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Category: Addiction News

  • Purdue Pharma Accused Of Targeting Seniors For Oxy Sales

    Purdue Pharma Accused Of Targeting Seniors For Oxy Sales

    The lawsuit claims Purdue had salespeople downplay the harmful risks and side effects of OxyContin.

    Oregon’s Department of Justice claims that pharmacy giant, Purdue Pharma, lied to the state and misled customers to drive sales.

    Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma on Thursday, accusing the company of lying to the Oregon State Board of Pharmacy to obtain permission to sell in Oregon, as well as targeting senior citizens with its products.

    The violations against a settlement with Oregon goes back 10 years, according to a June 27 filing. Rosenblum’s office is demanding Purdue submit to the terms of a 2007 settlement or risk legal consequences.

    In the Thursday filing, Rosenblum’s office is demanding Purdue Pharma pay $1 million and abide by a prohibition against marketing to Oregon’s senior citizens.

    According to the lawsuit, Purdue released misleading publications and had its salespeople downplay the harmful risks and side effects of OxyContin, and specifically targeted disabled and senior citizens.

    Purdue also stands accused of lying in its application to renew its license to sell OxyContin in Oregon, erroneously claiming that the company had not faced state or federal punishment. In the past, they’ve been made to pay fines, and some of its top executives faced charges related to the company’s OxyContin marketing practices.

    “Ten years later, it is clear Purdue has flouted the judgment and ignored the severe federal penalties,” reads the lawsuit.

    Advocates for substance abuse prevention lauded the move, praising it as holding pharma companies accountable, to push them to cooperate in combating the opioid epidemic.

    “My hope is that this action will help establish some accountability and bring them to the table to help solve this,” said Dwight Holton, CEO of Lines for Life. “They ought to be helping us and they haven’t been.”

    Representatives of Purdue, however, disagree with this assessment of the situation.

    “We vigorously deny the state’s allegations,” said Purdue spokesperson Robert Josephson, according to the Oregonian. “The state claims Purdue acted improperly by communicating with prescribers about scientific and medical information that FDA has expressly considered and continues to approve. We believe it is inappropriate for the state to substitute its judgment for the judgment of the regulatory, scientific and medical experts at FDA. We look forward to presenting our substantial defenses regarding this lawsuit.”

    Working to improve its image in the shadow of the opioid crisis, Purdue has eliminated 350 sales positions, closed its “speakers” program that paid doctors and other professionals to sing OxyContin’s praises, and reshuffled its efforts towards researching cancer-fighting drugs.

    However, the opioid crisis has already damaged the state. Oregon saw a spike in opioid-related deaths in this past year, with Oregon’s Jackson County seeing a 70% increase in such deaths in just the first quarter of this year.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Juul Faces Criticism, Concerns Amid Rising Success

    Juul Faces Criticism, Concerns Amid Rising Success

    The company is accused of marketing its product to teens. 

    Arguably the most well-known e-cigarette on the market, Juul has seen skyrocketing sales in the past year, increasing 800%. But the success of the company isn’t without concern.

    According to CNBC, Juul founders James Monsees and Adam Bowen, both former smokers, initially started a company called Ploom, which later became known as Pax Labs. In 2015, they introduced Juul, a type of e-cigarette. Two years later, it broke off into its own company called Juul Labs.

    The team that initially created Juul was made up of about 20 people on a $2 million budget, CNBC states. Since then, the product has seen exponential growth. Today, the company is valued at $15 billion and makes up about 75% of the e-cigarette market.

    “What we realized is people don’t want a safer cigarette, they want to move past cigarettes,” Monsees told CNBC. “It’s hard to imagine an area that can be more powerful to public health in particular than to eliminate cigarettes from the face of the earth. It is one of the most successful consumer products of all time, if not the most successful, and yet it kills more than half of all people that use them long term. We always intended to build this company around the idea of making cigarettes obsolete. We knew Juul would be the way to do that.” 

    Juul contains about 40 milligrams of nicotine per cartridge. It works by vaporizing a liquid containing nicotine salts which is then inhaled by the user.

    “There’s a lot of misunderstanding about this category and about nicotine,” Bowen told CNBC. “Many people think that it’s deadly, a serious disease agent—when really alone, nicotine is quite benign. It’s a mild stimulant, and is habit-forming and can lead to dependence, and for that reason alone, no non-smoker should ever touch this product.”

    While Juul’s growth has been widely successful, it hasn’t been without obstacles. The company has faced various lawsuits, as well as new FDA regulations. 

    “If you’d have interviewed me two years ago, I’d have said they’re maybe 25% as dangerous as a cigarette,” Stanton Glantz, UCSF Center for Tobacco Control and Education Director, told CNBC. “Now, I think they’re somewhere between three-quarters as dangerous as a cigarette and as dangerous.” 

    A main criticism of the product is that it appeals to youth. One reason for this is that Juul comes in a variety of flavors. Additionally, it appears as compact as a flash drive, making it possible for kids to bring into schools without raising suspicions.

    “Kids who use them have more asthma, more days off school,” Glantz told CNBC. “There is evidence linking them with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other diseases. Addiction is not a phase, it’s not something kids grow out of.”

    Juul’s early marketing was also accused of being problematic due to making the product appealing to youth with its social media-based campaigns. Now, the company has shifted to marketing by using testimonials from adult users of the product.

    Both founders Monsees and Bowen say it’s important to focus on tobacco use prevention among youth, and have invested $30 million into that cause.

    Juul must submit its product to the FDA for review by August 2022.

    “We estimate we switched over a million smokers to Juul in just three years, but there are about 38 million left in the U.S. so there’s still a lot of room to grow,” Bowen told CNBC.

    Juul Labs released the following statement to The Fix: 

    JUUL Labs’ mission is to eliminate cigarette smoking by offering existing adult smokers with a better alternative to combustible cigarettes. JUUL is not intended for anyone else. We strongly condemn the use of our product by minors, and it is in fact illegal to sell our product to minors. No minor should be in possession of a JUUL product.

    Our goal is to further reduce the number of minors who possess or use tobacco products, including vapor products, and to find ways to keep young people from ever trying these products. We approach this with a combination of education, enforcement, technology and partnership with others who are focused on this issue, including lawmakers, educators and our business partners.

    Nicotine is addictive. An individual who has not previously used nicotine products should not start, particularly youth. Recent science raises serious concerns about the adverse effect of nicotine on adolescent neurodevelopment.

    We encourage parents to talk with their children about the dangers of nicotine. As a company we also continuously seek ways to contribute to this dialogue and knowledge base.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ariana Grande’s Brother: Mac Miller Helped Me Get Sober

    Ariana Grande’s Brother: Mac Miller Helped Me Get Sober

    “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking.”

    Frankie Grande paid tribute to Mac Miller in an Instagram post, stating it was thanks to the late rapper that Grande got sober.

    “I am beyond heartbroken over Malcolm’s death. He was a good friend and was wonderful to my sister,” Grande posed, referring to the relationship his sister, Ariana Grande, and Miller shared. “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking, when I couldn’t imagine living without them. It was the place where I found the community of support that showed me that living life without drugs was a possibility and I would have never discovered that if it weren’t for Malcolm.”

    Grande went on to recount all the times Miller showed up to support Grande’s sobriety milestones before calling for sympathy for those who suffer from substance abuse disorders.

    “I am beyond heartbroken over Malcolm’s death. He was a good friend and was wonderful to my sister,” Grande wrote in the caption. “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking, when I couldn’t imagine living without them. It was the place where I found the community of support that showed me that living life without drugs was a possibility and I would have never discovered that if it weren’t for Malcolm.”

    Grande recounted all of the times Miller showed up to celebrate his sobriety milestones, treating him with gifts and “words of encouragement.”

    “Addiction is a TERRIBLE disease… many people are suffering from addiction like I am and many many of them are losing,” he  wrote. “Those of us who are struggling with addiction must stay strong. We must continue to work HARD on ourselves every single day and help each other. Our disease is strong but WE ARE STRONGER and I vow to work every moment of my life to have myself sober so that i may be there for others.”

    Grande included several numbers to resources that anyone who may need help with substance abuse.

    “Malcolm my friend, you will be dearly missed,” he added. “And I know you will be looking down on me from heaven, proudAF for every day I live my life clean and sober… 453 days and counting… Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • A Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Finding a Suboxone Clinic

    A Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Finding a Suboxone Clinic

    It took me 10 hours of phone calls, 20 voicemails, 3 chewed fingernails, and many packs of cigarettes before I found a Suboxone provider in my new town. This is the list I wish I had then.

    When I pulled a “geographic” a few years ago, leaving Portland for my home state of North Dakota, I underestimated the stress of starting over. In fact, stress isn’t a strong enough word to describe driving 1,300 miles with my recent ex-boyfriend in the passenger seat and the fear of restarting life without heroin; not to mention I had no full-time job prospect, no health insurance, no apartment, and very few of my possessions. I also had a unique fear that loomed over me like an ominous storm cloud: trying to find a new Suboxone* provider in a rural state. 

    It took me almost ten hours of phone calls, twenty voicemails, ten games of phone tag, three chewed fingernails, and many packs of cigarettes to find a clinic that would dispense the medicine I take to maintain my recovery. 

    Unfortunately, my situation is a common one. Despite our nation being in the throes of an opioid epidemic, finding a Suboxone provider is a widespread problem; only about one-third of addiction rehabilitation programs offer long-term use of methadone or buprenorphine (the active ingredient in Suboxone). And according to the National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment (NAABT), only about half of all Suboxone providers are accepting new patients.

    Finding this life-saving medication shouldn’t be so hard. When you are committed to getting better, you shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not you’ll be able to find a clinic to dispense your medicine. A person with diabetes wouldn’t have to search hard to find insulin. So I’ve compiled a round-up of tips and suggestions. 

    This is the list I wish I’d had in early recovery:

    1. Find friends and family who are supportive of your Suboxone journey.

    2. Remember that your form of treatment is just as valid as all other types of treatment and recovery.

    Although Suboxone is a widely stigmatized and divisive medication in the recovery community, it has been shown to reduce opioid overdose death rates by 40 percent.

    3. Join online support groups and forums for people on Suboxone.

    Since I lived in a rural area, I couldn’t find any in person groups. So I joined secret social media Suboxone support groups on Facebook, recovery Reddit threads, and peer-support forums such as the Addiction Survivors website and Suboxone Talk Zone.

    4. Allow Plenty of Time to Research, Call, and Locate Providers.

    This was the most daunting and lengthy part of finding a new provider. Dr. Bruce Seligsohn has been a board-certified internist in Southern California for 30 years and practicing addiction medicine for 10 years. Dr. Seligsohn advises: “Patients really need to be very careful selecting a doctor if they have a choice. I would suggest that a patient looking for a new doctor do their due diligence and see what comes up online about the doctor.”

    I have compiled the most current resources available as of August 2018. See the sidebar for a sample phone script for calling providers.  

    Pros: Convenience, ease of navigation. You will be able to easily search for a provider based upon zip code, state, and the distance that you’re able to travel for a clinic.

    Cons: Out of date, inaccurate, not comprehensive. Be prepared for hours of phone calls depending on your location and financial situation. Not all providers are listed on the site. I also found that some of the clinics listed were not accepting new patients, had been closed, or had their numbers disconnected.

    Pros: Ease of navigation, instant results. Similar to the Suboxone manufacturer’s website, this is a good launching point for starting your search based upon zip code, state, and the distance that you’re able to travel. 

    Cons:  Not comprehensive and despite being a government resource, it is not up-to-date.

    Pros: Easy to use, more accurate. Treatment Match only connects you with providers in your area who are accepting new patients, reducing dead ends and calls to providers who aren’t accepting new patients or insurance. 

    Cons: Wait time/ lack of timeliness, not as many provider connections. This is not a straightforward directory and while it’s easy to sign up, you have to wait for a provider to respond to your email. The site claims that doctors respond 24/7, including weekends and holidays, but I only heard from them during normal business hours.

    • Yelp Reviews of Clinics

    Pros: Hearing directly from other patients about their experiences, easy to use, instantaneous, accessible.

    Cons: Questionable trustworthiness. Dr Seligsohn said: “Patient reviews can sometimes be very misleading.”

    • Calling Your Insurance Company

    Note: Insurance companies vary widely, so I can only speak from my experience. For example, in Oregon I was easily able to locate a Suboxone provider through my insurance company, but my North Dakota insurance did not provide referrals. They stated that their preferred addiction treatment was therapy and 12-step based treatment programs rather than medication.  

    Pros: Possible thorough list of doctors certified to prescribe Suboxone. Those Suboxone providers who accept your insurance are required to keep their information listed and up-to-date.

    Cons: Time-consuming and you have to deal with the hurdles of bureaucracy. Plus, some studies have found that only about 50% of eligible Suboxone doctors accept insurance. Some insurance companies like mine will allow you to submit an appeal asking them to cover part of your Suboxone visit or prescription, especially in rural areas. I saved all of my receipts and had my psychiatrist and Suboxone doctors write letters of support. After months of appeals, the insurance company agreed to cover part of each appointment. Each month I sent in a claim and receipt, and then I received a reimbursement check about a month later. 

    • Asking for a referral from your primary care provider, psychiatrist, or hospital.

    Another note: This is also difficult to give specific advice on because they vary depending according to location and providers, among many other factors.

    Pros: In-person support and assistance, more direct medical guidance and advice. 

    Cons: Stigma, lack of education about Suboxone, judgement, lack of timeliness. 

    5. Be Persistent!  

    6. Moving? Set Up an Appointment Months in Advance.

    Dr. Seligsohn advises finding a doctor and setting up an appointment prior to moving. “Patients need to find out as much information about how their perspective new doctor runs his practice…They also need to find out what the doctor’s philosophy is about long-term vs short-term Suboxone. If I was a patient I’d be reluctant to move to an area where there’s a shortage of Suboxone doctors.”


    Sidebar: Sample Phone Script for Calling Suboxone Providers

    I remember being so nervous, overwhelmed, and frustrated while also dealing with the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Make sure you set aside a few hours for making calls in a quiet, safe place. I know some of these tips might seem like common sense, but when you’re in crisis and everything feels overwhelming, it can be a relief to have a guide.

    1. Introduce yourself and tell them that you’re looking for a suboxone provider.

    2. Where are you located?

    3. Are you accepting new patients?

    • If yes- when is your earliest available appointment?
    • If no- don’t hang up just yet! Ask: do you have a waiting list? Can you give me an estimate for how long it would take me to get an appointment? 
    • Do you have a cancellation list and if so, can you please add me to it?

    4. How often do I need to come to the clinic or office? 

    • Most clinics and offices require monthly or bi-monthly visits, but some require daily visits and dispense suboxone in a similar manner to methadone.

    4. Do you accept my insurance? 

    5. If the clinic does not accept insurance, how much does each appointment cost?

    • How much does the intake appointment/ first visit cost? This is an important question to ask because initial intake appointments can cost anywhere from $100 – $200 more than a regular visit.
    • Some clinics require pre-payment to reserve your appointment and prevent cancellation. Do you require a down payment before the appointment?
    • What forms of payment do you accept? (cash, credit, check?) Note that most clinics do not accept checks.
    • Do you allow payment plans or is payment due on the day of the appointment? A majority of clinics will not allow patients to do a payment plan and payment is due on the day of the appointment.
    • Are there any additional costs or required fees? Some charge additional fees for mandatory counseling, drug screens, etc.

    6. What are the counseling requirements?

    • You may be required to do weekly or monthly therapy groups with others at the clinic, and/or meet with an addiction counselor. This varies depending on how long you’ve been clean and your insurance coverage. (For example, one of my previous clinics had no counseling requirement, but my new clinic requires me to meet with an addiction counselor for one hour each month. Other clinics require weekly or bi-monthly group support meetings.)

    Quick Resource List:

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA)’s Buprenorphine Treatment Practitioner Locator

    Suboxone Website’s Treatment Provider Directory

    Buprenorphine Matching System on Treatment Match on The National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment (NAABT)

    Addiction Survivors

    Suboxone Talk Zone

      

    *(Writer’s Note: Suboxone is the most common brand-name buprenorphine medication, but this article is also applicable for patients seeking any form of buprenorphine treatment including: Subutex, Zubsolv, Bunavail, and Probuphine).  

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Doctors Gave No Reason For Writing Opioid Scripts In Nearly 30% Of Cases

    Doctors Gave No Reason For Writing Opioid Scripts In Nearly 30% Of Cases

    A new study uncovered that doctors were prescribing opioids for hypertension and high cholesterol when no pain diagnosis was recorded. 

    A team at Harvard Medical School and the Rand Corp. combed through medical records from 2006 to 2015 and found that physicians gave no explanation for writing an opioid prescription in 29% of the cases.

    According to NBC News, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been working to get doctors to pull back on opioid prescriptions, citing careless prescribing as one cause of the opioid crisis. In 2016, more than 42,000 people died of opioid overdose, according to the CDC.

    The new study was led by Nicole Maestas, professor of health care policy at Harvard. Maestas and study coauthors went through tens of thousands of medical records, and then honed in on more than 31,000 physician surveys that included an opioid prescription.

    In two-thirds of the prescriptions, some type of pain diagnosis was present.

    The report, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, then concluded, “No pain diagnosis was recorded at the remaining 28.5%.”

    “At visits with no pain diagnosis recorded, the most common diagnoses were hypertension, hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), opioid dependence and ‘other follow-up examination,’” the research revealed.

    This over-prescribing could be unfairly impacting people who do have serious pain conditions and are finding it difficult to access the opioids they need to manage their pain due to new restrictions and doctors who fear that they will be targeted for over-prescribing.

    Dr. Tisamarie Sherry, who worked on the study, was reported in NBC News as emphasizing, “Whatever the reasons, lack of robust documentation undermines our efforts to understand physician prescribing patterns and curtails our ability to stem overprescribing.”

    The study also showed that 24% of youth who appeared with an opioid use disorder did not have a prescription to a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) drug to control their cravings.

    Drugs like buprenorphine and methadone are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of opioid use disorder.

    “In this multistate study of addiction treatment and retention in care, we found that three-quarters of youths diagnosed with opioid use disorder received treatment within three months,” researchers wrote in JAMA Pediatrics. “However, most treatment included behavioral health services only, and fewer than one of four youths received timely buprenorphine, naltrexone or methadone treatment.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • OxyContin No Longer Covered By Some Insurers

    OxyContin No Longer Covered By Some Insurers

    “This is a whack-a-mole solution… I don’t believe we should be isolating one category of opioid versus another,” said one expert.

    Some insurers are taking a rather bold stand against the opioid crisis by refusing coverage of OxyContin, a popular brand-name opioid painkiller. 

    The decision, according to the Houston Chronicle, has drawn controversy as some people question whether refusing to cover one specific medication will really make a difference. 

    “This is a whack-a-mole solution,” James Langabeer, professor of emergency medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, told the Chronicle. “On the one hand, it’s good that the insurance industry is weighing in, but I don’t believe we should be isolating one category of opioid versus another.”

    OxyContin, a brand name for oxycodone, is manufactured by Purdue Pharma, a company that has faced a slew of federal lawsuits for its alleged role in fueling the current opioid crisis.

    One concern, Langabeer says, is that denying access to OxyContin won’t necessarily force individuals to stop abusing opioids. In fact, he says, some may even begin using heroin instead, as it’s cheaper and more accessible.

    The Chronicle reports that last week, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee announced that it will discontinue coverage at the start of 2019, stating it was “drawing a line that we will not continue to pay for this.”

    Previously, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare also announced the same. 

    A Cigna spokeswoman told the Chronicle via email that Cigna will consider covering the medication in some situations if a doctor feels it is “medically necessary.” She added that those using the medication for hospice care or cancer treatment will be allowed to continue use.

    UnitedHealthcare ceased to cover OxyContin in employer-sponsored plans beginning January 2017, according to the Chronicle.

    “There are therapeutically equivalent, covered alternatives that can be used for pain indications,” a spokesman for UnitedHealthcare told the Chronicle via email.

    Cigna, as well as insurer Florida Blue, will be replacing OxyContin with Xtampza, which they claim is more difficult to abuse. 

    Purdue Pharma has not been silent as insurance companies have rolled out these decisions. The company, according to the Chronicle, argues that it has been working to make the medication harder to abuse. It has also accused insurers of supporting its competitors for “financial gain.”

    “These recent decisions by insurance companies limit prescribers’ options to help address the opioid crisis,” a company spokesman told the Chronicle via email. “Unfortunately, these decisions appear to be more about pharmaceutical rebates.”

    Katharine Neill Harris, a fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy, tells the Chronicle that she has mixed feelings about the involvement of insurers. 

    “They do have a role and I don’t think they have done enough yet,” she said. “The easiest way to say we’re doing something is by stopping covering a drug.”

    For Harris, a better alternative is for insurers and doctors to look into long-term solutions for chronic pain, such as physical therapy.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Harm Reduction Program Offers Cannabis As Alternative To Hard Drugs

    Harm Reduction Program Offers Cannabis As Alternative To Hard Drugs

    The Canadian program also offers free fentanyl testing strips and naloxone training.

    A Canadian harm reduction program is hitting the local opioid addiction crisis from a unique angle—by providing cannabis at little to no cost as an alternative to street drugs.

    The High Hopes Foundation, based in Vancouver, Canada—also home to North America’s first legal supervised injection site (SIF)—is the country’s first “full-time cannabis harm reduction program,” CTV News reports.

    While this isn’t the first recovery program to feature cannabis as a treatment, it’s still a rather novel idea that some consider controversial. But Sarah Blyth, president of High Hopes, says the program is a realistic approach to attacking the most potent addictions.

    “It’s not always possible for people to just completely come off all drugs, because they’ve got trauma. They have pain. They need something,” Blyth said last August, according to CBC. “Opiates may not be the best option for everyone so we’re trying to give them the options we have available.”

    High Hopes offers free or low-cost cannabis and CBD oils to people trying to wean off drugs like opioids, which have been a big problem in Canada as well.

    According to CTV News, nearly 4,000 Canadians died of opioid overdose in 2017; about 1,400 of them were in British Columbia, the province that Vancouver resides in.

    The foundation also offers free fentanyl testing strips and naloxone training. According to Blyth, the majority of illicit drug samples analyzed by the Vancouver Overdose Prevention Society tested positive for fentanyl, which raises the risk of overdose.

    The cannabis program, established last year, started out by collecting cannabis donations from registered patients or dispensaries. Once Canada’s marijuana legalization law goes into effect this October, perhaps High Hopes will have an easier time procuring legal cannabis.

    “What we are doing is not fully legal but we see it helps and we are desperate to help people. Watching people die isn’t okay,” said Blyth.

    The program’s goal is to give people with addictions an alternative to using potentially dangerous street drugs. Blyth noted that many are just seeking relief for pain, anxiety or inflammation. “It gives them a way to have an alternative to the drugs that they’re getting on the street,” said Blyth, who is also the founder of the Overdose Prevention Society. “It’s safe, it can reduce pain.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Bill Targeting Opioids Sent By Mail Up For Senate Vote

    Bill Targeting Opioids Sent By Mail Up For Senate Vote

    The STOP Act will require the U.S. Postal Service to collect electronic data on packages being shipped into the country.

    The Senate will likely pass a bill this week that aims to reduce the number of fentanyl shipments coming into the country via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). 

    The STOP Act, which stands for Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention, will require the postal service to collect electronic data on packages being shipped into the country, including the sender’s and recipient’s addresses and the contents as described by the sender.

    Right now, only private courier services like FedEx, UPS and DHL require this information, which means that people can send opioids through the postal service and be virtually untraceable. 

    Illicit fentanyl can be easily made in China and shipped to the United States, since a small volume is immensely powerful and profitable. 

    “We are being overrun with fentanyl,” Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who led an 18-month study of illegal imports, told the New York Times. “It is 50 times more powerful than heroin. It is very inexpensive. It is coming primarily from China and coming primarily through our U.S. Postal Service, if you can believe it.”

    In addition to requiring that the postal service gather additional information on packages, the bill would make is possible for the government to levy fines to the postal service if it does not comply. The postal service would also have the authority to block or destroy packages that have not been properly identified.

    Right now, the postal service must “obtain a warrant to inspect the contents of suspect parcels,” according to William Siemer, acting deputy inspector general of USPS, who testified before Congress this year.

    President Trump supports the measures, taking to Twitter to voice his enthusiasm. 

    “It is outrageous that Poisonous Synthetic Heroin Fentanyl comes pouring into the U.S. Postal System from China,” he wrote last month in a tweet. “We can, and must, END THIS NOW! The Senate should pass the STOP ACT—and firmly STOP this poison from killing our children and destroying our country.”

    The STOP Act has been languishing after it was introduced nearly 18 months ago, allowing shipments of opioids to continue. However, the House passed a similar initiative over the summer, prompting the Senate to move on the issue.

    In addition to addressing the dangers of opioid shipments, the bill would also expand access to treatment for infants born dependent on opioids, implement more stringent packaging requirements for some medications, and accelerate research into non-addictive painkillers that could potentially replace opioids. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA Cracks Down On Top E-Cig Brands To Curb Teen Vaping Epidemic

    FDA Cracks Down On Top E-Cig Brands To Curb Teen Vaping Epidemic

    Around 1,300 warning letters have been sent to retailers of e-cigarettes found to be illegally selling e-cigarette products to minors.

    The Food and Drug Administration, concerned about the rising numbers of teenagers who “vape,” is cracking down on major e-cigarette brands to try and stop this trend.

    In a press release issued on Wednesday (Sept. 12), the FDA announced that it is requesting major brands—JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu, and Logic—to submit plans to “immediately and substantially reverse these trends” of young people vaping.

    If they do not comply within 60 days, the agency “may require the companies to revise their sales and marketing practices, to stop distributing products to retailers who sell to kids and to stop selling some or all of their flavored e-cigarette products until they clear the application process,” according to CNBC.

    The latest crackdown is the result of a nationwide undercover sweep over the summer. Since then, 1,300 warning letters have been sent to retailers of e-cigarettes found to be illegally selling e-cigarette products to minors.

    The vast majority of the violations were for the illegal sale of JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu and Logic—which account for over 97% of the U.S. e-cigarette market.

    Initially, e-cigarettes were touted as a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes for people who want to quit. But growing use among young people is now a concern for the FDA.

    “In enabling a path for e-cigarettes to offer a potentially lower-risk alternative for adult smokers, we won’t allow the current trends in youth access and use to continue, even if it means putting limits in place that reduce adult uptake of these products,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in the press release.

    “We see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion, and we must adjust certain aspects of our comprehensive strategy to stem this clear and present danger,” Gottlieb declared, going on to say that promoting smoking cessation can’t come “at the expense of kids.”

    “We cannot allow a whole new generation to become addicted to nicotine,” he added.

    In the coming weeks, the FDA said it will take additional action under its Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan, and ramp up enforcement of the illegal sale of these products to kids.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Surge In K2 Overdoses Worries Brooklyn's Community Leaders

    Surge In K2 Overdoses Worries Brooklyn's Community Leaders

    “We’ve seen this area be an epicenter for K2. Whether it’s a bodega or whether it’s a crime syndicate. It will not be allowed in this community.”

    After five individuals were hospitalized in the same evening for allegedly overdosing on synthetic marijuana community leaders and law enforcement in Brooklyn, New York announced a call for action to rein in the borough’s ongoing problems with use of the drug.

    Representatives from the City Council praised efforts by the New York Police Department (NYPD) for focusing their efforts on distribution rather than users, which has resulted in the closure of several bodegas that sell the drug – also known as spice or K2 – but noted that greater efforts to provide education, fair housing and treatment could make more lasting changes.

    The overdoses that prompted the community response all took place in the morning of September 8, 2018, when five men overdosed on the same corner in the Bushwick neighborhood – an area dubbed “Zombieland” by residents because of the high incidence of K2 use there.

    All five individuals, whom neighbors said had used synthetic marijuana, were listed in stable condition after being hospitalized; more than 100 people overdosed in a single weekend at that corner in May of 2018.

    Speaking on September 10, 2018 in front of a bodega that had been closed by NYPD for selling synthetic marijuana, City Council member Robert Cornegy told the assembled crowd that while police efforts have curbed the availability of the drug and reduced the sheer number of overdoses, five was still a “horrible number,” as High Times noted, and that more work was necessary to combat the K2 problem.

    “We’ve seen this area be an epicenter for K2,” he said. “Whether it’s a bodega, whether it’s an individual or whether it’s a crime syndicate. It will not be allowed in this community.”

    Cornegy voiced appreciation for the collaborative efforts between community leaders, local officials and the police, which he said was the “first time” all three groups had worked together on such a borough-wide issue. He also expressed gratitude for police efforts to halt the spread of K2 by targeting bodegas that sold the drug, and for focusing their efforts on distributors instead of those who use it.

    Information and increased resources were cited as a possible means of breaking the cycle of K2 abuse in Brooklyn. “Until we have an education system that allows people to achieve the highest in education, and where they can feel comfortable in affordable housing, you are going to have this kind of behavior,” Cornegy told the crowd.

    View the original article at thefix.com