Sage Stallone Was not an addict

By SHEILA MARIKAR (@SheilaYM)
July 19, 2012




Authorities do not believe Sage Stallone was a drug addict, a source familiar with the case told ABC News, in part, because his weight did not indicate drug addiction.

At the time of his death last Friday, Stallone was 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighed 188 pounds, and wasn't the rail-thin figure often associated with addiction.

The family of the 36-year-old actor and son of action-star Sylvester Stallone met with the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office Tuesday and expressed worry that Sage Stallone may have been overmedicated before his death. The meeting focused on the status of the investigation.

The Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-homicide division had been brought into the investigation, but officials said it remained primarily a coroner's investigation and that there were no signs of foul play.

Sage Stallone's mother had hinted at the pain her son was in in the weeks before he died after undergoing extensive dental surgery.

Sasha Czack, Sylvester Stallone's first wife, told the New York Post that her 36-year-old son had been on pain pills when he died after having had five teeth pulled. The extractions took place two weeks before he was found dead in his Los Angeles-area apartment Friday.


Sylvester Stallone released a new statement Monday, calling for an end to "the speculation and questionable reporting" about his son's death.
It could take weeks to learn Sage Stallone's official cause of death. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner said Sunday that the results of the 36-year-old actor's toxicology tests would not be known for approximately six weeks. An autopsy was completedSunday.
When the Post asked whether he was taking painkillers afterward, she said, "Wouldn't you be?"Czack said she advised him not to get the surgery, telling the Post, "I've heard about people dying having multiple procedures done to your mouth. Do not have more than one tooth [pulled]."

"When a parent loses a child there is no greater pain," he said in a statement to TMZ. "Therefore, I am imploring people to respect my talented son's memory and feel compassion for his loving mother, Sasha. This agonizing loss will be felt for the rest of our lives. Sage was our first child and the center of our universe, and I am humbly begging for all to have my son's memory and soul left in peace."

On Sunday, Sage Stallone's attorney said his client "never had any serious health problems" and no "history of drug or alcohol abuse."

"Sage was a really young, very sensitive, and very talented kid," attorney George Braunstein told People magazine. "There has been no indication that there was anything wrong in his life."

Sage Stallone's body was found by a housekeeper, who called authorities. While there was no suicide note found at the scene, authorities said there were bottles of prescription drugs.

Sage Stallone played Rocky Balboa's son in "Rocky 5" in 1990 and appeared in the movie "Daylight" with his father. He also directed the 2006 short film "Vic."

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Bill Would Require Most Painkillers to Have Safeguards to Prevent Abuse

By Join Together Staff | July 19, 2012 | 3 Comments | Filed in Legislation,Prescription Drugs & Prevention


A bill to be introduced Thursday in the U.S. House would require most painkillers to have safeguards to prevent abuse, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Under the provisions of the bill, most prescription painkillers would have some form of abuse deterrence, such as being more difficult to crush or inject. The exact details of how drug manufacturers could meet the new standards are vague, the article notes. The bill does not set time lines for compliance.

If pain medications did not adopt the safety features outlined in the bill, they would be removed from the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approved list of generic drugs. While several brand-name painkillers, such as OxyContin and Opana, have tamper-resistant formulations, most generic painkillers do not.

Patents for OxyContin and Opana are set to expire in 2013. The FDA has not yet ruled whether abuse-deterrent features will be required on the generic versions of those drugs.

“This bill should help protect first-time users and younger people who gain access through relatives or their own family’s medicine cabinets,” the measure’s lead sponsor, Rep. Bill Keating of Massachusetts, told the newspaper. Congress is “understanding the scope of this and looking at it as a major public health epidemic,” he added.

He said there is broad bipartisan support in the House for the measure. The bill’s cosponsors are Republicans Mary Bono Mack of California and Hal Rogers of Kentucky, and Democrat Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts.

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association opposes the bill. “The proposed legislation would be detrimental to patients and could potentially remove FDA-approved safe and effective generic medicines from those who rely on them,” said the group’s president, Ralph G. Neas. “Addressing prescription-drug abuse is of utmost importance to the generic pharmaceutical industry. Policy makers should let the medical evidence guide actions in addressing this critical issue.”

NJ Governor Signs Measure Requiring Treatment for Low-Level Drug Offenders

By Join Together Staff | July 20, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed in Community Related, Drugs, Legal, Legislation & Treatment

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Thursday signed a measure that requires treatment for low-level drug offenders who otherwise would go to prison, according to The Star-Ledger.

The law establishes a $2.5 million pilot program that will expand drug courts in three New Jersey counties. It also expands the types of crimes that make inmates eligible for drug court, which will now be mandatory for those inmates. The article notes drug court programs require inmates to undergo intensive outpatient or inpatient treatment. In order to qualify, inmates must have a drug addiction, be receptive to treatment and be deemed able to be helped by treatment. The inmates appear regularly before judges, who determine whether they are meeting the terms of the five-year program.

“When I outlined this proposal six months ago, I made it clear that our commitment to our most vulnerable was not just a matter of dollars and cents, it was about reclaiming lives. No life is disposable and every life can be redeemed, but not if we ignore them,” Governor Christie said in a news release. “Once again by putting people before partisanship, we are providing optimism and hope to individuals and families torn apart by addiction. Once fully phased in over five years, this program will provide mandatory drug treatment to appropriate offenders who are not a threat to society and who suffer from the disease of addiction—redeeming lives and healing families.”

New Jersey spends $42,000 to house an inmate for one year, compared with $11,300 for drug courts, according to the newspaper. Governor Christie wanted inmates in every county to qualify for mandatory drug treatment, but Democratic legislators objected to the cost. The governor agreed to their suggestion of a five-year period to phase in the program to all counties, to allow the state time to fully fund the program, while giving private treatment facilities time to expand.

THE PARTNERSHIP OF DRUGFREE NEW BILINGUAL RESOURCES

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As a Hispanic mother of two children, I recognize the need to empower Hispanic parents and grandparents to take action in preventing teen substance abuse. That’s why we just launched new, online tools for Hispanic parents and families at “Habla Con Tus Hijos.” This free, bilingual (Spanish/English) resource offers help to Latino parents who want to prevent their children from abusing drugs and alcohol.

Clear, understandable content is brought to life with customized checklists, how-to guides and videos featuring Hispanic parents and experts touching on various aspects of substance abuse for those who are at different stages in raising their children.

I sat down with Telemundo television network to tell them more about this unique resource – take a look at the extensive news coverage that helped us reach more families in the Hispanic community.

I also spent time talking directly with Latino parents on Univision Radio’s popular, live call-in program, "The Doctora Isabel Show,” where we discussed new research showing that rates of substance abuse among Hispanic teens are at much higher levels than those of teens from other ethnic groups.

Working together, we can protect our children from the dangers of drugs and alcohol abuse. Please tell a friend about “Habla Con Tus Hijos” today.

Thank you,

Monica Liriano
Associate Director, Consumer Research & Multicultural Programs
The Partnership at Drugfree.org

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Commentary: Illegal Online Pharmacies: A Potentially Fatal Threat to Consumers

By Marjorie Clifton | July 20, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed in Community Related & Prescription Drugs


Over 96% of websites claiming to sell prescription medications are out of compliance with U.S. pharmacy laws and practice standards—a statistic that may come as a surprise to the average American consumer.[1] While this statistic may seem irrelevant to Americans who have never considered using the Internet to purchase products such as antibiotics or allergy medications, prescription drugs are among the most sought after e-commerce products — the 13th most purchased product online behind categories such as furniture, baby products and household supplies.

Getting a prescription filled online is not necessarily bad; it can be convenient and sometimes cheaper. However, there are important factors to consider when purchasing pharmaceuticals over the Internet: (a) the sellers of online medications are atypical; (b) medicine from unsafe sources can be toxic; and (c) the criminal networks behind these websites don’t care about your health – only your money. The newly formed Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) is working hard to address all three factors, and underscoring the importance of knowing who you are buying from.

While most consumers think they can spot a “good” versus a “bad” pharmacy website, they are often indistinguishable. Internet-based prescription drug dealers (or “illegitimate online drug sellers”) are very good at mimicking legitimate online pharmacies — even going so far as to display forged, seemingly authentic pharmacy licenses on their websites — which is why intuition alone is not enough. Most importantly, one should know a legitimate online pharmacy will always require a valid prescription. This means a prescription obtained by a practitioner who has examined the patient at some point. Illegitimate online drug sellers may require a prescription, but source the drugs from unverified supply chains, unregulated for safety or authenticity. Alarmingly, some physicians are not trained to make this distinction and unknowingly promote illegitimate online drug sellers to patients.

So who buys medication online? Although the “typical” online medication buyer is over the age of 55, there are growing numbers of young adults buying online without a prescription. 1 in 6 American adults, approximately 36 million people, are estimated to have bought medication online without a valid prescription.[2] This can be a deadly or life-altering prospect. Craig Schmidt, a 30-year-old plastics salesman, purchased Xanax (an anxiety drug) and Ultram (a pain drug) from an online pharmacy without ever seeing or speaking to the doctor that prescribed the medications. The Xanax tablets that Schmidt received contained quadruple the active ingredient that a doctor would prescribe. As a result of this overdose, Schmidt nearly died and has been left permanently impaired with widespread brain damage that inhibits him from driving or even walking without stumbling.[3] Unfortunately, stories like Craig Schmidt’s are not as uncommon as one would hope.

In 2010, the U.S. market alone accounted for an estimated $75 billion in sales for counterfeit drug makers; a lucrative prospect for criminal networks. There has also been a rising trend of malware appearing on illegal pharmacy sites – designed to steal your information and used for credit card or identity theft. GoDaddy.com took action on 47,000 illegal pharmaceutical sites last year alone and 27,000 of them contained malware.

How can this problem be fixed? The prevalence of illegal online drug sellers has made it virtually impossible for the law enforcement community to address the problem alone. So, in late 2010, CSIP was created to provide a first-ever private sector solution, and among the first public-private partnerships, formed to protect consumers from rogue Internet pharmacies. The mission of the organization is four fold: to educate consumers about the threat of illegal pharmacies, to work with law enforcement to eliminate the criminal networks, to share information among companies about illegal sites and to aid in building a “white list” of safe sites.

Currently, CSIP members include 11 corporations who are part of the Internet ecosystem. These companies will be announcing their partnership with U.S. Government agencies to tackle the problem of illegal online drug sellers at the White House on July 23, 2012. The event will kick off CSIP’s public education campaign, which will include a website with: a URL checker where consumers can confirm the legitimacy of online pharmacy websites, search engine advertising and public service announcement videos.

To learn more, visit the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies’ website at www.safemedsonline.org.

Marjorie Clifton, Executive Director, Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies