Posts by psm2016
Arizona Pair Arrested with 8,000 Fentanyl Pills Indicted by Grand Jury
An Arizona grand jury has handed down indictments for the two men arrested in May. Prosecutors allege that Octavio Gutierrez-Hernandez and Jorge Bazan were trafficking more than 2,000 fentanyl pills pressed with an “M30” imprint, which is what is typically stamped on oxycodone pills.
[...]PSM Executive Director and Carrie Luther in Tennessee to share the story of deadly fentanyl pills
Carrie Luther, who lost her son to counterfeit Xanax made with fentanyl three years ago, travelled to Tennessee with Partnership for Safe Medicines Executive Director Shabbir Safdar to share her story with the Healthy Tennessee Opioid Summit.
[...]Drug Importation is Fraught with Peril
As a licensed pharmacist, I’m all too familiar with patients’ difficulties getting medications they need and their physician has prescribed. As baby boomers age, pharmacists see more patients at our counters unable to obtain needed treatments for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. This issue is now being acknowledged and a healthy debate has begun over possible solutions. But one idea policymakers shouldn’t pursue is opening up our country’s secure drug supply to medicines coming from outside our borders.
[...]Petaluma Mother Headed for Prison in the Fentanyl Pill Death of her Son
A Petaluma woman sits in jail awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to felony child-endangerment in the April death of her 16-year-old son. The teenager died as the result of ingesting a counterfeit Xanax pill containing fentanyl. His mother is facing up to 12 years in prison when sentenced. Her co-defendant in the case has been arraigned but has yet to face trial.
[...]Over Half of U.S. States Have Now Seen Fatalities from Counterfeit Drugs Made with Fentanyl
The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) announced at the event hosted by U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) that counterfeit pills made with illegally-imported fentanyl have now been found in 44 states and, with the recent death of an Idaho man, fatalities tied to counterfeit drugs have now occurred in 26 states.
[...]Canada must guard against unrestricted drug exports to the US
The impact on Canada’s health care system could be devastating. In the aftermath of a previous American proposal, a 2010 study on the potential effects of exporting Canada’s drug supply to the US concluded that “if 10% of the US prescriptions were filled from Canadian sources (manufacturer, wholesale or retail), Canada’s 2007 drug supply would be exhausted in 224 days.”
A 2018 follow-up study reached similar conclusions. Such studies are all but ignored by US clinicians who urge importing drugs from Canada, and who are strangely oblivious to the fact that supplying an American patient could mean taking that same drug away from someone who needs it in Canada.
[...]Medicine Importation Legislation is a Smuggler’s Dream
While the Trump administration works to stem the raging epidemic of opioid addiction, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has a plan to make it worse. He calls it the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act, S. 469. This legislation would open our borders to the free flow of drugs – all drugs – from Canada and other countries.
It would be more accurate to call it the Unsafe Opioid Importation Facilitation Act – and we can’t afford it. Sanders is still peddling the bogus line that importing prescription drugs from Canada is the ticket to lower health-care bills for Americans. Not only has Bernie’s tonic been exposed as a fraud, it is downright deadly. Read more…
[...]Canada Drugs scandal reveals the dangers of drug importation
Canada Drugs isn’t the only online pharmacy that puts patients’ lives in serious jeopardy. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy recently examined more than 11,000 online pharmacies and found that 96 percent were operating illegally.
[...]Opioids come from China in the U.S. mail. Here’s how to stop it.
LIKE ALL drug scourges, the fentanyl epidemic that claims so many lives every day is a matter of supply and demand. The demand, alas, is made in America. The supply, by contrast, is overwhelmingly imported, with a key source being China, where a poorly regulated cottage industry makes the stuff, takes orders over the Internet and ships it via international mail to the United States, Canada and Mexico.
[...]House of Representatives Passes the STOP Act, Bringing U.S. One Step Closer to Closing Global Postal Loophole Fueling Opioid Epidemic
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives came together across party lines to pass the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, introduced by Representatives Mike Bishop (R-MI) and Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), by a vote of 353-52. The bill now heads to the Senate for debate and passage.
[...]