Justice Department crackdown targets fraudulent opioid treatments

Well, I may not like Jeff Sessions in general, but this a good move by the Justice Department.

The Justice Department on Thursday launched a crackdown that in large part focuses on fraudulent opioid prescribing.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions at a press conference described the effort as the largest of its kind in U.S. history, charging 412 people, including 56 physicians, with defrauding the federal government of $1.3 billion.


Sessions said 120 people have been charged with opioid-related crimes. Nearly 300 providers are in the process of being barred from participating in federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.

“We will use every tool we have to stop criminals from exploiting vulnerable people and stealing our hard-earned tax dollars,” Sessions said.

The Justice Department’s action came on the heels of an announcement that Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay $35 million to settle charges that it failed to notify the Drug Enforcement Agency of suspicious drug orders from 2008 to 2011. The settlement was the first that the government has secured with an opioid manufacturer.

Source

Over prescription of opioids is a huge problem and fraudulent ones are even worse. I'm glad the administration is cracking down on this cash cow that has created too many problems.

~Tenth

Most of the friends I've said my tearful goodbyes to, as their caskets were lowered into the ground, started their death spiral with a little piece of paper from their Drs. They probably drove to the pharmacy happy as could be, thinking their problems were finally going to be acknowledged and solved. Little did they know it would just lead them to more misery and destroy their brains abilities even more.

DAMN I miss them so.

I'm glad somethings being done.

-Alee

a reply to: tothetenthpower


It's long over due. The state I live in is actually tracking the prescribing of pain killers. My only issue is that will this scare doctors from prescribing them to people who really need them? If they do, guess where these people will go? The streets.


Not an easy problem to solve, especially with this fake war on drugs that has been going on for years, making the Dark Ops money, while destroying the lives of those who live in poverty. Then we add in the corrupt elbow rubbing of politicians and the Corporate prison systems?

a reply to: tothetenthpower

He's ass backwards though.

We've already got the problem, so this is just damage control.

We could switch many pain medications to THC medications, but then the poor pharmaceutical companies wouldn't make all their money.

It a joke that the attorney general has the audacity to say "we shouldn't prescribe as much narcotics that kill people", and then publicly speaks out against marijuana.

Last I check, marijuana didn't kill anyone.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: tothetenthpower

He's ass backwards though.

We've already got the problem, so this is just damage control.

We could switch many pain medications to THC medications, but then the poor pharmaceutical companies wouldn't make all their money.

It a joke that the attorney general has the audacity to say "we shouldn't prescribe as much narcotics that kill people", and then publicly speaks out against marijuana.

Last I check, marijuana didn't kill anyone.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

All this is going to do is make it harder for the people who actually need these medications to be able to have access to them.

As it does every time a crackdown happens, while the people who abuse them will see the price go up now that the supply is lower, which in turn leads to more robberies and crime to support their habits.

While it looks good on the surface, in the long run it's just going to hurt more people and create a further drain on society. As all "tough on drugs" approaches do.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

We could switch many pain medications to THC medications, but then the poor pharmaceutical companies wouldn't make all their money.

Nope. As somebody who works in the medical MJ industry - there is no getting big pharma out of it. You cannot patent a natural substance like THC - so there's actually no money to be made in it by anybody.

Also, there are amazing drugs out there created by Big Pharma that are worth having out on the market, even sometimes ridiculous costs.

It a joke that the attorney general has the audacity to say "we shouldn't prescribe as much narcotics that kill people", and then publicly speaks out against marijuana

I think it's apples in oranges in the sense of the justice department programs, but I agree, it's really stupid to have that stance on MJ in general.

~Tenth

a reply to: underwerks

Thing is that it might lead to better ways to deal with pain.

I can't take opioids and I won't take cannabis, so I can't be alone in saying there needs to be alternative pain control methods.

Believe me ... going through frozen shoulder with no pain control was/is not fun. Living with a bone spur in my neck that tends to pinch the hell out of the nerve that runs through my left shoulder is also not fun.

But I don't really have much alternative ... except an occasional trigger point injection therapy for the pinched nerve.

Opioids are cheap and easy, but new stuff needs to be found. Finding ways to shut off that cheap/easy pipeline might help encourage that.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Don't get me wrong, there are life saving pharmaceuticals out there.

That being said, we need to rethink how our country addresses pain management. And some people will surely need the opiates, but that needs to be minimized as much as possible. These people should also be monitored.

The underlying issue our country has though is the FDA's stance on natural remedies. Their stance is essentially they're all hogwash and it's not worth their time. That in turn makes doctors who suggest them look nutty.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

That being said, we need to rethink how our country addresses pain management. And some people will surely need the opiates, but that needs to be minimized as much as possible. These people should also be monitored.

Okay, I misunderstood, we agree 100%. There should be no prescription pain killers outside of a very small set of circumstances, and used in hospitals when needed - cause you know, they are trained for that sort of thing.

Otherwise, we need to move to holistic pain management for sure.

Their stance is essentially they're all hogwash and it's not worth their time. That in turn makes doctors who suggest them look nutty.

See that's another issue we have, where that's not the FDA's fault, it's the US law in general which makes it illegal to patent any natural substance. If they can't patent it, it can't be called medicine and therefore has to have that stupid moniker where it doesn't treat, prevent or cure an illness.

This allows for garbage products like Magic Stickers for your health,to be put on the market without any kind of oversight or testing.

So we fail on both ends.

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

The pharmaceutical (legal) side is only half of the problem . Getting the rest of the illegal side to the equation is equally important . There is good reasons to believe that a lot of the drugs are coming in through drugs for animals and re-sold on the black market . I will see if I can find a link to the piece I was reading about the subject . good thread

I am a chronic pain sufferer who has to jump through man many hoops to stay on the meds I truly need to have a productive life. I am a little torn with this. I am from AL so am very familiar with Jeff's draconian views on mind altering substances. On one hand it's a good thing to stop the pill mills but on the other hand it's going to make it even harder for people like me to get the help they need.

Like the above poster said, the damage is done. It's time to start combating this problem in other ways, and I don't mean trading one addiction for another. Big Pharma has begun capitalizing not only on pain meds, but opiod "cessation." Suboxone and subutex has become a huge money maker and does nothing but trade one addiction for another.

I myself am at a loss on how this situation really needs to be handled but I know opiate withdrawal is one of the worst feelings in the world that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: underwerks

Thing is that it might lead to better ways to deal with pain.

I can't take opioids and I won't take cannabis, so I can't be alone in saying there needs to be alternative pain control methods.

Believe me ... going through frozen shoulder with no pain control was/is not fun. Living with a bone spur in my neck that tends to pinch the hell out of the nerve that runs through my left shoulder is also not fun.

But I don't really have much alternative ... except an occasional trigger point injection therapy for the pinched nerve.

Opioids are cheap and easy, but new stuff needs to be found. Finding ways to shut off that cheap/easy pipeline might help encourage that.

Pharmaceutical companies have been looking for non-opioid remedies for chronic pain for years.

Fact is, opiates and opioids are our best bet right now for people who suffer chronic pain, barring some huge new discovery.

a reply to: underwerks

Its the best bet for companies making money.

Getting an invasive surgery to correct a minor problem leading to a deadly addiction is not a good bet on the consumers side.

There are plenty of alternatives.

CriticalStinker


He's ass backwards though.


It a joke that the attorney general has the audacity to say "we shouldn't prescribe as much narcotics that kill people", and then publicly speaks out against marijuana.

Last I check, marijuana didn't kill anyone.


Greetings-

Funny You type that, not funny as in "Hee Hee Hee" but being an opiate medication user for 13 years, for two different meds, I've been on the same dosage for those 13 years for inoperable back/neck injuries, sustained whilst employed by a Ca. Police Dep't., doing a Search Warrant at a meth. lab, fighting "The War On Drugs™"

My "secret" ?

I do Yoga/stretching, I lost a bunch of FAT (muscle turns to fat if'n You don't move about) and I use Cannabis in its "legal" form (CBD oil)

Proud Member of LEAP- Law Enforcement Action Partnership (nee: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition)

a reply to: JimNasium

I'm glad to here that Jim.

But, if there were incentives to creating less addictive and better functioning pain meds, you'd probably not be on same meds you are now and probably now in any kind of high/medium dosage.

And yes, keeping your body healthy with physical activity certainly a better way to help control your pain.

Thanks for serving your community.

~Tenth

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: underwerks

Its the best bet for companies making money.

Getting an invasive surgery to correct a minor problem leading to a deadly addiction is not a good bet on the consumers side.

There are plenty of alternatives.

List some of the alternatives then. I have family that are chronic pain patients and I used to be one myself before I could use cannabis medically. I tried everything and spent years learning all I could about these drugs.

Besides horrible injections and physical therapy which may or may not work, opiates are the best bet right now for treating pain that doesn't respond to anything else.

a reply to: underwerks

Cannabis, kratom, acupuncture. There are many.

As I said before, I'm not for getting rid of it completely, but it is overused way to much right now.

If you break an arm, you need pain management, not complete pain masking. Why risk getting addicted through a temporary period?

The tricky part is when people who have experienced pain (most people have at some point in their life) tote that opiates are the end all be all. Just because your shoe fits doesn't mean it's one size fits all.

Doctors need to be more creative, and patients need to be more patient. I see the current landscape as a lazy one, more on the doctors side, just write a script and out the door they go. Call me if you need a refill.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Doctors need to be more creative, and patients need to be more patient. I see the current landscape as a lazy one, more on the doctors side, just write a script and out the door they go. Call me if you need a refill.

Agreed.

Also,

SUCK IT UP FOLKS. Life has pain in it. You break a thing, you should not have a pass on that pain 24 hours a day. Pain killers were meant for debilitating pain, not a tooth ache. Not a sprained ankle or finger.

They give them out like M&M's now. I'm so annoyed that most people assume that getting hurt, doesn't require you to be in pain for a little bit while you recover. Being in pain is part of the healing process and gives you natural signals about when you are ready to do physiotherapy or just in general get back to your norm.

~Tenth

a reply to: JimNasium

Good to hear! You're one of the creative ones who will have higher day to day quality.

Its good you've stayed with the same dose and used other treatments to achieve a higher result.

One of the problems with long term opiate use is it makes the nerves raw for lack of better terminology. If you get to the glorious day where you get to get off them, things like getting our of bed can be excruciating.