Sunday, February 26, 2012
URGENT MESSAGE!!
I would like to apologize to my fellow Americans and especially those of you on Facebook! I know I am bombarding you with my message of recovery and addiction but I can't seem to help myself. Many of my close friends have been buried due to addiction and some are rotting away in prison cells. Addiction is the number one disease in our nation and around the world. Everywhere I look someone is burying someone or bailing them out of jail for the tenth time. No longer can I remain silent. It is my duty and a passion of mine to educate and liberate those who find themselves in the chains of addiction. My hope and prayer is that my message finds those who are getting close to falling off the cliff of no return, and for those who are wondering if there is anyone out there who cares about them and there struggle. Unfortunately addiction has became a way of life, and recovery is the answer, we as a nation must come together to overcome this evil force before it annihilates us.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Missouri Leads Nation in Methamphetamine Lab Busts
By Join Together Staff | February 24, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inAddiction, Community Related & Drugs
The number of methamphetamine lab seizures in the United States rose again last year, according to an Associated Press survey of the nation’s top meth-producing states.
Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive and dangerous drug that maintained a tight grip in states like Missouri, with 2,096 lab seizures in 2011, followed by Tennessee with 1,687, Indiana with 1,437, Kentucky with 1,188 and Oklahoma with 902.
For all but Missouri, the AP survey shows that numbers are higher than the federal data. The Drug Enforcement Administration numbers say that meth lab seizures remained about even during the past two years.
The combined data suggest that nationwide meth lab seizures were up at least 8.3 percent in 2011 compared with 2010.
Some attribute the continued increase on the addictiveness of methamphetamine and the growing popularity of “shake-and-bake,” a meth-making shortcut where the drug is created quickly in a soda bottle. The result is smaller labs, but more of them.
Enabling Interstate Sharing of Prescription Data to Help Prevent Abuse
By Carmen A. Catizone | February 24, 2012 | 3 Comments | Filed in Addiction,Healthcare & Prescription Drugs
Addressing the national prescription drug abuse epidemic, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP®) PMP InterConnectSM enhances the ability of prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) to prevent the diversion of controlled substance drugs by facilitating the transfer of PMP data across state lines to authorized PMP users in participating states.
With an estimated seven million Americans abusing prescription drugs, and 1.2 million emergency department visits related to misuse or abuse of prescription drugs in 2009 alone, the implementation of state PMPs, by targeting doctor shopping and pill mills, is one of many strategies to help fight this public health threat.
Doctor shopping, moving from doctor to doctor in an effort to obtain multiple prescriptions for a drug, is one means to obtain drugs used by those misusing prescription drugs or suffering from pill addiction. Illegally operating pain clinics, commonly known as “pill mills,” exacerbate this situation by issuing invalid prescriptions that are often filled on site, or by referring customers to a pharmacy operating in cooperation with the clinic. Further, many doctor shoppers will travel hundreds of miles, often across state lines, in attempts to obtain prescription drugs.
Many states have implemented a PMP, a secure database maintained by a state agency that stores information on prescriptions for controlled substance medications or drugs of concern.
Depending upon state laws, certain authorized users, such as doctors and pharmacists, may view PMP data so that they have complete information on a patient’s controlled substance medication history. Thus, PMPs can help prescribers make better informed treatment decisions and help pharmacists make appropriate dispensing decisions. PMPs can also assist both prescribers and pharmacists in identifying patients who may be doctor shopping and in need of treatment for addiction.
In response to a need expressed by state PMP administrators and regulators, the NABP InterConnect was developed and now provides a way for state PMPs to share data. Authorized PMP users can potentially access complete controlled substance patient data from all states where the patient has had these prescriptions filled. For example, if a patient in Ohio travels to Indiana and needs to have a prescription for a controlled substance medication filled, the pharmacist in Indiana can see records from both states by using the NABP InterConnect. The information reported back from both states can help that pharmacist make decisions about dispensing that are in the best interest of the patient’s health and safety. The NABP InterConnect is a highly secure communications exchange platform that conforms to all Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations.
NABP InterConnect enhances the ability of state PMPs to prevent the illegal obtainment of controlled substance prescription drugs via doctor shopping, and to alert health care providers to patients in need of addiction treatment.
PMPs in five states have deployed NABP InterConnect and 10 additional states have signed memorandums of understanding to participate. Additional information about NABP InterConnect and state PMP participation is available in the Programs section of the NABP website.
Carmen A. Catizone, MS, RPh, DPh
Executive Director/Secretary, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
www.nabp.net
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Friday, February 24, 2012
12 STEPPING TO RECOVERY DAILY THOUGHT!!
STEP 1
Again that's right we will be going over this step until we truly get it! Thirty two years it took me to finally realize I was powerless and my life was past the point of unmanageable. A couple of outstanding bench warrants, numerous court summons, my credit score a zero, knots in my stomach every time their was a knock at the door, family and friends wouldn't listen to a word I had to say, everywhere I went fear, anxiety, depression and impending doom went with me! I hated me, my life and no matter how hard I tried to fix things I just made it worse. One day in the basement of a home I was about to be evicted from I fell to my knees and began to communicate with GOD crying uncontrollably I asked HIM that if you truly are there put an end to my life, I cant do this anymore. I was in that basement surrounded by garbage and trash for I don't know how long. I had reached my breaking point and GOD heard me! The LORD was patiently waiting for me to submit and admit I was powerless. That's when you truly realize there is no way you can do life in your own strength! When enough is enough and life is too much, SURRENDER, hand it over to him and he will carry you through.
Again that's right we will be going over this step until we truly get it! Thirty two years it took me to finally realize I was powerless and my life was past the point of unmanageable. A couple of outstanding bench warrants, numerous court summons, my credit score a zero, knots in my stomach every time their was a knock at the door, family and friends wouldn't listen to a word I had to say, everywhere I went fear, anxiety, depression and impending doom went with me! I hated me, my life and no matter how hard I tried to fix things I just made it worse. One day in the basement of a home I was about to be evicted from I fell to my knees and began to communicate with GOD crying uncontrollably I asked HIM that if you truly are there put an end to my life, I cant do this anymore. I was in that basement surrounded by garbage and trash for I don't know how long. I had reached my breaking point and GOD heard me! The LORD was patiently waiting for me to submit and admit I was powerless. That's when you truly realize there is no way you can do life in your own strength! When enough is enough and life is too much, SURRENDER, hand it over to him and he will carry you through.
19 Year Old Briton with Alcohol Destroyed Liver Doesn’t Meet Transplant Guidelines
Only a couple of weeks ago Britons debated organ transplant guidelines after reading the story of 22 year old Gary Reinbach who was denied a liver transplant, and so died of alcoholic cirrhosis.
Now, a 19 year old out of Ulster Northern Ireland, Gareth Anderson, lies in King's College Hospital London, suffering from total liver failure; the result of a mammoth binge drinking session over the first weekend of August. Doctors say that without an organ transplant the teen will die within 2 weeks, but according to transplant guidelines which prohibit the consumption of alcohol for 6 months prior to a transplant, he is ineligible for the transplant waiting list.
Anderson become ill after downing 30 cans of beer over a weekend binge drinking party.
Because available livers for transplant never meet demand, the National Health Service (NHS) has adopted certain guidelines that help doctors with the impossible task of determining which patients get lifesaving operations and which patients don’t.
Gareth’s father, Brian Anderson, says that the guidelines were written for older alcoholics and shouldn’t apply to his son, who is not an alcoholic. He has taken the matter to the courts and to politicians, hoping to circumvent guidelines that he does not consider fair in this case. He describes the urgency he feels, saying, “I'm dealing with a timebomb now. I've basically two weeks to save Gareth…In my opinion Gareth doesn't fit in with the six-month policy.”
Gareth has never before required medical treatment for alcohol use
Family members had pressured Northern Ireland Health Minster, Michael McGimpsey to act on behalf of Gareth, but McGimpsey indicated he could not intervene in a health matter that required the professional judgment of doctors.
The requirement for 6 months of abstinence is only a guideline, and one that doctors can overlook, but an NHS Blood and Transplant Department spokesperson defended the use of the guideline saying, “it (the 6 month guideline) is one that has been adopted following publication in medical journals from various doctors who have recommended it as suitable practice. It is recognized and in use around the world." The spokesperson said that although doctors can disregard the guideline, that they must also, “take into consideration other potential liver transplant patients who are waiting as well."
Dr. Roger Williams, a UK liver specialist, has weighed in on the public debate over the boy’s case, saying that 6 month guidelines should not apply in cases like this.
Brian Anderson says the he feels optimistic about getting Gareth onto the transplant waiting list and says that his son is “doing well” in hospital.
Read more: 19 Year Old Briton with Alcohol Destroyed Liver Doesn’t Meet Transplant Guidelines
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