Fucked by the DEA once again

Thu, Nov 19, 2015 4:21 pm

To:  ODE.Quota@usdoj.gov, ODLP@usdoj.gov, deadiversionwebmaster@usdoj.gov, ElPasoSpecialAgentRecruiter@usdoj.gov, druginfo@fda.hhs.gov, pharmacy.board@state.nm.us, ben.kesner@state.nm.us, help@walmart.com, nmbme@state.nm.us, ray.kerins@bayer.com
Cc:  keder@pharmacytimes.com

From:  painkills2@aol.com

Re:  Annual limit on decongestants

Dear DEA, FDA, Walmart, Bayer, New Mexico Board of Pharmacy, and the New Mexico State Medical Board:

Today a Walmart pharmacy employee refused to sell me a box of Claritin-D. I’ve been taking allergy medicine for 20 years, but this was the first time I’ve heard about an annual limit. And I can’t find mention of an annual limit in the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005:

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/InformationbyDrugClass/ucm072423.htm

Since no one is able to purchase over the monthly limit throughout the year, I don’t understand how I could have met this alleged annual limit.

When I asked how I could appeal this decision, the Walmart pharmacy employee told me there was nothing I could do. Searching the internet for people I could contact about this problem was also a waste of time. (See, I can’t afford a phone, so phone numbers can’t help me, and email addresses are very difficult to find — no doubt a few recipients of this email will immediately delete it without a second thought.)

After two decades of treating my allergies with decongestants, I’m assuming my upcoming withdrawal is not going to be fun. But as a 30-year intractable pain patient, I know it can’t be any worse than the cold-turkey withdrawal from prescription medications that I was forced into when my doctor abandoned me.

And as someone who has suffered from constant pain for three decades, I can’t help but wish that this lack of allergy medicine might cause me to stop breathing while I sleep. Maybe I don’t need the right to die — the DEA is taking care of that for me.

The good news is that this cold-turkey detox may cure my dependence on decongestants. After all, at about $1.00 per pill, $2.00 per day, it’s an expensive addiction.

Johnna Stahl
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Also posted at painkills2.wordpress.com

http://www.pharmacytimes.com/product-news/bayer-faces-scrutiny-for-its-promotion-of-claritin-d

Beauty

“The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.” Anne Frank

“Things are beautiful if you love them.” Jean Anouilh

“If you can find beauty in others, you can find beauty within yourself.” Me

Photos taken in May and October, 2015.