
“They have no idea what the pills are in many instances. Because it’s a pharmaceutical, their perceived risk is less. ... They think: It’s approved by the FDA, so it’s OK.”
Because of this misconception, a lot of teens turn to these drugs as the easiest way to get high.
“For years marijuana was known as the gateway drug. It was the No. 1 illicit substance that a young person was most likely to use first,” said Menestrina. “For the last four years now, it has been passed by prescription medications. The new gateway drug for many young people is prescription medication.”
Pharm Lingo
Big boys, cotton, kicker: Various slang for prescription pain relievers.
Chill pills, french fries, tranqs: Various slang for prescription sedatives and tranquilizers.
Pharming (pronounced “farming”): From the word pharmaceutical. It means kids getting high by raiding their parents’ medicine cabinets for prescription drugs.
Pharm parties: Parties where teens bring prescription drugs from home, mix them together into a big bowl (see ‘trail mix’), and grab a handful. Not surprisingly, pharm parties are usually arranged while parents are out.
Pilz (pronounced pills): A popular term used to describe prescription medications. Can also include over-the-counter medications.
Recipe: Prescription drugs mixed with alcoholic or other beverages.
Trail mix: A mixture of various prescription drugs, usually served in a big bag or bowl at pharm parties.
Source: Partnership for a Drugfree America
Where to get help:
RAPID DETOX LAS VEGAS
(800) 276-7021
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Hillbilly Heroin: The story of Jon Riley Hays, M.D
Hillbilly Heroin: The story of Jon Riley Hays, M.D
Belleville News-Democrat
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
* Oxycontin
* Oxycontin Addiction
* Oxycontin Detox
* Oxycontin Treatment
* Oxycontin Testimonials
* Oxycoontin Withdrawals
* Contact Us
The desire for the high that only opiates can give has turned a prescription painkiller into the illicit drug of choice for many Americans.
By Mike Fitgerald
Only an addict can describe the euphoria that comes from that first outlaw hit of Oxycontin.
Only an addict can describe the sheer torture of trying to quit the narcotic painkiller known as "Hillbilly Heroin."
Jon Riley Hays, M.D., knows about both.
Hays, formerly a family practice physician in the Southern Illinois town of Herrin, first took Oxycontin three years ago when a patient turned in a bottle containing some leftover pills.
Hays, 42, at the time had been suffering excruciating back pain from a car accident, preventing a decent night of sleep. The much weaker painkillers he had been given weren't doing the trick.
Hays knew that ingesting the Oxycontin was wrong. But he also believed the claims of sales representatives that Oxycontin is safe and nonaddictive.
Oxycontin: the addictive cycle begins
Within a few minutes of consuming that first Oxycontin tablet, Hays said, "I felt like Superman. I could work all day, be happy, go home, play with the kids. Do everything that I wanted to do.... I just felt like a million bucks."
The addiction advanced rapidly. Within six weeks, he was stealing Oxycontin from patients, crushing up the pills to mix in a saline solution, loading it into a hypodermic needle and plunging it into his arm. He also bought Oxycontin from local pharmacies under false names.
Trying to get out
Terrified of what he had fallen into, Hays tried to wean himself off Oxycontin on the weekends while keeping his addiction a secret from his wife and two small children. It was a prescription for utter misery.
"You're bedridden," Hays said. "Your bones feel like they're on fire and they're melting flesh."
The worst moment occurred when his daughter, who was 4 years old at the time, walked into the bathroom of his house just as he was about to shoot up some Oxycontin, Hays said.
"Her eyes get very big, of course," Hays recalled. "And she asks me, `Dad, what are you doing?'"
Hays shut his eyes for a moment.
"Addicts are very clever people --- clever to get it, clever with excuses," he said. "I said, `Dad's sick and he's giving himself a shot of vitamins.'"
Eventually, through professional treatment, Hays got off Oxycontin. But not before the Drug Enforcement Administration caught up with him. In May 2002, a judge in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis sentenced Hays to 51 months in federal prison for stealing the drug.
The consequences
Today Hays --- once a student brilliant enough to earn full-ride scholarships to the University of Illinois and the university's college of medicine, a man whose lifelong ambition was to be a small town doctor --- is an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion.
A few weeks before he entered prison, in early July 2002, Hays sat down with a Belleville News-Democrat reporter to recount his path to and from Oxycontin.
"Just because you're a physician, you don't automatically become immune to addiction," Hays said. "Maybe you're a little more highly educated. But! as in my case, yeah, I knew I was addicted. I knew the warning signs for everything, but it didn't prevent it."
Hays met the reporter at a restaurant in Herrin owned by his nephew. Hays was working at the restaurant as a busboy --- the only job he could find after losing his state medical license.
The former physician sat outside the restaurant on a white wicker chair, gazing down the street on a hot June afternoon as still and quiet as a Norman Rockwell painting. He thought about how so much --- his house, his medical career, the total disruption of his family --- could be squandered in such a brief time.
"A young health professional usually doesn't wake up one morning and say 'I want to become an addict.' Not one with two kids. Not one with a career. It just doesn't happen that way," Hays said.
He paused and thought about what he would say next.
"These drugs are so addictive and powerful," he said, "that it is an incredibly strong-willed person who can take them for a long period of time and not become addicted to them."
Chasing the Oxycontin high
People always have chased the euphoria that comes from opiates and the perverse social cachet their abuse confers. Beginning in the early 1990s, on the East and West coasts, heroin became the chic drug of choice because it had re-emerged in a more powerful form than the heroin of two decades before.
The old stuff had to be cut up, mixed in a solution and injected. The new heroin, the most popular of which was known as "black tar," was strong enough to be snorted, providing a speedy, if sometimes fatal, wallop.
The new heroin slashed through Generation X like a vast scythe, felling hundreds of young men and women in their teens and 20s and flooding emergency rooms with thousands more.
A similar high could be obtained by abusing a wide range of opiate-based prescription painkillers with names like Percodan, Vicodin, Demerol and Dilaudid.
But along came Oxycontin, and it upped the ante in ways no one could have predicted, etching a swath of death and addiction, crime and litigation across America, especially in Maine, West Virginia and Kentucky --- places with big rural populations full of sick, elderly people and those recovering from accidents in mines and on farms.
And now Oxycontin has torn into the metro-east. Consider:
* Hospital emergency rooms in the St. Louis area --- which includes St. Clair and Madison counties --- reported a 41 percent increase in admissions overdoses for Oxycontin and other narcotic painkillers between 2001 and 2002, according to the federal Drug Abuse Warning Network.
* Last week, the Southwest Illinois Treatment Center opened a treatment center at an office park in Fairview Heights. The center provides methadone-based outpatient treatment for up to 200 clients per year addicted to Oxycontin and other opiate-based drugs.
* The Simmons Law Firm, based in East Alton and St. Louis, has signed at least 550 clients from Madison County in response to newspapers ads published in June and July. The clients claim they became addicted to Oxycontin and suffered catastrophic health problems after taking the painkiller in the prescribed manner.
"We were absolutely overwhelmed. Not only were we overwhelmed with the numbers, but we were overwhelmed with the consistency of every single story," said Jeff Cooper, a lawyer with the Simmons firm. "And it's amazing once you start looking into it to find that these folks are just having their lives ruined by something that's supposed to heal them."
Oxycontin is the most popular narcotic painkiller in America, ringing up more than $1 billion in sales and filling nearly 6 million prescriptions in 2002.
Introduced in 1995, it was heralded as a godsend for people who suffer from cancer, severe arthritis and other forms of chronic, extreme pain.
Oxycontin's success stems from a concentrated dose of oxycodone, a form of synthetic morphine. A slow-release mechanism in the pill provides 12 hours of soothing, numbing relief throughout the day, eliminating the need for multiple doses.
But like all opiate-based drugs, Oxycontin can be powerfully addictive because the body quickly builds up a tolerance to it.
Heroin addicts soon gravitated to Oxycontin, said Clifford Bernstein, medical director of the Waismann Institute, a Beverly Hills, Calif., drug treatment center where Oxycontin now accounts for most admissions.
"These heroin people love Oxycontin. You can take a pill and chew it," said Bernstein, whose center uses a revolutionary technique of putting patients under anesthesia and cleansing their bodies with special drugs during withdrawal.
Oxycontin provides "the perfect high," Bernstein said.
"It's a high that doesn't make you lose control and people don't know that you're on the stuff," he said. "And it doesn't give you a hangover. So it's like the perfect high, you know."
It's no coincidence that another nickname for Oxycontin is "Killer." Nationwide, it's been linked to at least 400 deaths by overdose, and possibly hundreds more.
The legal fallout
Cooper said his firm plans to file the first set of personal injury lawsuits by the end of this month against Oxycontin's maker, Purdue Pharma, of Stamford, Conn., and its distributor, and Abbott Laboratories of Abbott Park, Conn.
Cooper blamed the high addiction levels on Purdue Pharma. Citing a pair of whistleblower lawsuits that have been filed within the past month in Connecticut and Florida, Cooper said the evidence will show Purdue Pharma misled federal regulators about Oxycontin's dangerously addictive nature.
Then the company pushed the drug's sale through a marketing campaign aimed at convincing physicians to prescribe the painkiller for even minor pain, Cooper said.
Cooper is far from alone in making this claim.
In December 2001, while testifying before a congressional subcommittee, the head of the DEA blamed Purdue Pharma's "aggressive marketing practices" for making ! Oxycontin readily available.
Purdue Pharma gave its sales representatives incentives to sell big quantities of Oxycontin, and the sales teams encouraged physicians to prescribe the drug by taking them on expense-paid trips, then-DEA administrator Asa Hutchinson told members of Congress.
Purdue Pharma strenuously denied Hutchinson's allegations at the time.
But Hays corroborated assertions that the company aggressively marketed the painkiller. During his days as a physician, Hays said, Purdue Pharma drug reps freely gave out vouchers for Oxycontin that allowed patients to buy them at deep discounts.
"And these drug reps from Purdue Pharmaceuticals said, 'Hey, this drug is very long-acting and it's not addictive,'" said Hays, who, with his wife, Darla, in September 2002 filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis alleging negligence, fraud and breach of warranty against Purdue Pharma and Abbott Laboratories.
Hays is seeking $300,000 in lost wages and more than $50,000 in punitive damages. In May, a federal judge remanded the Hays case to St. Clair County Circuit Court.
Cooper said what he's found with Oxycontin plaintiffs is they start off by taking one Oxycontin pill, "then they take two a day, and then all of a sudden they need three and four and five a day. It's just amazing."
The average addict, Cooper said, is a person between the ages of 35 and 40 who gets hurt at work or playing a softball game and is prescribed Oxycontin.
"And if you follow the timeline, about a year and a half or two years later, they've lost their job, they've lost their kids, they've lost their family, they've lost everything," Cooper said. "And these are people with no history of addiction, no criminal history."
James Heins, a spokesman for Purdue Pharma, denied the charges made by Cooper, as well as charges made by plaintiffs in 300 lawsuits filed nationwide over Oxycontin.
"These allegations are baseless," Heins wrote in an e-mail to the News-Democrat.
Heins pointed out that almost 50 of these lawsuits have been dismissed. What's more, Heins wrote, Oxycontin is a Schedule II controlled substance whose active ingredient, oxycodone, has been available in the United States for more than 70 years and is used in almost 60 different pain medications.
"The package insert has always carried clear warnings regarding the product's abuse potential," he wrote.
Nonetheless, in late 2001 the Food and Drug Administration ordered Purdue Pharma to affix the strongest type of warning, called a "black box warning," on each bottle of Oxycontin in response to complaints that Oxycontin was being improperly prescribed.
How much blame Purdue Pharma must bear for the abuse of Oxycontin, its blockbuster star, remains an issue of debate among drug treatment professionals.
"It's a powerful drug," said Reeve Sams, regional manager for National Specialty Clinics, the Nashville, Tenn.-based chain of 17 clinics that owns the recently opened Southwest Illinois Treatment Center in Fairview Heights.
But Sams declined to put the onus on Oxycontin or its maker.
"And if Oxycontin wasn't there, it would be something else," Sams said. "So that's why I hate specifically to pick on Oxycontin."
Sams acknowledged, though, that at his firm's clinic in West Virginia, "85 percent of our admissions were Oxycontin addictions."
Bernstein, the Waismann Institute medical director, blamed Purdue Pharma for overselling Oxycontin's benefits while downplaying its dangers.
"It's marketed as a long-lasting drug, but really it's a short-acting drug wrapped in a coating of something that's supposed to dissolve slowly," Bernstein said. "You get a good euphoria from the Oxycontin. I don't believe, personally, for one minute that the Purdue Pharma people didn't know that."
Copyright (c) 2003 The Belleville News-Democrat
Before the Point of No Return, Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353
Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com
Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine.
Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Belleville News-Democrat
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
* Oxycontin
* Oxycontin Addiction
* Oxycontin Detox
* Oxycontin Treatment
* Oxycontin Testimonials
* Oxycoontin Withdrawals
* Contact Us
The desire for the high that only opiates can give has turned a prescription painkiller into the illicit drug of choice for many Americans.
By Mike Fitgerald
Only an addict can describe the euphoria that comes from that first outlaw hit of Oxycontin.
Only an addict can describe the sheer torture of trying to quit the narcotic painkiller known as "Hillbilly Heroin."
Jon Riley Hays, M.D., knows about both.
Hays, formerly a family practice physician in the Southern Illinois town of Herrin, first took Oxycontin three years ago when a patient turned in a bottle containing some leftover pills.
Hays, 42, at the time had been suffering excruciating back pain from a car accident, preventing a decent night of sleep. The much weaker painkillers he had been given weren't doing the trick.
Hays knew that ingesting the Oxycontin was wrong. But he also believed the claims of sales representatives that Oxycontin is safe and nonaddictive.
Oxycontin: the addictive cycle begins
Within a few minutes of consuming that first Oxycontin tablet, Hays said, "I felt like Superman. I could work all day, be happy, go home, play with the kids. Do everything that I wanted to do.... I just felt like a million bucks."
The addiction advanced rapidly. Within six weeks, he was stealing Oxycontin from patients, crushing up the pills to mix in a saline solution, loading it into a hypodermic needle and plunging it into his arm. He also bought Oxycontin from local pharmacies under false names.
Trying to get out
Terrified of what he had fallen into, Hays tried to wean himself off Oxycontin on the weekends while keeping his addiction a secret from his wife and two small children. It was a prescription for utter misery.
"You're bedridden," Hays said. "Your bones feel like they're on fire and they're melting flesh."
The worst moment occurred when his daughter, who was 4 years old at the time, walked into the bathroom of his house just as he was about to shoot up some Oxycontin, Hays said.
"Her eyes get very big, of course," Hays recalled. "And she asks me, `Dad, what are you doing?'"
Hays shut his eyes for a moment.
"Addicts are very clever people --- clever to get it, clever with excuses," he said. "I said, `Dad's sick and he's giving himself a shot of vitamins.'"
Eventually, through professional treatment, Hays got off Oxycontin. But not before the Drug Enforcement Administration caught up with him. In May 2002, a judge in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis sentenced Hays to 51 months in federal prison for stealing the drug.
The consequences
Today Hays --- once a student brilliant enough to earn full-ride scholarships to the University of Illinois and the university's college of medicine, a man whose lifelong ambition was to be a small town doctor --- is an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion.
A few weeks before he entered prison, in early July 2002, Hays sat down with a Belleville News-Democrat reporter to recount his path to and from Oxycontin.
"Just because you're a physician, you don't automatically become immune to addiction," Hays said. "Maybe you're a little more highly educated. But! as in my case, yeah, I knew I was addicted. I knew the warning signs for everything, but it didn't prevent it."
Hays met the reporter at a restaurant in Herrin owned by his nephew. Hays was working at the restaurant as a busboy --- the only job he could find after losing his state medical license.
The former physician sat outside the restaurant on a white wicker chair, gazing down the street on a hot June afternoon as still and quiet as a Norman Rockwell painting. He thought about how so much --- his house, his medical career, the total disruption of his family --- could be squandered in such a brief time.
"A young health professional usually doesn't wake up one morning and say 'I want to become an addict.' Not one with two kids. Not one with a career. It just doesn't happen that way," Hays said.
He paused and thought about what he would say next.
"These drugs are so addictive and powerful," he said, "that it is an incredibly strong-willed person who can take them for a long period of time and not become addicted to them."
Chasing the Oxycontin high
People always have chased the euphoria that comes from opiates and the perverse social cachet their abuse confers. Beginning in the early 1990s, on the East and West coasts, heroin became the chic drug of choice because it had re-emerged in a more powerful form than the heroin of two decades before.
The old stuff had to be cut up, mixed in a solution and injected. The new heroin, the most popular of which was known as "black tar," was strong enough to be snorted, providing a speedy, if sometimes fatal, wallop.
The new heroin slashed through Generation X like a vast scythe, felling hundreds of young men and women in their teens and 20s and flooding emergency rooms with thousands more.
A similar high could be obtained by abusing a wide range of opiate-based prescription painkillers with names like Percodan, Vicodin, Demerol and Dilaudid.
But along came Oxycontin, and it upped the ante in ways no one could have predicted, etching a swath of death and addiction, crime and litigation across America, especially in Maine, West Virginia and Kentucky --- places with big rural populations full of sick, elderly people and those recovering from accidents in mines and on farms.
And now Oxycontin has torn into the metro-east. Consider:
* Hospital emergency rooms in the St. Louis area --- which includes St. Clair and Madison counties --- reported a 41 percent increase in admissions overdoses for Oxycontin and other narcotic painkillers between 2001 and 2002, according to the federal Drug Abuse Warning Network.
* Last week, the Southwest Illinois Treatment Center opened a treatment center at an office park in Fairview Heights. The center provides methadone-based outpatient treatment for up to 200 clients per year addicted to Oxycontin and other opiate-based drugs.
* The Simmons Law Firm, based in East Alton and St. Louis, has signed at least 550 clients from Madison County in response to newspapers ads published in June and July. The clients claim they became addicted to Oxycontin and suffered catastrophic health problems after taking the painkiller in the prescribed manner.
"We were absolutely overwhelmed. Not only were we overwhelmed with the numbers, but we were overwhelmed with the consistency of every single story," said Jeff Cooper, a lawyer with the Simmons firm. "And it's amazing once you start looking into it to find that these folks are just having their lives ruined by something that's supposed to heal them."
Oxycontin is the most popular narcotic painkiller in America, ringing up more than $1 billion in sales and filling nearly 6 million prescriptions in 2002.
Introduced in 1995, it was heralded as a godsend for people who suffer from cancer, severe arthritis and other forms of chronic, extreme pain.
Oxycontin's success stems from a concentrated dose of oxycodone, a form of synthetic morphine. A slow-release mechanism in the pill provides 12 hours of soothing, numbing relief throughout the day, eliminating the need for multiple doses.
But like all opiate-based drugs, Oxycontin can be powerfully addictive because the body quickly builds up a tolerance to it.
Heroin addicts soon gravitated to Oxycontin, said Clifford Bernstein, medical director of the Waismann Institute, a Beverly Hills, Calif., drug treatment center where Oxycontin now accounts for most admissions.
"These heroin people love Oxycontin. You can take a pill and chew it," said Bernstein, whose center uses a revolutionary technique of putting patients under anesthesia and cleansing their bodies with special drugs during withdrawal.
Oxycontin provides "the perfect high," Bernstein said.
"It's a high that doesn't make you lose control and people don't know that you're on the stuff," he said. "And it doesn't give you a hangover. So it's like the perfect high, you know."
It's no coincidence that another nickname for Oxycontin is "Killer." Nationwide, it's been linked to at least 400 deaths by overdose, and possibly hundreds more.
The legal fallout
Cooper said his firm plans to file the first set of personal injury lawsuits by the end of this month against Oxycontin's maker, Purdue Pharma, of Stamford, Conn., and its distributor, and Abbott Laboratories of Abbott Park, Conn.
Cooper blamed the high addiction levels on Purdue Pharma. Citing a pair of whistleblower lawsuits that have been filed within the past month in Connecticut and Florida, Cooper said the evidence will show Purdue Pharma misled federal regulators about Oxycontin's dangerously addictive nature.
Then the company pushed the drug's sale through a marketing campaign aimed at convincing physicians to prescribe the painkiller for even minor pain, Cooper said.
Cooper is far from alone in making this claim.
In December 2001, while testifying before a congressional subcommittee, the head of the DEA blamed Purdue Pharma's "aggressive marketing practices" for making ! Oxycontin readily available.
Purdue Pharma gave its sales representatives incentives to sell big quantities of Oxycontin, and the sales teams encouraged physicians to prescribe the drug by taking them on expense-paid trips, then-DEA administrator Asa Hutchinson told members of Congress.
Purdue Pharma strenuously denied Hutchinson's allegations at the time.
But Hays corroborated assertions that the company aggressively marketed the painkiller. During his days as a physician, Hays said, Purdue Pharma drug reps freely gave out vouchers for Oxycontin that allowed patients to buy them at deep discounts.
"And these drug reps from Purdue Pharmaceuticals said, 'Hey, this drug is very long-acting and it's not addictive,'" said Hays, who, with his wife, Darla, in September 2002 filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis alleging negligence, fraud and breach of warranty against Purdue Pharma and Abbott Laboratories.
Hays is seeking $300,000 in lost wages and more than $50,000 in punitive damages. In May, a federal judge remanded the Hays case to St. Clair County Circuit Court.
Cooper said what he's found with Oxycontin plaintiffs is they start off by taking one Oxycontin pill, "then they take two a day, and then all of a sudden they need three and four and five a day. It's just amazing."
The average addict, Cooper said, is a person between the ages of 35 and 40 who gets hurt at work or playing a softball game and is prescribed Oxycontin.
"And if you follow the timeline, about a year and a half or two years later, they've lost their job, they've lost their kids, they've lost their family, they've lost everything," Cooper said. "And these are people with no history of addiction, no criminal history."
James Heins, a spokesman for Purdue Pharma, denied the charges made by Cooper, as well as charges made by plaintiffs in 300 lawsuits filed nationwide over Oxycontin.
"These allegations are baseless," Heins wrote in an e-mail to the News-Democrat.
Heins pointed out that almost 50 of these lawsuits have been dismissed. What's more, Heins wrote, Oxycontin is a Schedule II controlled substance whose active ingredient, oxycodone, has been available in the United States for more than 70 years and is used in almost 60 different pain medications.
"The package insert has always carried clear warnings regarding the product's abuse potential," he wrote.
Nonetheless, in late 2001 the Food and Drug Administration ordered Purdue Pharma to affix the strongest type of warning, called a "black box warning," on each bottle of Oxycontin in response to complaints that Oxycontin was being improperly prescribed.
How much blame Purdue Pharma must bear for the abuse of Oxycontin, its blockbuster star, remains an issue of debate among drug treatment professionals.
"It's a powerful drug," said Reeve Sams, regional manager for National Specialty Clinics, the Nashville, Tenn.-based chain of 17 clinics that owns the recently opened Southwest Illinois Treatment Center in Fairview Heights.
But Sams declined to put the onus on Oxycontin or its maker.
"And if Oxycontin wasn't there, it would be something else," Sams said. "So that's why I hate specifically to pick on Oxycontin."
Sams acknowledged, though, that at his firm's clinic in West Virginia, "85 percent of our admissions were Oxycontin addictions."
Bernstein, the Waismann Institute medical director, blamed Purdue Pharma for overselling Oxycontin's benefits while downplaying its dangers.
"It's marketed as a long-lasting drug, but really it's a short-acting drug wrapped in a coating of something that's supposed to dissolve slowly," Bernstein said. "You get a good euphoria from the Oxycontin. I don't believe, personally, for one minute that the Purdue Pharma people didn't know that."
Copyright (c) 2003 The Belleville News-Democrat
Before the Point of No Return, Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353
Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com
Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine.
Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Jail guard arrested in undercover drug bust
BOURNE — A Barnstable County correctional officer was arrested after buying $400 worth of OxyContin from an undercover police officer Friday, law enforcement officials said.
Ryan Carroll, 31, has been suspended without pay following a two-week investigation by the Cape Cod Drug Task Force that resulted in his arrest at 1 p.m. in the parking lot of the McDonald's restaurant on MacArthur Boulevard, Barnstable County Sheriff James Cummings said.
Carroll was not wearing his uniform at the time, Cummings said.
Carroll has been employed as an officer at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility for eight years and has had a good work record, Cummings said. An investigation of his conduct at the jail found no evidence that he was supplying drugs to inmates, he said."That was a concern for us," the sheriff said.
Carroll, a married father of two, came under suspicion when an informant for the Cape Cod Drug Task Force told an officer that the prison guard was looking to purchase the highly addictive opiate-based painkiller OxyContin. The sheriff helped the drug task force investigate Carroll.
"We were working with the Cape Cod Drug Task Force, which did an excellent job," Cummings said.
Carroll was arraigned Friday in Falmouth District Court for possession of OxyContin. He purchased 20 pills for $400 from an undercover officer, according to Cummings.
Carroll, whose address is listed in Plymouth according to Internet records, has been placed on unpaid leave until a termination hearing can be scheduled. The hearing could be held as soon as this week, the sheriff said.
"It shows that no one is immune from OxyContin," Cummings said. "It's a real problem here. ... He has two young children and was in the process of buying a house. This was not good timing for him."
Carroll's arrest tarnishes the work of the 366 employees of the sheriff's department, most of whom do an excellent job, the sheriff said.
The arrest also brings back memories of 2006, when five sheriff's department employees were arrested in a single year. Beginning in January and progressing all through 2006, five officers were charged with various crimes, including shoplifting, domestic assault, assault and battery on a police officer, weapons charges, and drunken driving.
The spree led Cummings to employ a personnel consultant, who made some changes in the hiring process but nothing radical, Cummings said. "He recommended we do a psychological screening of all our employee, but it would be too cost prohibitive," the sheriff said.
Carroll's drug bust is the first arrest of a sheriff department employee since the 2006 incidents, Cummings said. And it's the first arrest of a sheriff's employee for drugs during Cummings' tenure, he added.
Ryan Carroll, 31, has been suspended without pay following a two-week investigation by the Cape Cod Drug Task Force that resulted in his arrest at 1 p.m. in the parking lot of the McDonald's restaurant on MacArthur Boulevard, Barnstable County Sheriff James Cummings said.
Carroll was not wearing his uniform at the time, Cummings said.
Carroll has been employed as an officer at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility for eight years and has had a good work record, Cummings said. An investigation of his conduct at the jail found no evidence that he was supplying drugs to inmates, he said."That was a concern for us," the sheriff said.
Carroll, a married father of two, came under suspicion when an informant for the Cape Cod Drug Task Force told an officer that the prison guard was looking to purchase the highly addictive opiate-based painkiller OxyContin. The sheriff helped the drug task force investigate Carroll.
"We were working with the Cape Cod Drug Task Force, which did an excellent job," Cummings said.
Carroll was arraigned Friday in Falmouth District Court for possession of OxyContin. He purchased 20 pills for $400 from an undercover officer, according to Cummings.
Carroll, whose address is listed in Plymouth according to Internet records, has been placed on unpaid leave until a termination hearing can be scheduled. The hearing could be held as soon as this week, the sheriff said.
"It shows that no one is immune from OxyContin," Cummings said. "It's a real problem here. ... He has two young children and was in the process of buying a house. This was not good timing for him."
Carroll's arrest tarnishes the work of the 366 employees of the sheriff's department, most of whom do an excellent job, the sheriff said.
The arrest also brings back memories of 2006, when five sheriff's department employees were arrested in a single year. Beginning in January and progressing all through 2006, five officers were charged with various crimes, including shoplifting, domestic assault, assault and battery on a police officer, weapons charges, and drunken driving.
The spree led Cummings to employ a personnel consultant, who made some changes in the hiring process but nothing radical, Cummings said. "He recommended we do a psychological screening of all our employee, but it would be too cost prohibitive," the sheriff said.
Carroll's drug bust is the first arrest of a sheriff department employee since the 2006 incidents, Cummings said. And it's the first arrest of a sheriff's employee for drugs during Cummings' tenure, he added.
Bills Would Let Mass. Tally Drug Overdoses
BOSTON -- Lawmakers are weighing a series of bills designed to give Massachusetts a more comprehensive tally of OxyContin and heroin overdoses.
The state has struggled in recent years to get a handle on the problem as the number of overdoses has crept steadily upward.
On Tuesday, the Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health holds a public hearing on a series of the bills targeting drug overdoses.
One would require every doctor treating someone suffering from an overdose to file a report with the state Department of Public Health detailing the type of drug used and the patient's age, race, gender and hometown, while keeping their identity private.
A goal of the legislation is to look for trends so the state can better combat overdoses.
The state has struggled in recent years to get a handle on the problem as the number of overdoses has crept steadily upward.
On Tuesday, the Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health holds a public hearing on a series of the bills targeting drug overdoses.
One would require every doctor treating someone suffering from an overdose to file a report with the state Department of Public Health detailing the type of drug used and the patient's age, race, gender and hometown, while keeping their identity private.
A goal of the legislation is to look for trends so the state can better combat overdoses.
My turn: Drug testing students won't solve Juneau's drug problem
When people ask what I would do about the present drug epidemic, my first response would be to try not to make it worse. About drug testing in particular, I suggest Richard C. Cowan's article "How the Narcs Created Crack: A War Against Ourselves" (National Review, Dec. 5, 1986).
Cowan introduces the "Iron Law of Prohibition" which says that the more vigorously substances are persecuted the more concentrated they become. It's worth noting that crack, heroin, cocaine, angel dust and meth are all still around, even though their status as epidemics has fallen off the front page.
It's also worth noting that at least three of the so-called Drug Czars - Robert DuPont, Carlton Turner and D. Ian MacDonald - left their national positions and went into the private sector selling drug testing kits. It's very lucrative.
Drug testing was something John Walters, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George W. Bush, campaigned vigorously for. Walters wanted drug screening to be part of every medical examination for everybody, just like taking your blood pressure.
Everyone, including kids, knows if you take heroin, oxy, cocaine and other drugs that can kill you, you'll test negative in 8-48 hours. Marijuana has never had a recorded fatal overdose, but fat soluble metabolites may test positive for 30 days. The Juneau drug testing plan is to "test for everything," including marijuana. We can't test for everything since everything isn't invented yet. But even if we could, when you Google "beating a drug test" you get a million and a quarter hits.
In my mind the problem isn't permissiveness with the kids, but permissiveness with the drug companies. In 2002, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies made more profit than the other 490 companies in the Fortune 500 combined. From 2000 to 2004, retail sales of commonly abused drugs - such as OxyContin and psychotropics - more than doubled in America. An army of more than 100,000 drug reps works to get doctors to write more prescriptions. They sell us the poison. They sell us the antidote.
A drug war and pulling down our pants for drug testing won't solve that. The drug war has made our country the world's leading jailer, but convicts can still get illegal drugs in maximum security prisons.
As Cowan predicted "We are not going to be drug free. Just unfree."
• Dick Callahan is a Juneau resident.
Before the Point of No Return, Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353
Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com
Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine.
Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Cowan introduces the "Iron Law of Prohibition" which says that the more vigorously substances are persecuted the more concentrated they become. It's worth noting that crack, heroin, cocaine, angel dust and meth are all still around, even though their status as epidemics has fallen off the front page.
It's also worth noting that at least three of the so-called Drug Czars - Robert DuPont, Carlton Turner and D. Ian MacDonald - left their national positions and went into the private sector selling drug testing kits. It's very lucrative.
Drug testing was something John Walters, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George W. Bush, campaigned vigorously for. Walters wanted drug screening to be part of every medical examination for everybody, just like taking your blood pressure.
Everyone, including kids, knows if you take heroin, oxy, cocaine and other drugs that can kill you, you'll test negative in 8-48 hours. Marijuana has never had a recorded fatal overdose, but fat soluble metabolites may test positive for 30 days. The Juneau drug testing plan is to "test for everything," including marijuana. We can't test for everything since everything isn't invented yet. But even if we could, when you Google "beating a drug test" you get a million and a quarter hits.
In my mind the problem isn't permissiveness with the kids, but permissiveness with the drug companies. In 2002, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies made more profit than the other 490 companies in the Fortune 500 combined. From 2000 to 2004, retail sales of commonly abused drugs - such as OxyContin and psychotropics - more than doubled in America. An army of more than 100,000 drug reps works to get doctors to write more prescriptions. They sell us the poison. They sell us the antidote.
A drug war and pulling down our pants for drug testing won't solve that. The drug war has made our country the world's leading jailer, but convicts can still get illegal drugs in maximum security prisons.
As Cowan predicted "We are not going to be drug free. Just unfree."
• Dick Callahan is a Juneau resident.
Before the Point of No Return, Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353
Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com
Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine.
Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
5 Keys to Happiness
Here are five ways — some admittedly challenging — to help you get that much-needed mood boost:
1. Pick good parents
In Happy Land, genes trump environmental factors, according to the experts. And a study in the March issue of the journal Psychological Science scores another point for the gene team: Differences in DNA that could explain why some people tend to have an extra bounce in their step might also underlie the tendency to be more emotionally stable and socially and physically active.
Genes do not provide free passes from the doldrums, and other external factors will still try to mow you down. But, heredity could provide some people with a horde of happiness that they can draw from when the good times aren’t rolling.
And Canadian researchers' ability to genetically stifle depression in mice in 2006 indicates that human happiness could one day be improved by manipulating genes. This was the first time science throttled the throes of any organism. Mice bred to be void of the gene, called TREK-1, acted as if they had been downing anti-depressants for at least three weeks.
2. Give it away
It only takes $5 spent on others to make you happier on a given day, according to a 2008 study. And selfless acts can also help your marriage become a more enjoyable experience for you and your spouse.
After performing good deeds, people are happier and feel their life has more purpose. But is the act selfless if you expect something in return? Maybe it just depends on how you look at it.
3. Ponder this
Think of a happy place. And you, too, like Happy Gilmore, might sink that putt and earn back your grandmother's house — or overcome your own hurdle.
Humans are more resilient than we think and can endure trying times, as demonstrated in a 2005 study that tracked mood changes in dialysis patients. They were in a good mood most of the time despite having their blood cleaned three times a week for at least three months. But healthy patients envisioned a miserable life when asked to imagine adhering to this demanding schedule.
As Winston Churchill said, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
4. Work out
Consistently breaking a sweat, along with medication and counseling can help people battling depression by sapping lonely and vulnerable feelings.
Exercise improves one's state of mind in part by affecting the body's levels of two chemicals: cortisol and endorphins. The adrenal glands of angry or scared people produce cortisol. This increases blood pressure and blood sugar, weakens the immune response and can lead to organ inflammation and damage. But working out burns cortisol, restoring the body's normal levels.
Running, biking or using an aerobic exercise machine also causes the brain to release endorphins — the body's natural pain relievers — into the bloodstream. The body foregoes the negative side effects of drugs while still experiencing a natural high. To gain the most from your workout, make sure its intensity reflects your stress level. And challenge your body to continually adapt by varying the exercise’s length and intensity.
5. Live long
If you have the right genes and are selfless, optimistic and active but still find yourself down in the dumps, just give it some time.
A study of 2 million people from 80 nations released in January found that depression is most common among adults in their mid-40s. Among Americans, the worst of times hit women around age 40 and men about age 50.
But with age humans are more inclined to filter out the negatives while focusing on what they enjoy.
Americans in their golden years tend to see the glass as half full, despite their increased doctor visits and chemo treatments. After battling cancer, heart disease, diabetes or other health-related obstacles, 500 independent Americans from age 60 to 98 rated their own degree of successful aging as 8.4 on average, with 10 being the highest in a 2005 study.
Happiness, it seems, takes time.
1. Pick good parents
In Happy Land, genes trump environmental factors, according to the experts. And a study in the March issue of the journal Psychological Science scores another point for the gene team: Differences in DNA that could explain why some people tend to have an extra bounce in their step might also underlie the tendency to be more emotionally stable and socially and physically active.
Genes do not provide free passes from the doldrums, and other external factors will still try to mow you down. But, heredity could provide some people with a horde of happiness that they can draw from when the good times aren’t rolling.
And Canadian researchers' ability to genetically stifle depression in mice in 2006 indicates that human happiness could one day be improved by manipulating genes. This was the first time science throttled the throes of any organism. Mice bred to be void of the gene, called TREK-1, acted as if they had been downing anti-depressants for at least three weeks.
2. Give it away
It only takes $5 spent on others to make you happier on a given day, according to a 2008 study. And selfless acts can also help your marriage become a more enjoyable experience for you and your spouse.
After performing good deeds, people are happier and feel their life has more purpose. But is the act selfless if you expect something in return? Maybe it just depends on how you look at it.
3. Ponder this
Think of a happy place. And you, too, like Happy Gilmore, might sink that putt and earn back your grandmother's house — or overcome your own hurdle.
Humans are more resilient than we think and can endure trying times, as demonstrated in a 2005 study that tracked mood changes in dialysis patients. They were in a good mood most of the time despite having their blood cleaned three times a week for at least three months. But healthy patients envisioned a miserable life when asked to imagine adhering to this demanding schedule.
As Winston Churchill said, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
4. Work out
Consistently breaking a sweat, along with medication and counseling can help people battling depression by sapping lonely and vulnerable feelings.
Exercise improves one's state of mind in part by affecting the body's levels of two chemicals: cortisol and endorphins. The adrenal glands of angry or scared people produce cortisol. This increases blood pressure and blood sugar, weakens the immune response and can lead to organ inflammation and damage. But working out burns cortisol, restoring the body's normal levels.
Running, biking or using an aerobic exercise machine also causes the brain to release endorphins — the body's natural pain relievers — into the bloodstream. The body foregoes the negative side effects of drugs while still experiencing a natural high. To gain the most from your workout, make sure its intensity reflects your stress level. And challenge your body to continually adapt by varying the exercise’s length and intensity.
5. Live long
If you have the right genes and are selfless, optimistic and active but still find yourself down in the dumps, just give it some time.
A study of 2 million people from 80 nations released in January found that depression is most common among adults in their mid-40s. Among Americans, the worst of times hit women around age 40 and men about age 50.
But with age humans are more inclined to filter out the negatives while focusing on what they enjoy.
Americans in their golden years tend to see the glass as half full, despite their increased doctor visits and chemo treatments. After battling cancer, heart disease, diabetes or other health-related obstacles, 500 independent Americans from age 60 to 98 rated their own degree of successful aging as 8.4 on average, with 10 being the highest in a 2005 study.
Happiness, it seems, takes time.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Ky. sees rise in overdose deaths from pills obtained in Fla.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- In tiny Bath County, nine people have died since August from overdoses of powerful pain pills that were prescribed by Florida doctors, including a mother and son who died just five months apart.
"They were all that I had. I tried to watch them as close as I could," said Floyd Chapman, referring to his mother, Barbara Robertson, dead at 53, and his brother, James Chapman, who died at age 35.
Floyd Chapman said he attempted to dissuade the pair from joining thousands of Kentuckians who travel in cars, vans and airplanes to South Florida's pain clinics. Once there, people get monthly prescriptions for hundreds of painkillers like oxycodone. Increasing numbers of Kentuckians are dying as a result.
Drug policy officials in Florida and Kentucky have not tracked the number of overdose deaths along the Interstate 75 pill pipeline. But coroners, physicians and law enforcement officers who are starting to tally the numbers say they are alarmed.
"It's epidemic. I don't know what the answer is. But it's got to stop," said Robert J. Powell, Bath County's coroner.
A combination of factors has led to the much-travelled Kentucky-Florida pipeline. Kentucky and 37 other states electronically monitor the number of narcotics prescriptions a person obtains from physicians. The Sunshine State has no such system. That has led to a proliferation of storefront medical clinics in Florida whose parking lots are filled with cars from Appalachian states and where doctors prescribe and dispense the often-abused drugs for cash.
A Herald-Leader survey of coroners in just three Kentucky counties — Montgomery, Rowan and Floyd — found that 14 people had overdosed on pain pills they obtained from Florida physicians in 2008.
Powell said that, in the past, he investigated about one fatal drug overdose a year in Bath County, where the population is just more than 11,000. Recently, he's seen about one a month.
Van Ingram, director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control, said he is surprised at how quickly the problem has grown.
"I never dreamed that it would be as big as it turned out to be," said Ingram, who said the problem has intensified in the last eight months. "We are hearing of thousands of Kentuckians going to Florida to get prescriptions and ... people going in droves to pharmacies in states along I-75 to get the prescriptions filled."
Death on the road
Not all the deaths connected to the Florida pain-pill phenomenon are overdoses.
In January, a Morehead man and his fiancée were found dead in their car at a Florida rest stop. The cause was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, a St. Johns County, Fla., sheriff's spokesman, said he has no evidence that Kenneth Oldham, 23, and Kayla Hinton, 22, had drugs or alcohol in their systems. But in their black Volkswagen Jetta was a bottle of pain pills prescribed by a South Florida physician and filled by a pharmacy there just before they died.
Mulligan said he did not know whom the prescription was for, but the information about the pills has been turned over to police in South Florida.
Denise Hamrick, Oldham's mother, said she did not know her son was in Florida until police came to tell her that he had died.
Hamrick says she hopes Florida passes a law that would require a prescription monitoring system.
"I think all states should pass the laws," Hamrick said.
At least one murder has been linked to the interstate pipeline. Brent Conn of Rowan County died of an overdose in a Florida motel room in 2007 after traveling to Florida in a car with Timothy Riggs of Bath County.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
"They were all that I had. I tried to watch them as close as I could," said Floyd Chapman, referring to his mother, Barbara Robertson, dead at 53, and his brother, James Chapman, who died at age 35.
Floyd Chapman said he attempted to dissuade the pair from joining thousands of Kentuckians who travel in cars, vans and airplanes to South Florida's pain clinics. Once there, people get monthly prescriptions for hundreds of painkillers like oxycodone. Increasing numbers of Kentuckians are dying as a result.
Drug policy officials in Florida and Kentucky have not tracked the number of overdose deaths along the Interstate 75 pill pipeline. But coroners, physicians and law enforcement officers who are starting to tally the numbers say they are alarmed.
"It's epidemic. I don't know what the answer is. But it's got to stop," said Robert J. Powell, Bath County's coroner.
A combination of factors has led to the much-travelled Kentucky-Florida pipeline. Kentucky and 37 other states electronically monitor the number of narcotics prescriptions a person obtains from physicians. The Sunshine State has no such system. That has led to a proliferation of storefront medical clinics in Florida whose parking lots are filled with cars from Appalachian states and where doctors prescribe and dispense the often-abused drugs for cash.
A Herald-Leader survey of coroners in just three Kentucky counties — Montgomery, Rowan and Floyd — found that 14 people had overdosed on pain pills they obtained from Florida physicians in 2008.
Powell said that, in the past, he investigated about one fatal drug overdose a year in Bath County, where the population is just more than 11,000. Recently, he's seen about one a month.
Van Ingram, director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control, said he is surprised at how quickly the problem has grown.
"I never dreamed that it would be as big as it turned out to be," said Ingram, who said the problem has intensified in the last eight months. "We are hearing of thousands of Kentuckians going to Florida to get prescriptions and ... people going in droves to pharmacies in states along I-75 to get the prescriptions filled."
Death on the road
Not all the deaths connected to the Florida pain-pill phenomenon are overdoses.
In January, a Morehead man and his fiancée were found dead in their car at a Florida rest stop. The cause was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, a St. Johns County, Fla., sheriff's spokesman, said he has no evidence that Kenneth Oldham, 23, and Kayla Hinton, 22, had drugs or alcohol in their systems. But in their black Volkswagen Jetta was a bottle of pain pills prescribed by a South Florida physician and filled by a pharmacy there just before they died.
Mulligan said he did not know whom the prescription was for, but the information about the pills has been turned over to police in South Florida.
Denise Hamrick, Oldham's mother, said she did not know her son was in Florida until police came to tell her that he had died.
Hamrick says she hopes Florida passes a law that would require a prescription monitoring system.
"I think all states should pass the laws," Hamrick said.
At least one murder has been linked to the interstate pipeline. Brent Conn of Rowan County died of an overdose in a Florida motel room in 2007 after traveling to Florida in a car with Timothy Riggs of Bath County.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Teens get hooked on prescription drugs from home
CHICO -- Behind the frightening numbers are the frightened faces of children, hundreds of them in Butte County, hooked on powerful drugs they get from their parents' medicine cabinets.
Authorities say the use of opiates -- which include Oxycontin, Fentanyl, Vicodin, Soma, Ritalin, cough syrups and any medication ending in "pam" -- are on the increase among Butte County youth.
Shelby Boston, with Butte County Children's Services Division, noted that in 2003 only 1 percent of children in foster care had or were endangered by opiate addictions.
In 2008 that number jumped to 4.3 percent. About half the children she sees with oxycodone problems also drink, Boston said.
About 9 percent of seniors in local high schools have tried opiates.
Retired chief probation officer Helen Harberts, now working with the District Attorney's Office, noted that "Addiction is a disease of the brain, and with youth, just about everything is about the brain."
Harberts, the lead-off speaker at a Chico forum Wednesday night discussing prescription drug use by adolescents, noted the brains of people under 25 aren't wired to always "think through potential outcomes."
When what Harberts referred to as "common sense deficit disorder" is combined with drugs, the outcome can be tragic and life-altering.
"Oxy is perhaps the most powerful prescription drug; it can take over the adolescent brain very quickly," she said. "The enemy is in your home, and in your medicine cabinets,"
Harberts told parents in the audience.
Reports of people missing prescribed medications, especially oxycodone, are common to police departments, but adults rarely suspect their children or grandchildren.
"We're seeing that 75 percent of prescription drugs used illegally by children are coming from their homes," said Chico police Sgt. Ford Porter. "They bring drugs to school to either use them, trade them, sell them or give them away," Porter said.
A small percentage of drugs children abuse have been legally prescribed to them by physicians.
Even when children are caught with drugs at school, Porter said parents usually seem puzzled about where they got them.
Porter mentioned a kind of underground exchange of drugs that was taking place recently between students at Pleasant Valley High in Chico and Paradise High. He said it wasn't discovered until a buyer at one of the schools became very ill from drug use.
Kellee Rhoades, a 17-year-old who now talks openly about a prescription drug habit that began when she was about 14, said she reacted typically to an opiate addition. "I kept it all inside, and it wasn't good for me," Rhoades said. "If I wasn't high, I was alone in my room."
Experts call the behavior "isolating."
"I think all I really needed at that point in my addiction was somebody to compassionately ask if I needed help," she said. "I didn't have anybody in my family in my home life, which was very dysfunctional, to do that for me," Rhoades said.
"When I turned 15 I was on a good number of substances. I broke into a house, and that ruined by teenage years," she said. "I'd do anything to get that time back."
Rhoades decided to seek help on her own, has been sober for a year, and is now enrolled at Butte College.
Cyla Nelson, a drug rehabilitation expert and assessor for a program called California Access to Recovery Effort, said she's seeing a third generation of prescription drug abusers in Butte County.
She noted parents often need help and support themselves, before they can help their children.
Rhoades said Nelson was among a handful of people to give her an encouraging word when she needed it most. Nelson and Rhoades have become friends outside of a clinical setting.
Chico police street crimes officer Kevin Hass observed that methamphetamine is still the drug of choice in Chico. "But if meth is the king, Oxycontin is the queen," he said.
District Attorney Mike Ramsey said he often gets calls from parents who ask him to be the heavy in trying to influence children they suspect of doing drugs. "I don't mind being the bogey man," he told his audience. "Please use me."
Ramsey explained the key to explaining law enforcement's role in drug abuse prevention is not to frighten people so much that they don't seek help.
Wednesday's forum was organized by Butte County Juvenile Court Judge Tamara Mosbarger and the Chico Unified School District.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Authorities say the use of opiates -- which include Oxycontin, Fentanyl, Vicodin, Soma, Ritalin, cough syrups and any medication ending in "pam" -- are on the increase among Butte County youth.
Shelby Boston, with Butte County Children's Services Division, noted that in 2003 only 1 percent of children in foster care had or were endangered by opiate addictions.
In 2008 that number jumped to 4.3 percent. About half the children she sees with oxycodone problems also drink, Boston said.
About 9 percent of seniors in local high schools have tried opiates.
Retired chief probation officer Helen Harberts, now working with the District Attorney's Office, noted that "Addiction is a disease of the brain, and with youth, just about everything is about the brain."
Harberts, the lead-off speaker at a Chico forum Wednesday night discussing prescription drug use by adolescents, noted the brains of people under 25 aren't wired to always "think through potential outcomes."
When what Harberts referred to as "common sense deficit disorder" is combined with drugs, the outcome can be tragic and life-altering.
"Oxy is perhaps the most powerful prescription drug; it can take over the adolescent brain very quickly," she said. "The enemy is in your home, and in your medicine cabinets,"
Harberts told parents in the audience.
Reports of people missing prescribed medications, especially oxycodone, are common to police departments, but adults rarely suspect their children or grandchildren.
"We're seeing that 75 percent of prescription drugs used illegally by children are coming from their homes," said Chico police Sgt. Ford Porter. "They bring drugs to school to either use them, trade them, sell them or give them away," Porter said.
A small percentage of drugs children abuse have been legally prescribed to them by physicians.
Even when children are caught with drugs at school, Porter said parents usually seem puzzled about where they got them.
Porter mentioned a kind of underground exchange of drugs that was taking place recently between students at Pleasant Valley High in Chico and Paradise High. He said it wasn't discovered until a buyer at one of the schools became very ill from drug use.
Kellee Rhoades, a 17-year-old who now talks openly about a prescription drug habit that began when she was about 14, said she reacted typically to an opiate addition. "I kept it all inside, and it wasn't good for me," Rhoades said. "If I wasn't high, I was alone in my room."
Experts call the behavior "isolating."
"I think all I really needed at that point in my addiction was somebody to compassionately ask if I needed help," she said. "I didn't have anybody in my family in my home life, which was very dysfunctional, to do that for me," Rhoades said.
"When I turned 15 I was on a good number of substances. I broke into a house, and that ruined by teenage years," she said. "I'd do anything to get that time back."
Rhoades decided to seek help on her own, has been sober for a year, and is now enrolled at Butte College.
Cyla Nelson, a drug rehabilitation expert and assessor for a program called California Access to Recovery Effort, said she's seeing a third generation of prescription drug abusers in Butte County.
She noted parents often need help and support themselves, before they can help their children.
Rhoades said Nelson was among a handful of people to give her an encouraging word when she needed it most. Nelson and Rhoades have become friends outside of a clinical setting.
Chico police street crimes officer Kevin Hass observed that methamphetamine is still the drug of choice in Chico. "But if meth is the king, Oxycontin is the queen," he said.
District Attorney Mike Ramsey said he often gets calls from parents who ask him to be the heavy in trying to influence children they suspect of doing drugs. "I don't mind being the bogey man," he told his audience. "Please use me."
Ramsey explained the key to explaining law enforcement's role in drug abuse prevention is not to frighten people so much that they don't seek help.
Wednesday's forum was organized by Butte County Juvenile Court Judge Tamara Mosbarger and the Chico Unified School District.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Authorities bust OxyContin ring
PORTSMOUTH — Authorities have arrested six people, including three Seacoast area residents, in connection with a drug trafficking scheme in which police say a Florida man shipped hundreds of OxyContin pills through the U.S. mail system to dealers for distribution in the Seacoast area.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Hampshire said the arrests Tuesday are part of a 11⁄2-year "Operation Pill Cash" investigation that included collaboration between federal authorities and the Somersworth Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Davis said the narcotics distribution ring from Florida to New Hampshire involved the shipping of more than 1,500 OxyContin pills through the U.S. Postal Service to dealers. The drugs would then be sold throughout the greater Seacoast area, authorities say.
"Essentially the pills would be shipped from Florida to the charged defendants by Express Mail, which means they would get there in two to three days. The reason many traffickers use that is it's quick and goes directly to the house," Davis said.
Nicholas Morton, 39, of Hollywood, Fla., was arrested at his home and was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday in a U.S. District Court in Florida.
Davis said Morton is the alleged supplier of the OxyContin — a highly addictive narcotic painkiller.
Matthew Chase, 27, and Richard Mancini, 28, both of Seabrook, Jeremy Stephenson, 26, of Epping, and Lawrence, Mass., residents Sara Jabour, 30, and John Denisco, 31, have also been arrested in connection with the alleged operation.
The six individuals are all charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and the unlawful distribution of oxycodone, unlawful possession with the intent to distribute oxycodone, unlawful distribution of oxycodone and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
OxyContin is a brand name for oxycodone.
If convicted, the defendants could face prison terms in excess of 20 years and fines in excess of $1 million.
Davis would not discuss the details of the case, but said the recent bust is part of a greater effort to curb the trafficking of OxyContin from Florida to New Hampshire.
She described Florida as the "mecca" for OxyContin shipments, noting that it is often the origin of the drug when it is trafficked to New Hampshire and other New England states.
"We are seeing a lot of it in Florida," Davis said.
Davis said Morton would ship the drugs to the other five arrested parties for distribution and would also make trips to the Granite State.
The assistant U.S. Attorney noted that those trafficking drugs through the mail often conceal the pills in containers and place other items like toiletries in the boxes to make the drugs less detectable and the boxes themselves heavier.
"Operation Pill Cash" involved a joint investigation coordinated by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office Drug Task Force and numerous local New Hampshire and Massachusetts police departments, including the Somersworth Police Department.
Davis declined to comment on exactly why Somersworth authorities were involved saying only they were a vital law enforcement partner lending resources to the effort.
She said authorities are unsure of where the drugs were specifically distributed.
Davis said judging from the "volume" of pills shipped to the area, they were likely sold throughout the Seacoast region.
"The increase in OxyContin use and addiction in New Hampshire and New England has been phenomenally on the rise over the past couple years. Law enforcement is taking a very active role in combating the increase in OxyContin trafficking," Davis said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Hampshire said the arrests Tuesday are part of a 11⁄2-year "Operation Pill Cash" investigation that included collaboration between federal authorities and the Somersworth Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Davis said the narcotics distribution ring from Florida to New Hampshire involved the shipping of more than 1,500 OxyContin pills through the U.S. Postal Service to dealers. The drugs would then be sold throughout the greater Seacoast area, authorities say.
"Essentially the pills would be shipped from Florida to the charged defendants by Express Mail, which means they would get there in two to three days. The reason many traffickers use that is it's quick and goes directly to the house," Davis said.
Nicholas Morton, 39, of Hollywood, Fla., was arrested at his home and was scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday in a U.S. District Court in Florida.
Davis said Morton is the alleged supplier of the OxyContin — a highly addictive narcotic painkiller.
Matthew Chase, 27, and Richard Mancini, 28, both of Seabrook, Jeremy Stephenson, 26, of Epping, and Lawrence, Mass., residents Sara Jabour, 30, and John Denisco, 31, have also been arrested in connection with the alleged operation.
The six individuals are all charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and the unlawful distribution of oxycodone, unlawful possession with the intent to distribute oxycodone, unlawful distribution of oxycodone and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
OxyContin is a brand name for oxycodone.
If convicted, the defendants could face prison terms in excess of 20 years and fines in excess of $1 million.
Davis would not discuss the details of the case, but said the recent bust is part of a greater effort to curb the trafficking of OxyContin from Florida to New Hampshire.
She described Florida as the "mecca" for OxyContin shipments, noting that it is often the origin of the drug when it is trafficked to New Hampshire and other New England states.
"We are seeing a lot of it in Florida," Davis said.
Davis said Morton would ship the drugs to the other five arrested parties for distribution and would also make trips to the Granite State.
The assistant U.S. Attorney noted that those trafficking drugs through the mail often conceal the pills in containers and place other items like toiletries in the boxes to make the drugs less detectable and the boxes themselves heavier.
"Operation Pill Cash" involved a joint investigation coordinated by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office Drug Task Force and numerous local New Hampshire and Massachusetts police departments, including the Somersworth Police Department.
Davis declined to comment on exactly why Somersworth authorities were involved saying only they were a vital law enforcement partner lending resources to the effort.
She said authorities are unsure of where the drugs were specifically distributed.
Davis said judging from the "volume" of pills shipped to the area, they were likely sold throughout the Seacoast region.
"The increase in OxyContin use and addiction in New Hampshire and New England has been phenomenally on the rise over the past couple years. Law enforcement is taking a very active role in combating the increase in OxyContin trafficking," Davis said.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Prescription Drug Ring Runs From Florida to Bethel
The pharmacy in Bethel where people are trying to fill illegal prescriptions from Florida for high-powered narcotics. (WKRC-TV) More than six million people in this country are abusing prescription drugs -- that's more than the number of Americans abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined, according to the DEA.
In Florida, experts say five people die every day from prescription drug overdoses. Local 12's Rich Jaffe says Florida's problem is now coming here.
If you had a prescription you needed to fill, how far would you be willing to go to fill it? In the last month a number of people in the Tri-State have gone as far as Florida to get the "script" and then come all the way back here, to fill it.
In mid-March the tiny Pillbox Pharmacy in Amelia was suddenly flooded with Kentucky residents trying to fill Florida prescriptions for powerful painkillers like Oxycodone, Roxycodone and Percocet. The first guy showed up with one script in each hand. "We were real surprised when we first started seeing them come in due to the fact they were all stamped with the drug name on them and you could see where the people had put all their information on there ahead of time."
Pharmacies across the area saw the blitz ... sometimes different groups of people hitting the same pharmacy on the same day. "The officer brought back the people that were involved to the office and within the hour another call from CVS pharmacy that another script was being passed from a doctor in Florida, so another officer went up there and brought those people back to the office ... so we had our office full of Kentucky residents trying to pass Florida scripts."
Most of the apparently legal prescriptions are coming from pain clinics in South Florida where "patients" pay $200 for an initial visit and a fist full of prescriptions. Each subsequent visit costs $150. "In talking to the people I know in the Warren County Drug Unit they informed me that there's a pipeline running from Southern Florida right up to this area and people are passing handfuls of prescriptions everywhere."
Bethel Police checked out one womans' GPS and found locations for pharmacies in four states, including two doctors' offices in Florida.
While the investigation continues police in Bethel have been confiscating the questionable prescriptions and telling the people who brought them, they'll get them back when the investigations done, as long as they're legal.
State, local and federal investigators are all looking at the south Florida clinics where the prescriptions are coming from and the people trying to fill them. In Ohio, pharmacists are not required to fill prescriptions if they are suspicious.
On the street, illegal prescription drugs like oxycontin sell for about a dollar per milligram.
Take control of your life again, painlessly.
http://www.vip-home-care.com/rapidopiatedetox.html
In Florida, experts say five people die every day from prescription drug overdoses. Local 12's Rich Jaffe says Florida's problem is now coming here.
If you had a prescription you needed to fill, how far would you be willing to go to fill it? In the last month a number of people in the Tri-State have gone as far as Florida to get the "script" and then come all the way back here, to fill it.
In mid-March the tiny Pillbox Pharmacy in Amelia was suddenly flooded with Kentucky residents trying to fill Florida prescriptions for powerful painkillers like Oxycodone, Roxycodone and Percocet. The first guy showed up with one script in each hand. "We were real surprised when we first started seeing them come in due to the fact they were all stamped with the drug name on them and you could see where the people had put all their information on there ahead of time."
Pharmacies across the area saw the blitz ... sometimes different groups of people hitting the same pharmacy on the same day. "The officer brought back the people that were involved to the office and within the hour another call from CVS pharmacy that another script was being passed from a doctor in Florida, so another officer went up there and brought those people back to the office ... so we had our office full of Kentucky residents trying to pass Florida scripts."
Most of the apparently legal prescriptions are coming from pain clinics in South Florida where "patients" pay $200 for an initial visit and a fist full of prescriptions. Each subsequent visit costs $150. "In talking to the people I know in the Warren County Drug Unit they informed me that there's a pipeline running from Southern Florida right up to this area and people are passing handfuls of prescriptions everywhere."
Bethel Police checked out one womans' GPS and found locations for pharmacies in four states, including two doctors' offices in Florida.
While the investigation continues police in Bethel have been confiscating the questionable prescriptions and telling the people who brought them, they'll get them back when the investigations done, as long as they're legal.
State, local and federal investigators are all looking at the south Florida clinics where the prescriptions are coming from and the people trying to fill them. In Ohio, pharmacists are not required to fill prescriptions if they are suspicious.
On the street, illegal prescription drugs like oxycontin sell for about a dollar per milligram.
Take control of your life again, painlessly.
http://www.vip-home-care.com/rapidopiatedetox.html
A numbing trend: Prescription drug abuse on the rise
Cyrus Moinzadeh was smart, a "whiz at everything," his mother said. He could speak three languages and had a photographic memory. He was charming and friendly and had beautiful blue eyes.
On Dec. 16, 2007, the 23-year-old Torrey Pines graduate died after overdosing on OxyContin.
"So many dreams buried," his mother Kiyan Yazdani said. "Pointless and senseless."
Ask Yazdani about the price of OxyContin abuse and she will tell you she's felt Cyrus' absence through every minute of every hour of the one year and four months since his death.
And she is not alone. Of Cyrus' closest group of five friends from high school, three have died from drug overdoses. The other two are in rehab for Oxy addiction. Eight lives from the Torrey Pines class of 2002 alone have been lost to drugs, Yazdani said.
Yazdani said a lot of parents want to close their eyes to it - some who have lost a child to drug addiction will say it was a heart condition or a lung condition because they don't want to talk about the real problem.
But Yazdani does, if it can save just one life. She doesn't want her fraternity of grieving mothers to grow any larger than it already is.
"I don't want any other parents to be where I am," Yazdani said. "They should be taking flowers to their children's weddings, not to their graves everyday like I am."
OxyContin, a formula of the opiate oxycodone, is prescribed for relief associated with severe injuries, bursitis, dislocation, fractures, arthritis, lower back pain and cancer pain.
Overdoses can result in stupor, coma, muscle flaccidity, severe respiratory depression, hypertension and cardiac arrest, according to Glenn Wagner, San Diego County's chief medical examiner.
If OxyContin is an epidemic, teenagers in the North County are living in its epicenter, Yazdani said.
Teenagers can type "Get oxycontin without a prescription" into an Internet search engine and find Web sites that will ship the drug from Canada or Mexico. But Yazdani said North County teenagers don't even have to go that far. She said with a phone call, the drug will be delivered that day. Some dealers even offer a "month free" of use.
One pill can run $60 to $80, according to Joseph Olesky, the San Dieguito Union School District substance abuse counselor. Taken orally, the capsules are time-released, so to get the high faster, teens crush it up and snort it or melt the pill to smoke it. They place the drug on tin foil, heat it from underneath with a lighter and inhale the fumes with a straw.
Smoking or snorting OxyContin, or Oxy, causes the drug to enter the body very fast, within 10 minutes. The high, similar to that of heroin, can last three to four hours, Olesky said. "Some melt it in a spoon and shoot it up," he added, noting all methods of use are equally dangerous.
Scott Henderson, of the San Diego Police Department narcotics division, spoke about the problem at a community crime forum in February. He advised parents to keep an eye on their teenagers' activities.
Check out their Facebook and MySpace pages, he said, because that's commonly where they exchange information about getting drugs. Henderson also said to be on the lookout for the tin foil used to smoke it since Oxy leaves black charred streaks.
"If you're running out of tin foil and you don't make a lot of casseroles, I'm telling you right now something is amiss," Henderson said.
Parents can also look for changes in their child's behavior, such as a loss of interest in their normal activities and lack of energy. Yazdani said she noticed that Cyrus slept a lot more and that his straight-A grades at San Diego State had slipped substantially. In an attempt to battle his addictions, she sent him to rehab facilities in Mexico and Cuba but he'd only stay for two months.
Yazdani said Cyrus told her he would cry because the pain and cravings were so bad and that he was trying to "be good" but just couldn't.
Yazdani was set to pick Cyrus up at the train station after a trip to Costa Rica on a Sunday in December of 2007. He had promised she could take him to any rehab she liked when he came in from Los Angeles.
Instead, Cyrus died alone a hotel room after a drug dealer left him with a bottle full of pills.
Yazdani said she wants more people to talk about OxyContin and more teens to realize that they are not invincible, that they can die from this and that they should be afraid of using this drug. "There's got to be more awareness," Yazdani said. "We have to show kids what can happen."
Cyrus left behind a younger brother Dariush. Yazdani said Dariush shies away from taking any kind of medicine - even cough medicine.
He's learned his lesson, Yazdani said, but at what cost?
Facts about OxyContin
What it is:
An opiate prescribed for pain relief
How teens use it: Oxy can be taken as a pill, crushed up and snorted, melted and smoked or injected. Smoking is the most common method
Slang terms:
OC, Ox, 80's, Beans, Norcos, Watsons
What to look for: Paraphernalia consisting of aluminum foil, lighters, straws, syringes and spoons burnt on one side
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
On Dec. 16, 2007, the 23-year-old Torrey Pines graduate died after overdosing on OxyContin.
"So many dreams buried," his mother Kiyan Yazdani said. "Pointless and senseless."
Ask Yazdani about the price of OxyContin abuse and she will tell you she's felt Cyrus' absence through every minute of every hour of the one year and four months since his death.
And she is not alone. Of Cyrus' closest group of five friends from high school, three have died from drug overdoses. The other two are in rehab for Oxy addiction. Eight lives from the Torrey Pines class of 2002 alone have been lost to drugs, Yazdani said.
Yazdani said a lot of parents want to close their eyes to it - some who have lost a child to drug addiction will say it was a heart condition or a lung condition because they don't want to talk about the real problem.
But Yazdani does, if it can save just one life. She doesn't want her fraternity of grieving mothers to grow any larger than it already is.
"I don't want any other parents to be where I am," Yazdani said. "They should be taking flowers to their children's weddings, not to their graves everyday like I am."
OxyContin, a formula of the opiate oxycodone, is prescribed for relief associated with severe injuries, bursitis, dislocation, fractures, arthritis, lower back pain and cancer pain.
Overdoses can result in stupor, coma, muscle flaccidity, severe respiratory depression, hypertension and cardiac arrest, according to Glenn Wagner, San Diego County's chief medical examiner.
If OxyContin is an epidemic, teenagers in the North County are living in its epicenter, Yazdani said.
Teenagers can type "Get oxycontin without a prescription" into an Internet search engine and find Web sites that will ship the drug from Canada or Mexico. But Yazdani said North County teenagers don't even have to go that far. She said with a phone call, the drug will be delivered that day. Some dealers even offer a "month free" of use.
One pill can run $60 to $80, according to Joseph Olesky, the San Dieguito Union School District substance abuse counselor. Taken orally, the capsules are time-released, so to get the high faster, teens crush it up and snort it or melt the pill to smoke it. They place the drug on tin foil, heat it from underneath with a lighter and inhale the fumes with a straw.
Smoking or snorting OxyContin, or Oxy, causes the drug to enter the body very fast, within 10 minutes. The high, similar to that of heroin, can last three to four hours, Olesky said. "Some melt it in a spoon and shoot it up," he added, noting all methods of use are equally dangerous.
Scott Henderson, of the San Diego Police Department narcotics division, spoke about the problem at a community crime forum in February. He advised parents to keep an eye on their teenagers' activities.
Check out their Facebook and MySpace pages, he said, because that's commonly where they exchange information about getting drugs. Henderson also said to be on the lookout for the tin foil used to smoke it since Oxy leaves black charred streaks.
"If you're running out of tin foil and you don't make a lot of casseroles, I'm telling you right now something is amiss," Henderson said.
Parents can also look for changes in their child's behavior, such as a loss of interest in their normal activities and lack of energy. Yazdani said she noticed that Cyrus slept a lot more and that his straight-A grades at San Diego State had slipped substantially. In an attempt to battle his addictions, she sent him to rehab facilities in Mexico and Cuba but he'd only stay for two months.
Yazdani said Cyrus told her he would cry because the pain and cravings were so bad and that he was trying to "be good" but just couldn't.
Yazdani was set to pick Cyrus up at the train station after a trip to Costa Rica on a Sunday in December of 2007. He had promised she could take him to any rehab she liked when he came in from Los Angeles.
Instead, Cyrus died alone a hotel room after a drug dealer left him with a bottle full of pills.
Yazdani said she wants more people to talk about OxyContin and more teens to realize that they are not invincible, that they can die from this and that they should be afraid of using this drug. "There's got to be more awareness," Yazdani said. "We have to show kids what can happen."
Cyrus left behind a younger brother Dariush. Yazdani said Dariush shies away from taking any kind of medicine - even cough medicine.
He's learned his lesson, Yazdani said, but at what cost?
Facts about OxyContin
What it is:
An opiate prescribed for pain relief
How teens use it: Oxy can be taken as a pill, crushed up and snorted, melted and smoked or injected. Smoking is the most common method
Slang terms:
OC, Ox, 80's, Beans, Norcos, Watsons
What to look for: Paraphernalia consisting of aluminum foil, lighters, straws, syringes and spoons burnt on one side
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Howard K. Stern Appears in L.A. Court
LOS ANGELES -- Arraignment has been delayed for Anna Nicole Smith's longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, and a psychiatrist accused of over-supplying the one-time Playboy playmate with prescription drugs.
The 40-year-old Stern and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, 61, appeared briefly in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday, but a court official postponed the hearing until May 13.
Each were charged with six felonies March 12, including conspiracy, unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance and prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict.
Dr. Sandeep Kapoor is also charged in the case. He is scheduled to be arraigned on May 13th as well.
The three are accused of knowingly supplying Smith with excessive amounts of addictive prescription drugs prior to her overdose death in 2007.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown has said Stern was the "principal enabler" and that Drs. Eroshevich and Kapoor were "prescribing drugs excessively to a known addict and using false and fictitious names all in violation of the law and in furtherance of a conspiracy."
"These people were caught up in being in a relationship with and being around the celebrity Anna Nicole Smith," Brown said.
The charges allege that the trio conspired to give opiates, benzodiazapines and other controlled substances to the former model between June 5, 2004, and January 26, 2007, just two weeks before her death from an overdose.
Kapoor and Eroshevich are also each charged with one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by "fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," and one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by giving a false name or address.
Stern and Kapoor are free on $20,000 bond. Eroshevich is free on $20,000 bail.
The investigation leading to the charges against the three began in October 2007, when investigators served search warrants at various medical offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The offices of Eroshevich and Kapoor were both searched.
Anna Nicole Smith died on February 8, 2007 of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in Hollywood, Florida. She was 39-years-old at the time.
Eleven prescription medications were found in Smith's hotel room the day she died, according to the medical examiner. Also, more than 600 pills were missing from prescriptions that were only several weeks old when Smith died.
Most of the drugs were prescribed in Stern's name, and none were prescribed in Smith's own name. Prosecutors say some of the medications included valium, vicodin, xanax, ambien and methadone.
The medical examiner's office has said that Eroshevich authorized all the prescription medications found in the room.
Eroshevich's attorney acknowledged that his client wrote some of the prescriptions using fictitious names for Smith, but said she did so for "privacy reasons," not to commit fraud.
At the time of her death, Smith had just given birth to a daughter, Dannielynn Hope. The girl became the focus of a lengthy custody battle between Stern and photographer Larry Birkhead.
DNA tests ultimately determined that Birkhead was the father, and he was granted sole custody of Dannielynn.
Smith's death also followed shortly after the death of her 20-year-old son Daniel in September 2006, also from an accidental drug overdose.
Eroshevich began treating Smith following Daniel's death. She traveled with the starlet on several occasions over a six-month period to the Bahamas, where Smith was living with Stern.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
The 40-year-old Stern and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, 61, appeared briefly in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday, but a court official postponed the hearing until May 13.
Each were charged with six felonies March 12, including conspiracy, unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance and prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict.
Dr. Sandeep Kapoor is also charged in the case. He is scheduled to be arraigned on May 13th as well.
The three are accused of knowingly supplying Smith with excessive amounts of addictive prescription drugs prior to her overdose death in 2007.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown has said Stern was the "principal enabler" and that Drs. Eroshevich and Kapoor were "prescribing drugs excessively to a known addict and using false and fictitious names all in violation of the law and in furtherance of a conspiracy."
"These people were caught up in being in a relationship with and being around the celebrity Anna Nicole Smith," Brown said.
The charges allege that the trio conspired to give opiates, benzodiazapines and other controlled substances to the former model between June 5, 2004, and January 26, 2007, just two weeks before her death from an overdose.
Kapoor and Eroshevich are also each charged with one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by "fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," and one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by giving a false name or address.
Stern and Kapoor are free on $20,000 bond. Eroshevich is free on $20,000 bail.
The investigation leading to the charges against the three began in October 2007, when investigators served search warrants at various medical offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The offices of Eroshevich and Kapoor were both searched.
Anna Nicole Smith died on February 8, 2007 of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in Hollywood, Florida. She was 39-years-old at the time.
Eleven prescription medications were found in Smith's hotel room the day she died, according to the medical examiner. Also, more than 600 pills were missing from prescriptions that were only several weeks old when Smith died.
Most of the drugs were prescribed in Stern's name, and none were prescribed in Smith's own name. Prosecutors say some of the medications included valium, vicodin, xanax, ambien and methadone.
The medical examiner's office has said that Eroshevich authorized all the prescription medications found in the room.
Eroshevich's attorney acknowledged that his client wrote some of the prescriptions using fictitious names for Smith, but said she did so for "privacy reasons," not to commit fraud.
At the time of her death, Smith had just given birth to a daughter, Dannielynn Hope. The girl became the focus of a lengthy custody battle between Stern and photographer Larry Birkhead.
DNA tests ultimately determined that Birkhead was the father, and he was granted sole custody of Dannielynn.
Smith's death also followed shortly after the death of her 20-year-old son Daniel in September 2006, also from an accidental drug overdose.
Eroshevich began treating Smith following Daniel's death. She traveled with the starlet on several occasions over a six-month period to the Bahamas, where Smith was living with Stern.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Robbery Suspect In Custody After Police Standoff
Man, armed with gun, threatened to kill himself
HUNTINGTON -- Police now have the robbery suspect in custody after a standoff on Huntington's East End Tuesday Night.
Zachary Melba of Huntington allegedly robbed a CVS Pharmacy on 29th Street led police on a chase to a nearby parking lot and threatened to kill himself.
Authorities, including a SWAT team blocked off the area around 29th Street from 5th Avenue to 8th Avenue for more than 90 minutes.
Melba allegedly robbed the pharmacy around 9:15 p.m. and escaped with an unknown amount of oxycontin. He then drove to a parking lot at Spurlock's Warehouse, where he told police he was going to kill himself.
No one was injured in the standoff.
Authorities took Melba out on a stretcher and will be taken to a hospital for observation. Police believe that he took some of the oxycontin and will be observed overnight and later arrested.
HUNTINGTON -- Police now have the robbery suspect in custody after a standoff on Huntington's East End Tuesday Night.
Zachary Melba of Huntington allegedly robbed a CVS Pharmacy on 29th Street led police on a chase to a nearby parking lot and threatened to kill himself.
Authorities, including a SWAT team blocked off the area around 29th Street from 5th Avenue to 8th Avenue for more than 90 minutes.
Melba allegedly robbed the pharmacy around 9:15 p.m. and escaped with an unknown amount of oxycontin. He then drove to a parking lot at Spurlock's Warehouse, where he told police he was going to kill himself.
No one was injured in the standoff.
Authorities took Melba out on a stretcher and will be taken to a hospital for observation. Police believe that he took some of the oxycontin and will be observed overnight and later arrested.
Doctor gets five years probation in drug case
WARREN - A Vienna Township physician will serve 90 days in an alternative sentencing program and five years on probation after pleading guilty to drug charges stemming from allegations that he traded Vicodin for sexual favors.
Trumbull Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan sentenced Dr. Mark Davis, 47, of Howland, Tuesday on two counts of drug trafficking. During the sentencing Logan chastised Davis for violating his position of trust.
The judge called charges against Davis ''offensive'' and said he was a disappointment to the community.
The doctor, who had many letters of support from patients and community members, apologized to the court and said the charges have humiliated him and have affected the two most important things in his life, his career and his family.
''The hardest thing was explaining this to my son,'' Davis said. ''You always hope your children are proud of you. I hope they are some day.''
Davis had pleaded guilty Jan. 27 to the two fifth-degree felonies. Davis had faced a maximum penalty of between six months and 12 months in jail.
The charges followed prosecutors' claim that Davis gave Vicodin in exchange for sexual favors to two female informants posing as patients. Assistant county prosecutor Gina Buccino-Arnaut said Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigators used confidential informants on Aug. 6, 2006, and Jan. 5, 2007, at the offices where Davis has a family practice.
Arnaut said she forwarded Davis' conviction to the Ohio Medical Board. The board hasn't contacted Davis yet concerning any sanctions, according to Davis' attorney John Juhasz.
Agents detailed how they put Davis' office under surveillance, and an affidavit also includes photos of the doctor's office and the Jeep he drove.
An informant used an audio and video camera on at least one occasion, resulting in one of the charges.
One patient in 2004 told agents with the state pharmacy board that a female friend who worked as a barmaid suggested that Davis could prescribe OxyContin for her. The patient admitted to agents she had a secret calling code that allowed her to meet the doctor after hours in his office, where they had sex, drank vodka and orange juice, and she would return the next day to pick up a prescription for 80 or 160 OxyContin.
A licensed doctor of osteopathic medicine, Davis, who lives in Brittany Oaks, has practiced since 1988 and specialized in family practice. He graduated in 1987 from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Trumbull Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan sentenced Dr. Mark Davis, 47, of Howland, Tuesday on two counts of drug trafficking. During the sentencing Logan chastised Davis for violating his position of trust.
The judge called charges against Davis ''offensive'' and said he was a disappointment to the community.
The doctor, who had many letters of support from patients and community members, apologized to the court and said the charges have humiliated him and have affected the two most important things in his life, his career and his family.
''The hardest thing was explaining this to my son,'' Davis said. ''You always hope your children are proud of you. I hope they are some day.''
Davis had pleaded guilty Jan. 27 to the two fifth-degree felonies. Davis had faced a maximum penalty of between six months and 12 months in jail.
The charges followed prosecutors' claim that Davis gave Vicodin in exchange for sexual favors to two female informants posing as patients. Assistant county prosecutor Gina Buccino-Arnaut said Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigators used confidential informants on Aug. 6, 2006, and Jan. 5, 2007, at the offices where Davis has a family practice.
Arnaut said she forwarded Davis' conviction to the Ohio Medical Board. The board hasn't contacted Davis yet concerning any sanctions, according to Davis' attorney John Juhasz.
Agents detailed how they put Davis' office under surveillance, and an affidavit also includes photos of the doctor's office and the Jeep he drove.
An informant used an audio and video camera on at least one occasion, resulting in one of the charges.
One patient in 2004 told agents with the state pharmacy board that a female friend who worked as a barmaid suggested that Davis could prescribe OxyContin for her. The patient admitted to agents she had a secret calling code that allowed her to meet the doctor after hours in his office, where they had sex, drank vodka and orange juice, and she would return the next day to pick up a prescription for 80 or 160 OxyContin.
A licensed doctor of osteopathic medicine, Davis, who lives in Brittany Oaks, has practiced since 1988 and specialized in family practice. He graduated in 1987 from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Trial for doctor in alleged narcotics scheme to be delayed
By Dan Abendschein, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/03/2009 05:13:54 PM PDT
PASADENA - A trial scheduled to begin next week for a Duarte doctor and his assistant accused by federal authorities of narcotics trafficking will be postponed, officials said Friday.
Prosecutors and attorneys for both defendants agreed to the delay to give both sides more time to prepare, defense attorney Randy Driggs said.
A federal grand jury last month indicted Dr. Daniel Healy of Arcadia and his assistant, Alvaro Rosales of Chino Hills, on 16 drug-related charges. Rosales was additionally indicted on one drug conspiracy charge.
Authorities accused Healy of running a cash-only medical practices in Duarte and Rancho Cucamonga that illegally provided massive amounts of prescription drugs to people he knew and trusted, including his sons and their friends.
The narcotics later were often sold on the street, according to the indictment.
Drug databases maintained by the federal government show that Healy dispensed more than 1 million pills of hydrocodone tablets last year, more than any other doctor in the nation. Hydrocodone is more commonly known as Vicodin.
Investigators calculated that, based on the hours of operation at Healy's clinic, he dispensed an average of 521 hydrocodone pills an hour.
Healy often asked patients if they preferred a "family size" or "party size" bottle of narcotics, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Rosales also prescribed and distributed pills, even though he was not
a doctor, court records allege. He has a degree in medicine from a university in Guadalajara, Mexico, according to authorities, but is not licensed to practice in the United States.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Posted: 04/03/2009 05:13:54 PM PDT
PASADENA - A trial scheduled to begin next week for a Duarte doctor and his assistant accused by federal authorities of narcotics trafficking will be postponed, officials said Friday.
Prosecutors and attorneys for both defendants agreed to the delay to give both sides more time to prepare, defense attorney Randy Driggs said.
A federal grand jury last month indicted Dr. Daniel Healy of Arcadia and his assistant, Alvaro Rosales of Chino Hills, on 16 drug-related charges. Rosales was additionally indicted on one drug conspiracy charge.
Authorities accused Healy of running a cash-only medical practices in Duarte and Rancho Cucamonga that illegally provided massive amounts of prescription drugs to people he knew and trusted, including his sons and their friends.
The narcotics later were often sold on the street, according to the indictment.
Drug databases maintained by the federal government show that Healy dispensed more than 1 million pills of hydrocodone tablets last year, more than any other doctor in the nation. Hydrocodone is more commonly known as Vicodin.
Investigators calculated that, based on the hours of operation at Healy's clinic, he dispensed an average of 521 hydrocodone pills an hour.
Healy often asked patients if they preferred a "family size" or "party size" bottle of narcotics, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Rosales also prescribed and distributed pills, even though he was not
a doctor, court records allege. He has a degree in medicine from a university in Guadalajara, Mexico, according to authorities, but is not licensed to practice in the United States.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Two Young Callaway Girls Busted after Attempting To Sell Oxycodone to Undercover Agents
An undercover drug deal worked by the Special Investigations Division of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office landed two women in the Bay County Jail Thursday night.
Jamie Catherine Overstreet, of Callaway, and April Dawn Hamblin, were arrested after they attempted to sell the powerful pain killer oxycodone to undercover narcotics officers Thursday evening in Callaway.
Overstreet and Hamblin stated to investigators they had just returned from Fort Lauderdale and had obtained the pills from doctors in Broward County. Both were charged with Possession With Intent to Distribute and Attempted Sale of Oxycodone.
Oxycodone is the opioid pain medication found in Percocet, Percodan, and OxyContin. Broward County currently leads the nation in the amount of Oxycodone dispensed directly by physicians, second only to neighboring Palm Beach County.
The top 25 physicians in the United States who received the largest quantities of Oxycodone for direct dispensing from their offices all operate in the state of Florida.
Eighteen were working in Broward County with the remaining seven from four other Florida counties.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Jamie Catherine Overstreet, of Callaway, and April Dawn Hamblin, were arrested after they attempted to sell the powerful pain killer oxycodone to undercover narcotics officers Thursday evening in Callaway.
Overstreet and Hamblin stated to investigators they had just returned from Fort Lauderdale and had obtained the pills from doctors in Broward County. Both were charged with Possession With Intent to Distribute and Attempted Sale of Oxycodone.
Oxycodone is the opioid pain medication found in Percocet, Percodan, and OxyContin. Broward County currently leads the nation in the amount of Oxycodone dispensed directly by physicians, second only to neighboring Palm Beach County.
The top 25 physicians in the United States who received the largest quantities of Oxycodone for direct dispensing from their offices all operate in the state of Florida.
Eighteen were working in Broward County with the remaining seven from four other Florida counties.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Pill parties are the fad now among youth, prosecutors say.
ALBANY — Dougherty County’s top drug crime prosecutor said last week that abuse of prescription drugs is expected to exceed the methamphetamine epidemic.
Painkillers like Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Methadone are rapidly becoming the most abused drugs in the area, Assistant District Attorney Brumby Montgerard told members of the Albany Rotary Club.
"When used as doctors prescribe, the drugs are perfectly safe," Montgerard said. "But when they are overused, or mixed with other pills or drugs, they can be deadly."
Montgerard said in Dougherty County prescription drug abuse doesn’t limit itself to any particular social or economic sphere.
"We see housewives who have injured their hips who become addicted and an 18 year-old girl with Crohn’s Disease who was taking 90 Oxycodone pills every two days, so its not limited to any one group," she said.
Prosecutors say that the fastest growing group of abusers of prescription pills are nurses, doctors and other staff in doctors’ offices who have easy access to prescription pads.
"These people know the terminology used to write prescriptions and some will just take a prescription for like allergy medicine and alter it as they need it," she said.
Montgerard said that deaths from prescription pill abuse are climbing. In 2004, the most recent data available, 90 people died in Georgia from Methadone abuse, almost double the number who died in 2001.
Young people are becoming more involved in pill or "pharm" parties where participants steal their parents or grandparents prescriptions, put them in a bowl at the party and take pills by the handfuls.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
Painkillers like Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Methadone are rapidly becoming the most abused drugs in the area, Assistant District Attorney Brumby Montgerard told members of the Albany Rotary Club.
"When used as doctors prescribe, the drugs are perfectly safe," Montgerard said. "But when they are overused, or mixed with other pills or drugs, they can be deadly."
Montgerard said in Dougherty County prescription drug abuse doesn’t limit itself to any particular social or economic sphere.
"We see housewives who have injured their hips who become addicted and an 18 year-old girl with Crohn’s Disease who was taking 90 Oxycodone pills every two days, so its not limited to any one group," she said.
Prosecutors say that the fastest growing group of abusers of prescription pills are nurses, doctors and other staff in doctors’ offices who have easy access to prescription pads.
"These people know the terminology used to write prescriptions and some will just take a prescription for like allergy medicine and alter it as they need it," she said.
Montgerard said that deaths from prescription pill abuse are climbing. In 2004, the most recent data available, 90 people died in Georgia from Methadone abuse, almost double the number who died in 2001.
Young people are becoming more involved in pill or "pharm" parties where participants steal their parents or grandparents prescriptions, put them in a bowl at the party and take pills by the handfuls.
Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.
SWEET POISON/ A MUST READ
Read this for what's it's worth. The government and Urban Legends
dispute the claims in this article, but drinking 4-6 Diet Cokes/Pepsi
every day probably isn't a good idea from a health standpoint,
especially if that person is exhibiting any of the symptoms described
in this article.
In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick.She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Walking was a major chore.It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain.
By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies
and was on 24 various prescription medications.The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her.
She was in so much pain, and so sick she just knew she was dying. She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest daughter's name, and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of.
She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to Florida
(basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd.
On March 19 I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said they didn't find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS.
I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I asked my
sister if she drank diet soda? She told me that she did. As a matter of fact, she was getting ready to crack one open that moment.
I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda! I e-mailed her article my friend, a lawyer, had sent.
My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk!
The muscle spasms went away. She said she didn't feel 100% but, she sure felt a lot better.
She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would
call me when she got home. Well, she called me, and said her doctor was amazed!
He is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if they
consumed artificial sweeteners of any kind.
In a nutshell, she was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet
soda...and literally dying a slow and miserable death.
When she got to Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill,
and that was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her way to a complete recovery. And she is walking! No wheelchair!
This article saved her life. If it says 'SUGAR FREE' on the label;
DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on 'ASPARTAME,' marketed as
'Nutra Sweet,'
'Equal,' and
'Spoonful.'
In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus.
It was difficult to determine exactly what toxin was causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that
subject.. I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous:
When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants.
The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple
sclerosis and systemic lupus. Many people were being diagnosed in error. Although multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, Methanol toxicity is!
Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis,
especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. The victim usually does not know that the Aspartame is the culprit.
He or she continues its use; irritating the lupus to such a degree
that it may become a life-threatening condition. We have seen patients with systemic lupus become asymptotic, once taken off diet sodas.
In cases of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the
symptoms disappear. We've seen many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss improved markedly. This also applies to cases of tinnitus and fibromyalgia.
During a lecture, I said, 'If you are using ASPARTAME (Nutra Sweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms,
spasms,shooting,pains,numbness in your legs, Cramps, Vertigo, Dizziness, Headaches,Tinnitus,Joint pain, unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss you probably have ASPARTAME poisoning!' People were jumping up during the lecture saying,'I have some of these symptoms.
Is it reversible?'Yes! Yes! Yes!
STOP drinking diet sodas and be alert for Aspartame on food labels! Many products are fortified with it! This is a serious problem.
Dr. Espart (one of my speakers) remarked that so many people seem to be symptomatic for MS and during his recent visit to a hospice; a nurse stated that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence!
Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple
SODIUM (salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates. It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight!
These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat
cells, particularly in the hips and thighs.
Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and is used primarily to preserve
'tissue specimens.'Many products we use every day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT store it IN our body!
Dr. H. J. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the 'diet
products' and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients
lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.
Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics. We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient with retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame. The Aspartame drives the blood sugar out of control.
Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that
aspartic acid and phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the
other amino acids necessary for a good balance.
Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE.
Especially with diabetics, the Aspartame passes the blood/brain
barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain;
causing various levels of brain damage,Seizures,Depression,
Manic depression,Panic attacks,Uncontrollable anger and rage.
Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as well.
Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children
diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their
behavior when these chemicals have been removed from their diet.
So called 'behavior modification prescription drugs' (Ritalin and
others) are no longer needed. Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in the first place! Most of these children were being 'poisoned' on a daily basis with the
very foods that were 'better for them than sugar.'
It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of
diet Coke and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the
Gulf War, may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War
Syndrome.
Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e. mental
retardation, if taken at the time of conception and during early
pregnancy.
Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should
NEVER be given artificial sweeteners.
There are many different case histories to relate of children
suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological disturbances
talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused by the
use of this deadly poison.'
Herein lies the problem:
There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included in 100
different products and strong objection was made concerning its use.
Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings,
and still nothing has been done.
The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets. Sadly, MONSANTO'S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED!
There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this
deadly chemical and there will be thousands more introduced. Everybody wants a 'piece of the Aspartame pie.'
I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame, knows how deadly it is. And isn't it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American
Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the
Conference of the American College of Physicians?
This has been recently exposed in the New York Times... These
[organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their link to
MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and are
required to endorse their products.
Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would
require label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially
regarding pregnant women, children and infants.
The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers
and the problems existing in the general population regarding
seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and
behavioral symptoms.
The bill was killed.
dispute the claims in this article, but drinking 4-6 Diet Cokes/Pepsi
every day probably isn't a good idea from a health standpoint,
especially if that person is exhibiting any of the symptoms described
in this article.
In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick.She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Walking was a major chore.It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain.
By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies
and was on 24 various prescription medications.The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her.
She was in so much pain, and so sick she just knew she was dying. She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest daughter's name, and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of.
She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to Florida
(basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd.
On March 19 I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said they didn't find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS.
I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I asked my
sister if she drank diet soda? She told me that she did. As a matter of fact, she was getting ready to crack one open that moment.
I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda! I e-mailed her article my friend, a lawyer, had sent.
My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk!
The muscle spasms went away. She said she didn't feel 100% but, she sure felt a lot better.
She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would
call me when she got home. Well, she called me, and said her doctor was amazed!
He is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if they
consumed artificial sweeteners of any kind.
In a nutshell, she was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet
soda...and literally dying a slow and miserable death.
When she got to Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill,
and that was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her way to a complete recovery. And she is walking! No wheelchair!
This article saved her life. If it says 'SUGAR FREE' on the label;
DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on 'ASPARTAME,' marketed as
'Nutra Sweet,'
'Equal,' and
'Spoonful.'
In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus.
It was difficult to determine exactly what toxin was causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that
subject.. I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous:
When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants.
The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple
sclerosis and systemic lupus. Many people were being diagnosed in error. Although multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, Methanol toxicity is!
Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis,
especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. The victim usually does not know that the Aspartame is the culprit.
He or she continues its use; irritating the lupus to such a degree
that it may become a life-threatening condition. We have seen patients with systemic lupus become asymptotic, once taken off diet sodas.
In cases of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the
symptoms disappear. We've seen many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss improved markedly. This also applies to cases of tinnitus and fibromyalgia.
During a lecture, I said, 'If you are using ASPARTAME (Nutra Sweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms,
spasms,shooting,pains,numbness in your legs, Cramps, Vertigo, Dizziness, Headaches,Tinnitus,Joint pain, unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss you probably have ASPARTAME poisoning!' People were jumping up during the lecture saying,'I have some of these symptoms.
Is it reversible?'Yes! Yes! Yes!
STOP drinking diet sodas and be alert for Aspartame on food labels! Many products are fortified with it! This is a serious problem.
Dr. Espart (one of my speakers) remarked that so many people seem to be symptomatic for MS and during his recent visit to a hospice; a nurse stated that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence!
Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple
SODIUM (salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates. It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight!
These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat
cells, particularly in the hips and thighs.
Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and is used primarily to preserve
'tissue specimens.'Many products we use every day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT store it IN our body!
Dr. H. J. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the 'diet
products' and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients
lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.
Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics. We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient with retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame. The Aspartame drives the blood sugar out of control.
Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that
aspartic acid and phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the
other amino acids necessary for a good balance.
Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE.
Especially with diabetics, the Aspartame passes the blood/brain
barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain;
causing various levels of brain damage,Seizures,Depression,
Manic depression,Panic attacks,Uncontrollable anger and rage.
Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as well.
Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children
diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their
behavior when these chemicals have been removed from their diet.
So called 'behavior modification prescription drugs' (Ritalin and
others) are no longer needed. Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in the first place! Most of these children were being 'poisoned' on a daily basis with the
very foods that were 'better for them than sugar.'
It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of
diet Coke and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the
Gulf War, may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War
Syndrome.
Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e. mental
retardation, if taken at the time of conception and during early
pregnancy.
Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should
NEVER be given artificial sweeteners.
There are many different case histories to relate of children
suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological disturbances
talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused by the
use of this deadly poison.'
Herein lies the problem:
There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included in 100
different products and strong objection was made concerning its use.
Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings,
and still nothing has been done.
The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets. Sadly, MONSANTO'S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED!
There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this
deadly chemical and there will be thousands more introduced. Everybody wants a 'piece of the Aspartame pie.'
I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame, knows how deadly it is. And isn't it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American
Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the
Conference of the American College of Physicians?
This has been recently exposed in the New York Times... These
[organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their link to
MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and are
required to endorse their products.
Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would
require label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially
regarding pregnant women, children and infants.
The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers
and the problems existing in the general population regarding
seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and
behavioral symptoms.
The bill was killed.
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