Day: 02/08/2015

Study: Suffering at End of Life Getting Worse, Not Better

http://www.medpagetoday.com

The number of Americans experiencing pain in the last year of life actually increased by nearly 12% between 1998 and 2010, according to a study released Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. In addition, depression in the last year of life increased by more than 26%…

New/old threat to driving in New Mexico

Old threat:  http://forum.nmcannabisreview.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=157

Click to access New_Mexico-2015-HB120-Introduced.pdf

HOUSE BILL 120
52ND LEGISLATURE – STATE OF NEW MEXICO – FIRST SESSION, 2015
INTRODUCED BY: William “Bill” R. Rehm

B. It is unlawful for a person who is under the influence of any drug [to a degree that renders the person incapable of safely driving a vehicle] to drive a vehicle within this state.

D. It is unlawful for a person to drive a vehicle in this state if the person has the following amount or more of a controlled substance or metabolite in the person’s blood within three hours of driving the vehicle and the controlled substance or metabolite concentration results from consumption of a controlled substance before or while driving the vehicle:

(1) for amphetamine, one hundred nanograms per milliliter of blood;

(2) for cocaine, fifty nanograms per milliliter of blood;

(3) for cocaine metabolite, cocaethylene, fifty nanograms per milliliter of blood;

(4) for heroin, fifty nanograms per milliliter of blood;

(5) for heroin metabolite, morphine, fifty nanograms per milliliter of blood;

(6) for heroin metabolite, 6-monoacetylmorphine, ten nanograms per milliliter of blood;

(7) for the active compound in marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, two nanograms per milliliter of blood;

(8) for methamphetamine, one hundred nanograms per milliliter of blood; or

(9) for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, one hundred nanograms per milliliter of blood…

Is “heroin metabolites” the category for opioids?  And I don’t see categories that address prescription drugs like Xanax, buprenorphine, and anti-depressants, or new drugs, like synthetic marijuana.

SECTION 2. Section 66-8-110 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 35, Section 518, as amended) is amended to read: “66-8-110. USE OF TESTS IN CRIMINAL ACTIONS OR CIVIL ACTIONS–LEVELS OF INTOXICATION–MANDATORY CHARGING.–

A. The results of a test performed pursuant to the Implied Consent Act may be introduced into evidence in any civil action or criminal action arising out of the acts alleged to have been committed by the person tested for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs…

http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2015/01/12/3610438/two-oregon-players-suspended-for-national-championship-game-for-smoking-weed/

Harsh: Two Oregon Players Won’t Play In National Title Game Because They Were Caught Smoking Pot

There are also the NCAA’s thresholds for a positive test, which are far more strict than other sports leagues. The NCAA’s threshold for a positive is five nanograms of THC per millimeter of blood, according to Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel. That is three times stricter than the NFL’s old drug policy (15 nanograms), seven times more stringent than the NFL’s current policy, and even more harsh when compared to Major League Baseball’s (50 nanograms) and the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (150 nanograms) policies. As Thamel noted, the NCAA’s threshold is 10 times stricter than the 50 nanogram threshold used for commercial airline pilots…

What all pain clinics will look like in the future

11/22/2014, Experts say abuse of addiction drug suboxone has dangerous consequences

http://www.timesreporter.com/article/20141122/News/141129705

Atanasoff is one of the incorporators of a business called Addiction Outreach LTD, which has established six suboxone clinics in Pennsylvania and Ohio, one which is located in New Philadelphia.

Addiction Outreach operates differently than CMH. After patients are screened, a psychiatrist meets with them twice during their first month and then every 28 days — unless more time is required. During that time, they must submit to an observed urine screen, undergo a counseling appointment, and may be subject to random pill counts. He said his offices also correspond with pharmacies to ensure their patients aren’t abusing the medication.

Unlike CMH, Addiction Outreach doesn’t accept Medicaid or private insurance and patients pay cash or credit only…

1/22/2015, Did New Mexico Court Open ‘Pandora’s Bong’ With Nod to Pot for Worker?

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2015/01/22/354981.htm

His authorized healthcare provider was Dr. Anthony Reeve, who testified by deposition that his diagnosis of Maez included chronic back pain and that he treated him with medication for pain management.

Over the course of the worker’s treatment, Reeve testified he had injected Maez with Toradol and had prescribed Soma, Ultram, Sprix, Percocet, Lortab (oxycodone), and hydrocodone for pain…

Regardless of whether the worker requested treatment with medical marijuana, traditional pain management had failed and Reeve adopted a treatment plan based on medical marijuana, according to the court…

Brainy quotes on Impossible

“When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.”  William Safire

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might has well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”  J. K. Rowling

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”  Audrey Hepburn

“Post traumatic stress disorder starts out with nightmares, flashbacks and actually reliving the event. And this happens over and over and over and over in your mind. If you let it go on, it can become chronic and become hard if not impossible to treat.”  Dale Archer

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”  Nelson Mandela

“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.”  Amelia Earhart

“That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key.”  Elizabeth Wurtzel

“It’s practically impossible to look at a penguin and feel angry.”  Joe Moore

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”  JFK

“It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.”  Epictetus

“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”  Lewis Carroll

“It’s very liberating when you finally realize it’s impossible to make everyone like you.”  John Mayer

“I’m going to become the Pope next year. Nothing is impossible.”  Brenda Fassie