“the agency does not concur”

http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=11165

http://www.wesh.com/news/second-federal-report-critical-of-dea-actions-with-pharmacies/34427170

Second federal report critical of DEA actions with pharmacies

62% of pharmacies are facing quotas set by wholesalers.

35% of doctors had their prescriptions denied or delayed.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report is for a time frame ending in June 2013, so I would think that 2 years later, these statistics have increased.  My educated guess is that 85% of pharmacies have quotas set by wholesalers, with the remaining 15% mainly consisting of hospitals.  And I would guess that more like 50% of doctors have had their prescriptions denied or delayed, but keep in mind that these restrictions are mostly for pain doctors, and they’re a small percentage of all doctors that prescribe certain medications targeted by the DEA.

Click to access 668252.pdf

DRUG SHORTAGES
Better Management of the Quota Process for Controlled Substances Needed; Coordination between DEA and FDA Should Be Improved

February 2015

Shortages of prescription drugs containing controlled substances have increased sharply in recent years; of the 168 shortages reported from January 2001 through June 2013, nearly 70 percent began after 2007. Such shortages lasted for nearly a year, on average. Additionally, many shortages involved generic pain relievers and drugs where there was only one manufacturer…

For example, DEA and FDA disagree about what constitutes a shortage. DEA officials also said that they do not believe FDA appropriately validates or investigates the shortage information it posts on its website and that posting this information encourages manufacturers to falsely report shortages to obtain additional quota.

Is the DEA showing signs of paranoia?

However, FDA reports that it takes steps to investigate and confirm the shortages on its website. Given such barriers to coordination, DEA and FDA cannot effectively act to prevent or alleviate shortages…

Page 1

February 2, 2015

The Honorable Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate
The Honorable Sheldon Whitehouse
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate

In the last decade, shortages of prescription drugs have increased nationwide, preventing providers and patients from accessing medications that are essential for treatment. Some shortages involve drugs that contain controlled substances, such as narcotics, stimulants, and sedatives, which play an important role in health care…

http://www.pharmacist.com/dea-can-improve-communications-pharmacists-manufacturers-says-gao

(July 28, 2015) DEA can improve communications with pharmacists, manufacturers, says GAO

A report released by the Government Accountability Office on Monday concluded that the lack of effective communications between DEA and both chain pharmacy headquarters and pharmaceutical distributors has affected legitimate access to analgesics. Both community pharmacies and distributors still request improved guidance and a greater degree of interaction with DEA, though the agency does not concur, the report noted…

GAO’s survey results also showed that more than 50% of DEA registrants have changed certain business practices as a result of DEA enforcement actions or the business climate these actions may have created. Many individual pharmacies (52 of 84) and community pharmacy corporate offices (18 of 29) reported that these stricter limits have limited, to a “great” or “moderate extent,” their ability to supply drugs to those with legitimate needs.

Script needed for decongestants?

http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=11155

http://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_cfa680d1-5178-5237-b732-e63d66e17473.html?mode=story

In order to do that, the committee wants local pharmacists to consult with customers and determine their reasons for purchasing pseudoephedrine-based cold medicines, such as Sudafed, said Harry Webb, owner of Webb’s Family Pharmacy. Lawmakers, businesspersons, law enforcement and educators joined Webb to create the Fulton County Citizen Action Committee… The strategy is based off a 2011 Arkansas law that says pharmacists must make a “professional determination” of a patient’s medical need in order to sell the drugs…

Mississippi also passed a law in 2010 to require cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine be dispensed by prescription. The state’s reported meth labs dropped from 914 labs seized in 2010 to just two in 2014.

“The simple solution is just getting the pharmacists involved in the transaction to know the patient who’s asking for it and then to make a determination if they’re using it for a legitimate reason,” Webb said.

Webb said the committee has reached out to local pharmacies and received positive feedback, including CVS, Kroger, Wal-Mart and Walgreens. All of the stores will take action to start to legitimize sales in the county.

Pharmacists at Webb’s two Fulton County stores already restrict sales of drugs such as Sudafed to only regular pharmacy customers.

Time to Stretch

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3180025/Strong-beautiful-Tennis-champion-Serena-Williams-does-splits-mid-air-hits-body-shaming-critics.html

Serena Williams has hit back at body-shaming critics by showing off her fit figure.
The American tennis champion, 33, shared a picture of herself doing the splits in mid-air to Instagram on Thursday with the inspiring message: ‘strong is beautiful’…

“Mental ‘illnesses’ have no validity”

http://gentlementalannie.com/2015/07/29/stigma-about-mental-illness-causes-people-to-refuse-to-seek-diagnosis-and-treatment/

bpdtransformation says:
July 29, 2015 at 3:41 pm
Perhaps the answer is to stop diagnosing people. Mental “illnesses” have no validity and reliability: pseudo-illnesses like bipolar and borderline PD have no proven biological or genetic basis or cause, and cannot be reliably identified by different psychiatrists. If we understood people’s “mental illnesses” as what they are: individualized problems in adapting to life challenges, or severe difficulties in handling feelings and relationships, rather than as false “illnesses”, I feel the stigma would be much less.
And unfortunately, in America, seeking help for a mental illness can perversely lead to a worse outcome, because being labeled as mentally ill and given too much long-term medication can cause the poor outcomes people fear.

https://bpdtransformation.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/21-the-nightmare-of-psychiatric-hospitalization-in-america/

“Mood disorders are biologically-based mental illnesses”, the psychiatrist announced authoritatively, surveying the 15 young-adult patients in front of him. “But while these illnesses might be biological, it doesn’t mean you can’t manage them effectively.”

My mind reacted explosively: How the fuck could you possibly know this, you pathetic excuse for a mental health “professional”? What actual evidence do you have?!

I desperately wanted to shout at him. But I remained silent, slouching backward in my chair in the mental hospital’s group therapy room.

After concocting a suicide plan that almost succeeded, I had been involuntarily committed to this hospital for my own protection. But I was now becoming a captive of a different kind: a prisoner of psychiatry’s hopeless ideology.

This is the story of my time in a mental hospital – what it taught me about myself, about my fellow human beings with “mental illnesses”, and about the web of lies that is American psychiatry…

When the psychiatrist said that BPD could not be cured, I felt furious. If I had a gun, I would have liked to shoot him right there and then. I imagined how satisfying it would be to put a bullet through his forehead, see his chair topple over onto the ground, the blood spilling everywhere, and for there to be one less idiot psychiatrist able to medicate patients into oblivion. It made me think of the opening scene in the movie Casino Royale…

This experience influenced my thinking about BPD and other so-called “mental illnesses” being invalid diagnoses…

That’s weird, my experience in a psychiatric hospital actually convinced me that depression and bipolar were real medical conditions.  It’s hard to deny something that’s staring right at you. I can imagine that some of the other patients had similar fantasies about shooting people who disagreed with them, just like you, Mr. Dantes.  In case you didn’t know, that could be considered abnormal.  Perhaps a sign of unresolved (and potentially explosive) anger issues.

Whether mental illness is under- or over-diagnosed is probably a good question, but to question its very existence seems odd, especially for someone who’s been diagnosed with bipolar. Is it fear, denial, shame, or all three?

Suicide is an extreme reaction, and considering the very strong will to live in our evolutionary chain, it’s also considered abnormal.  Do you think your suicidal ideation was something that is prevalent in the general population?  But it’s really just a symptom of a bigger problem, like drug addiction is usually a symptom of a mental health issue.

The brain is a marvelous organ, but it is negatively affected by many things. Violence and poverty are just two things that can change the way our brains work, and along with our DNA, create mental illness. And usually, it’s a life-long struggle to manage these conditions. Once your brain experiences bad things, there’s no going back. But just like with cancer, medications can bring about a type of remission.

It’s also weird how you allegedly advocate for less stigma about mental illness, yet you don’t believe it exists.  What is that, cognitive dissonance?

https://bpdtransformation.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/26-why-bpd-should-be-abolished-and-what-should-replace-it/

If a psychiatrist labels or has labeled you as BPD, or if the voice of people calling you borderline is stuck in your mind, I encourage you to tell them something like this:

“The BPD label you’ve called me is a simplistic checklist of distress factors, factors which anyone under stress for long enough can experience to different degrees. There are no reliable genes, brain-scans, or other biomarkers which can identify so-called BPD. In fact, BPD is in no way a reliable classification; it is an “illness” fabricated out of thin air without a basis in real science.
There is therefore no proof that I have an illness like you say, or that there is anything innately wrong with my brain; most likely, I am reacting in a perfectly logical way to the stresses I’ve gone through. There are other, better ways to understand my problems, and I do not accept the false label of BPD that you are putting onto me. If I get enough help, I can fully recover and live the life that I want.”

Say, Mr. Dantes, would you happen to be a Scientologist?