DEA Revokes Licenses to Dispense Controlled Substances for Two CVS Pharmacies

By Join Together Staff | September 13, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inCommunity Related, Government, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has revoked the licenses to dispense controlled substances for two CVS pharmacies in Florida, after accusing them of dispensing excessive amounts of oxycodone.

Earlier this year, the DEA said the two pharmacies were “filling prescriptions far in excess of the legitimate needs of its customers.” While the average pharmacy in the United States in 2011 ordered approximately 69,000 oxycodone dosage units, these two pharmacies, located about 5.5 miles apart, together ordered more than three million dosage units during the same year, according to the DEA.

USA Today reports that in an administrative hearing in April, CVS Vice President Will Abbott said the company had retrained its pharmacists, and cut 21 physicians who prescribed large amounts of oxycodone. According to the DEA, the company did not take those steps until after the agency served warrants as part of an investigation of the stores.

“These actions are part of the DEA Miami Field Division’s continuing efforts to combat the state’s prescription drug abuse epidemic and its role as a major source of diverted pharmaceutical drugs to other states,” the DEA said in a news release.

FRAT

The First Responders Addiction Treatment Program reaching out to police, firefighters, emergency personnel and combat veterans.

Alcoholism or other dependencies complicate the stress and physical and emotional trauma of dealing with life-threatening situations. Addiction is no stranger to "those who go in first."

A dependency might actually destroy a person's health, family life and career. On top of that, an individual also has to bear the unfair stigma that the addicted person "doesn't have enough will power," or "made the wrong choices." But we know (as does all of the medical community) that addiction is a disease with a medical and behavioral basis, requiring care, understanding and professional treatment.


Post-traumatic stress disorder is a major challenge for vets and responders. Prescribed pain medication can easily lead to dependency. There are so many factors, influences, and potential negative results. And addiction can also lead to suicide as an "option." (Police officers are found to be twice as likely as the general population to take this desperate course.)

Treatment works.Get help NOW for yourself, loved one, or somebody on the job.Meet the experienced program managers.



FRAT is based at Livengrin Foundation, founded in 1966 as a nonprofit treatment center in Bensalem, PA (outside Philadelphia). Livengrin provides a complete range of services for alcoholism and drug dependency, at a wooded rehab campus and six outpatient locations throughout the region. More than 100,000 people have come through its doors to begin a journey to recovery. Visit Livengrin

“Rally for Recovery!” to Take Place This Weekend Around U.S. and U.K.

By Join Together Staff | September 12, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inRecovery

Tens of thousands of people are expected to participate in “Rally for Recovery!” on Saturday, September 15, as part of Recovery Month. Events in the United States and the United Kingdom will include rallies, marches, runs and walks.

Events in Detroit, Michigan; Hartford, Connecticut; and Dublin, Ireland will be streamed live. Participants will call for an end to discriminatory policies, and for support for people seeking or in addiction recovery.

“Over 20 million Americans are in long-term recovery from addiction, benefiting themselves, their families and communities,” said Dona Dmitrovic, Chair of the Board of Directors of Faces & Voices of Recovery, which is coordinating the events. “We thank everyone who’s standing up for recovery, offering hope and opportunity for people who still need help to recover.”

Participants in the sixth annual Rally for Recovery! will conduct voter registration and education, contact members of Congress about how recovery saves health care dollars and lives, and share their recovery stories.

Commentary: Medical Marijuana – Time for Parents to Step In

By TRI Ken Winters PhD and Amelia Arria PhD | September 11, 2012 | 3 Comments | Filed in Drugs, Legislation & Parenting


To paraphrase a former First Lady, “What goes on in the White House is never as important as what goes on in your house.”

As the evidence mounts of the negative effects of medical marijuana laws in various states, it’s even more important for parents to recognize that marijuana needs to be on their parenting radar screen.

A Colorado study shows some of these impacts, where nearly 74 percent of a sample of teenagers receiving addiction treatment in that state told researchers they used medical marijuana that was recommended for someone else.

This news should be of no surprise because increased availability of marijuana is highly associated with increased use. Studies have shown that marijuana is not a safe, benign drug. It’s a highly addictive drug. When smoked it contributes to pulmonary damage. It significantly impairs judgment, and is associated with poor performance in school. Its use has also been linked to contributions to impairment on important measures of life achievement, including physical and mental health, cognitive abilities, social life and career status.

Marijuana is a drug that’s widely used by teens and young adults. Among teens aged 12 to 17, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, after several years of declines, current marijuana use increased in 2009 and again in 2010, to 7.4 percent of the population. Among young adults aged 18 to 25, almost 30 percent used marijuana in the past year, with almost 6.3 million young adult users in the past month.

Marijuana use is now more prevalent among teens than cigarette smoking. Marijuana smoke contains 50-70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke. Moreover, the typical weed available to adolescents these days is so much more potent compared to the marijuana used by prior generations. This increased potency is particularly concerning in light of recent scientific findings that marijuana use deleteriously affects brain development, particularly in areas related to mood, reward, and learning.

Medical marijuana laws have made parents’ jobs tougher, no doubt about it. Although the provisions of the statutes differ, as of early July medical marijuana statutes had been signed into law in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

Parents are a mighty lobbying force – at the local, state and national levels – particularly when they act in groups. We are not suggesting that parents shouldn’t try to influence government at any one of these levels.

But because governments move slowly and not always in everyone’s best interests, parents can (and should) influence what goes on in their households. Science will continue to inform the public and seek solutions. But as the constant in a child’s life – with protective instincts that can be brought out by science but not replaced – it’s the parents who are the first lines of defense for their children.

Ken C. Winters, PhD & Amelia Arria, PhD

Dr. Winters is the Associate Director, Dr. Arria the Scientific Director, of the Parents Translational Research Center (PTRC) of the Philadelphia-based Treatment Research Institute. The PTRC is a NIDA-funded Center dedicated to developing practical, science-based tools for parents and other caregivers faced with challenges related to adolescent substance abuse.

Study Finds Active Participation in AA Aids in Long-Term Recovery

By Join Together Staff | September 10, 2012 | 2 Comments | Filed in Alcohol,Recovery, Research & Treatment


Recovering alcoholics who help others in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) have better outcomes themselves, a new study concludes. Helping others increases the amount of time a person stays sober, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

The findings come from a 10-year study, PsychCentral.com reports. The researchers examined the effects of Alcoholics Anonymous-related Helping (AAH). “The AAH findings suggest the importance of getting active in service, which can be in a committed 2-month AA service position or as simple as sharing one’s personal experience in recovery to another fellow sufferer,” lead researcher Maria Pagano said in a news release.

She found that participants engaged in AAH attended more meetings and did more step-work than those who did not help others. Pagano noted that “being interested in others keeps you more connected to your program and pulls you out of the vicious cycle of extreme self-preoccupation that is a posited root of addiction.”

The findings appear in the journal Substance Abuse.

Emergency Rooms Learning to Deal with Teens, Young Adults on Designer Drugs

By Join Together Staff | September 7, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inDrugs, Young Adults & Youth

Emergency room doctors are learning the signs of designer drug use in teens and young adults as the substances continue to grow in popularity, The Miami Herald reports.

Signs that someone has been using “bath salts,” or synthetic marijuana, known as “K2” or “Spice,” include a glassy look, or psychotic behavior, such as acting as if they are seeing things or hearing voices, according to Dr. Peter Antevy, an emergency room doctor at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida.

“These don’t show up on any drug tests, unfortunately,” Antevy told the newspaper. “And kids don’t like to admit they’ve taken them, especially if they’re in front of their parents. The only way I know is by asking, simply, ‘Are you on K2? Are you taking Spice?’ They’ll look at me and say, ‘Yes.’?”

The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported 3,821 calls regarding synthetic marijuana and 2,078 calls regarding bath salts as of July 31of this year.

The article notes the long-term effects of these drugs have not been fully studied. This research is especially difficult to conduct, because drug makers are continually changing the chemical makeup of the substances to evade laws banning them. “They’re able to change one molecule on this drug and then you can call it something different, so the regulators can’t disallow them,” Antevy said. “They’re skirting the law.”

In July, President Obama signed legislation that bans synthetic drugs. Synthetic drugs are readily available online. The law outlaws sales of synthetic drugs by both retail stores and online retailers.

In December, the National Institute on Drug Abuse released new information indicating that one in nine high school seniors had used Spice or K2 over the past year, making synthetic marijuana the second most frequently used illicit drug, after marijuana, among high school seniors.