UPS Agrees to Settle Case Related to Illegal Internet Pharmacy Shipments

By Join Together Staff | April 1, 2013 | 1 Comment | Filed in Legal, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

United Parcel Service (UPS) has agreed to settle an investigation into online pharmacy shipments, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company will forfeit $40 million in payments it received from illicit online pharmacies, and will not be prosecuted.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California’s investigation of UPS was part of the government’s efforts to stop illegal sales of prescription painkillers, the newspaper notes.

UPS also will implement a compliance program designed to ensure that illegal online pharmacies will not be able to use the company’s services to distribute drugs. According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “UPS has cooperated fully with the investigation and has already taken steps to ensure that illegal Internet pharmacies can no longer use its services to ship drugs.”

“We are pleased with the steps UPS has taken to stop the use of its shipping services by illegal online pharmacies,” said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. “Good corporate citizens like UPS play an important role in halting the flow of illegal drugs that degrade our nation’s communities. We are hopeful that the leadership displayed by UPS through this compliance program will set the standard for the parcel delivery industry and will materially assist the federal government in its battle against illegal Internet pharmacies.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, UPS knew that Internet pharmacies were using its services to distribute controlled substances and prescription drugs without valid prescriptions, but did not implement procedures to close the shipping accounts of those pharmacies.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is also investigating FedEx over similar issues. FedEx was not part of the settlement announced last week.

Saturday, May 18: Breakfast With the Angels Applebees.wmv From 8:00 to 10:00 am, please join COA for a delicious flapjack breakfast at the Applebee's Restaurant on Rt. 33 in  Hamilton, NJ!  The modest price of $8 per person will entitle you to all the flapjacks, sausage, coffee and orange juice you can consume, all delivered by friendly volunteer Angels! This is an important fundraiser for COA, since COA receives $5.50 of each ticket. To watch a video of the last Breakfast with the Angels, click the video link on the left. To help us plan, please purchase your ticket/s in advance. To purchase your tickets online now, click here. Your name will be on a VIP list and your table will be waiting for you when you arrive. For online ticket purchasers only, one party will be chosen at random to receive their breakfast for free, and will be refunded their entire purchase up to 10 tickets.  Thursday, April 4: Volunteer Meeting Have some extra time? Want to make a difference? City of Angels needs you! We are now planning several major events for later in 2013 and need people to help with event planning, promotion, staffing and other critical tasks. Come to the volunteer meeting at 6:30 pm on Thursday, April 4 at the Dwier Center (392 Church Street, Groveville, NJ) and find out how you can get involved. Pizza from Family Nest Italian Restaurant will be served, and maybe a few other goodies.... If you would like to volunteer but can't get to the meeting, contact COA's Director of Volunteers, Lynn Cranstoun, at lcwolflady@optonline.net.  Dwier Center Detour   For the next nine months, the bridge over Route 130, immediately in front of the Dwier Center, will be closed for construction. Here are the directions to go around the mess: At the five-way intersection by Picerno's Gas Station and the old fashioned clock, proceed straight onto South Broad Street instead of taking the right onto Church Street. Go straight on South Broad for about 1/2 mile, then turn right onto Main Street. Continue another 1/2 mile, then take a right onto Church Street. You will see Family Nest Italian Specialty Restaurant on the righthand corner. Dwier Center will be on the right, just down the road. For questions about alternative routes, contact cityofangelsnj@hotmail.com.

Tidbits   COA hosts support group meetings for both addiction sufferers and their families every day of the week at the Dwier Center (392 Church Street, Groveville, NJ). This includes 12-step meetings, a new Thursday night veteran's support group, Saturday night self-injury support group, Sunday night Spirituality Meeting, and the popular Sunday morning family support group, The Breakfast Club. To check out our online calendar, click here.     For directions to the Dwier Center, click here.      The COA website now offers an Addiction News Feed with the latest studies, reports, new and other info on addiction. It's updated in real time with the top 30 articles. To read the feed, click here.  New videos are up on the COA YouTube channel. To watch, click here.      Join COA's Pinterest community! To visit the boards, click here.          Keep current on COA activites - join the COA group on Facebook!  COA news is posted first on Facebook, and this page often has photos not available elsewhere. Click here to visit.   City of Angels NJ, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides many services to addicts and their families including interventions, recovery support, Family Program, counseling services and more. All of our services are provided at no charge.

Penn Foundation Offering Grief Support Group for Parents Who Have Lost a Child to Substance Use The group meets weekly on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 pm. Meetings are held in Penn Foundation's Library (use Dayspring Entrance; click HERE for directions). The group is free, and no registration is required.     "Parents of children who have died due to substance use are a unique group of people with unparalleled grief and unprecedented need," says Sister Mary Julia McKenzie, Recovery Center Chaplain. "We provide support to these parents so they may find comfort in each other and a pathway to healing. We find that these grieving parents heal more quickly when in a supportive environment where they can share with other parents who have experienced the same thing."     For more information about this group, contact Sister Mary Julia McKenzie at 267.404.5099 or mmckenzie@pennfoundation.org.    Penn Foundation offers many other group enhancement opportunities. To view a complete list of groups, click HERE.

Recovery Center Offers Free Addiction Education Program Every Sunday    The Community Education program is offered free-of-charge to all family members and friends of Penn Foundation clients as well as interested members of the public. It is held every Sunday from 12:00 - 1:30 pm at the John W. and Emily Clemens Recovery Center (807 Lawn Avenue, Sellersville). The goal of Community Education is to provide education about the disease of addiction. It is designed to assist participants in understanding how substance abuse affects family members and friends of individuals who are abusing drugs or alcohol. Information is shared through lectures and group discussions. For more information, contact Sister Mary Julia McKenzie at 267.404.5099 or mmckenzie@pennfoundation.org.  Family Consultation Program Provides Support and Advice for Families Who Don't Know What to Do The Family Consultation program is designed to assist individuals who have identified family members or other loved ones struggling with alcohol or substance use, including problem drinking and abuse of prescription medications, and don't know what to do about it. A trained substance abuse counselor will meet with the family or significant others to discuss the specific situation and needs and will offer options for confronting the problem and engaging the user in treatment. For more information, call the John W. and Emily Clemens Recovery Center at 215.257.9999. Penn Foundation Part of New 2-1-1 Health and Human Services Directory Unveiled by the United Ways of Southeastern Pennsylvania    The United Ways of Southeastern Pennsylvania have unveiled a new, comprehensive Health and Human Services Directory - www.211sepa.org - to help more people more effectively find the help they need. This directory includes resources such as food banks, shelters, crisis intervention services, support groups, counseling, financial assistance, job training, home healthcare, transportation, childcare, after school programs, summer camps, disaster relief organizations, and much more.

Measures to Test Welfare Applicants for Drugs Advance in Texas, Kansas

By Join Together Staff | March 27, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Community Related, Drugs, Legislation & Prevention

Bills that would require drug testing for welfare applicants advanced in Texas and Kansas this week.

In Texas a bill that would have resulted in children permanently losing benefits based on a third failed drug test by a parent was amended. The bill’s author accepted changes to ensure children would continue to receive benefits while their parents are in rehabilitation programs, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

Based on these changes, the state’s Health and Human Services Committee voted to approve the bill.

Under the bill, welfare applicants in the state would undergo drug screening. If the results indicated good cause to suspect drug abuse, applicants would be required to undergo drug testing. Applicants with previous felony drug convictions, or a prior positive drug test, also would be required to undergo drug testing. Applicants who tested positive would lost benefits for a year, but could reapply in six months, after they passed another drug test.

Children would receive benefits regardless of their parents’ drug test results.

The Kansas House approved a bill that would require drug testing of applicants for welfare or unemployment if they were suspected of drug abuse, according to The Wichita Eagle.

Under the Kansas bill, applicants who failed drug tests would be required to participate in drug treatment and job skills training, paid for by the state and federal government. If they applied and failed again, they would lose benefits for a year.

Anyone convicted of a drug felony would be barred from receiving welfare for five years. A second conviction would lead to a lifetime ban, the article notes.

The Kansas Senate has already approved the measure. According to the newspaper, the Senate is likely to agree to several minor changes approved by the House, before advancing the bill to Governor Sam Brownback.

Supreme Court Rules Drug-Sniffing Dog Searches are Unconstitutional

By Join Together Staff | March 27, 2013 | 1 Comment | Filed in Drugs & Legal

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police must first obtain a search warrant before bringing drug-sniffing police dogs onto a suspect’s property to look for evidence, the Associated Press reports.

The decision may limit how investigators use search dogs to look for drugs, explosives and other hidden items, the article notes.

The court voted 5-4 to uphold a Florida Supreme Court ruling that threw out evidence seized based on an alert by a chocolate Lab named Franky. That court ruled the dog’s ability to detect marijuana growing inside a home in Miami by sniffing outside the house was unconstitutional.

Franky, who recently retired after seven years with the Miami-Dade Police Department, is responsible for the seizure of more than 2.5 tons of marijuana and $4.9 million in drug-contaminated money.

Government organizations around the country use thousands of dogs to sniff out illegal items, track criminals and search wreckage sites, according to the AP.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme court ruled police do not have to extensively document a drug-sniffing dog’s expertise to justify relying on the canine to search a vehicle.

The unanimous ruling overturned a Florida Supreme Court decision involving Aldo, a German shepherd. After the dog detected drugs in a pickup truck, a police officer searched the truck and found 200 pseudoephedrine pills and 8,000 matches, which are used to make methamphetamine. The Florida Supreme Court ruled police must compile detailed evidence of the dog’s reliability before probable cause to search the vehicle is established.

FedEx, UPS Say They Are Targets of DEA Probe Into Online Pharmacy Shipments

By Join Together Staff | March 28, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Government, Legal, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

FedEx and UPS say they are targets of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation into online pharmacy shipments, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

The DEA effort is aimed at cracking down on the country’s prescription drug abuse epidemic, the article notes. The agency will not confirm its involvement in the investigation, but both shipping companies have disclosed the probe in corporate filings, according to the newspaper.

Federal officials want the companies to take responsibility for the prescription drugs inside the packages they are shipping, the article states. FedEx spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald responded, “We are a transportation company — we are not law enforcement, we are not doctors and we are not pharmacists.” He added, “We have no interest in violating the privacy of our customers by opening and inspecting their packages in an attempt to determine the legality of the contents. We stand ready and willing to support and assist law enforcement. We cannot, however, do their jobs for them.”

Fitzgerald said FedEx asked the DEA to provide a list of online pharmacies that are suspected of illegal activity, so it can stop doing business with them. He said the agency has refused to provide a list.

UPS would not comment on the investigation, but stated in a corporate filing that it is cooperating with the probe.

Earlier this month, U.S. Representative John Mica of Florida sent a letter to DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart and Attorney General Eric Holder, asking them to recognize “the difficulty and unfairness of requiring those carriers to assume responsibility for the legality and validity of the contents of the millions of sealed packages that they pick up and deliver every day.”

Mica told the newspaper, “You can’t stop commerce; you can’t open every package. I’m only asking them [the DEA and Department of Justice] for a reasonable approach.”