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Be sure to
listen to Prescription Addiction Radio, Sunday
night at 9pm on WGUL 860am, or live online at
www.860am.townhall.com.
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Successes From
a Few of Our Recent Patients:
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Student:
"I thought it was too good to be
true however a miracle happened and I found the
woman I had lost for over 1 year. I love
myself again. The staff
was super heroes; I love
them.
Jessica, Sam, JJ, Jean, Frances,
Patty and my favorite person was Leigh - he really
helped me get through tough times and is a
lifelong friend. Also Paula
& Steve - awesome, and everyone else, I love
you all.
Food: 10 on a scale of 1-5.
INCREDIBLE, unique, healthy, tastes like
food should taste like and helped me recover
quicker and with less pain. I loved
it.
I have so many good things to
say and would love to give advice and hope to the
people reading the testimonials."
Stock Market:
"Caring, competent and
compassionate are the words that I would use. All the
staff were great but especially Montana for not
only his wisdom in counseling - but truly touching
my soul!
The food was a 6 on a 1-5
scale.
I felt the love that went into the making
of the food - most
healing."
Student:
"The staff here is great. There
wasn't one day I felt uncomfortable since they
gave me the first dose. The staff
sits and talks to you and walks you through the
whole process.
Jason was very real with me and
he stayed up with me my entire first night
watching movies and playing video
games.
Food was 5 of 5.
I realized that I needed further
help after my detox. I realized
that I can be happy and have fun without drugs and
I realized that being sober and getting my life
back together is more important than anything and
my true friends will be there when I get out of
rehab.
They won't forget me. A strong
support group is the best tool you can use in the
process of getting clean. I realized
I'm stronger than I ever through I could be. I
discovered who my true friends are and that there
really are good people out
there."
Landscaper:
"All the staff were great. I felt I
connected well with JJ and Montana. The food
was 5 of 5. The housekeeping was 5 of
5.
I learned a very important
lesson.
There is always hope, and a second shot at
life."
911 Operator:
"Slogan possibility or mission
statement: Novus - we can make the worse time of
your life a manageable one. All staff were equally
qualified at an excellent level and all provided
very high level of standard of
care.
Food: 5 of 5, portion size was
perfect, all meals and snacks were very
healthy.
Housekeeping: 5 of 5. Facility
is modern and grounds are
beautiful.
My stay and transition to an
opiate-free lifestyle was so smooth, it was almost
like a vacation. Thank you
all very
much."
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The Fix Wasn't
In
By Steve Hayes,
Director
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About fifty
years ago, General Motors President Charles Wilson
was quoted as having said, "What's good for
General Motors is good for the
country." This same statement could
easily be attributed to the leaders of Big
Pharma. One of the most arrogant of the
members of this arrogant group is Purdue Pharma,
the makers of legal heroin-OxyContin.
Oxycodone, the
active ingredient in OxyContin, is interchangeable
with heroin. Purdue Pharma released this
terrible drug on the public in 1996 and has made
billions of dollars off of it. The fact that
they pled guilty to lying to doctors and the
public about the addictive qualities of OxyContin
in May of 2007 and paid a fine of $634 million was
just a cost of doing business. After all,
their primary obligation is not to the public but
to their shareholders and this justified their
actions.
According to Todd
Zwillich in WebMD Medical News, "More than 12%
of 18- to 25-year-olds reported using the drug
(oxycodone/OxyContin) for non-medical reasons in
2006, according to federal figures. Those figures
also estimate that 500,000 Americans try oxycodone
recreationally for the first time each
year."
Until the
recreational use of OxyContin started to become a
public relations nightmare and the media began
correctly comparing OxyContin to heroin, it was
fine with Purdue that an estimated 50% of the
OxyContin sold was actually diverted and used for
recreational--not medical--purposes. These
sales just increased their profits. However,
even Purdue was concerned when people began
attacking them for recklessly selling legal
heroin. If the medical profession were
to understand the true dangers
of OxyContin, it would seek other
alternatives for their patients and Purdue's sales
would go down.
Thinking that they
needed to do something to make it appear that they
are concerned about the diversion of their deadly
drug, Purdue filed for approval of a new
formulation of OxyContin that supposedly made it
more "tamper-resistant." Imagine the
disappointment of the Purdue Pharma executives at
the results of the May 5, 2008 FDA hearing that
was to determine if they met the standards needed
for approval. They had spent millions of
dollars preparing their proposal. They were
an integral part of Big Pharma. They are the
ones that tell the FDA what is good for
America. At least that is what they thought
before the hearing on May 5th.
You see, on May 5th,
Purdue expected a hearing where a few of their
paid employees and consultants mouthed the usual
inane comments about why their drug application
should be approved. The hearing would result
in a recommendation of approval, even though the
application was obviously deeply flawed, because
that is the deference that the FDA is supposed to
show to Big Pharma. In other words, business
as usual. And this might have happened
again, except a couple of spokespeople for some of
their victims did the unthinkable-they came to the
meeting and spoke the truth and exposed the lies
and deception of Purdue.
Winston Churchill
once said, "Attitude is a little thing that
makes a big difference." Larry Golbom,
the host of the Prescription Addiction Radio show,
Pete and Ellen Jackson and many others had the
attitude that the truth could overcome the webs of
deceit spun by Purdue. And they were
right. Not only did the FDA panel see the
truth of their words but the media, Purdue's
biggest nightmare, also saw and reported the
truth.
The following is
taken from an article entitled "Panel Has Deep
Concerns About New OxyContin", by Jared Favole
that was issued on the Dow Jones news
wires:
"A U.S. Food and
Drug Administration panel on Monday expressed deep
concerns about a purported abuse-resistant form of
the powerful painkiller OxyContin, saying there is
a 'striking' lack of data about the drug's
abuse-prevention qualities."
A majority of FDA
panel members said that including information
about the drug's resistance to abuse on a label
would likely lead to more overdoses and
deaths.
"I'm fascinated with
the poor scientific rigor" of the data presented
by Purdue Pharma LP, maker of OxyContin, FDA panel
member Jeffrey R. Kirsch said. "It's almost
insulting."
Larry Goldbom (sic), a
Florida pharmacist who hosts a radio show on
prescriptions and addictions, said during the
meeting that it is ludicrous for the FDA to even
consider approving a new form of
OxyContin.
"Every narcotics
officer...every addict knows oxycodone and heroin
are interchangeable. The FDA has, for 12 years,
ignored that fact," Goldbom said.
Goldbom said it is
estimated that 97% of all people who die from
OxyContin take it whole, meaning a
tamper-resistant form would address just 3% of the
deaths associated with the drug.
Ellen and Peter
Jackson told the FDA panel that they shouldn't
approve the new form of OxyContin, citing
statistics that OxyContin has led to numerous
deaths.
"My daughter is
one of those statistics and I am asking you not to
turn your back on her," Peter Jackson said.
The couple's daughter, Emily, died in 2006 after
swallowing an OxyContin pill whole. A relative
gave her the drug.
In another of the
many articles about the OxyContin hearing, Carol
Gentry, writing for Florida Health News, said,
"In the belief that
one person can make a difference, Clearwater
pharmacist Larry Golbom paid his own way to appear
before an FDA advisory panel in Maryland on Monday
to warn against approval of a new form of
OxyContin. By the time he got home late Monday
night, he had reason to hope he'd had an
impact."
While no vote was
taken, a majority of panel members expressed
concerns about the product and suggested that
Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer, make
changes. Golbom said it was ludicrous for
FDA to even consider approving a new form of
painkiller made with oxycodone, an opium-derived
compound that constitutes the active ingredient in
OxyContin.
"The FDA is
finally acknowledging that the opioids
(opium-derived drugs) are creating way too many
negative outcomes," he said in an e-mail
message Tuesday morning to Florida Health News.
"The academics and doctors who are involved
with the FDA are finally coming out of their
'bubble'." They don't have a clue what to do
next. But their refute of Purdue yesterday is
clearly an indication that it is no longer
business as usual.
Golbom said the trip
cost about $500 and 10 hours of lost work at his
job with a chain pharmacy. But that's nothing
compared to what it has cost him to finance a
one-hour radio show, "Prescription Addiction -
Breaking the Silence" each Sunday night for nearly
two years. His archived shows are at http://www.prescriptionaddictionradio.com."
It should bring a
smile to everyone's face when they think
about the outcome of the May 5th hearing.
Victor Hugo said, "There is nothing more
powerful than an idea whose time has
come." The idea is simple and
thanks to many courageous ordinary citizens, its
time has come. Instead of representing Big
Pharma as their client, the idea is that the FDA
must return to its original purpose-protecting the
American people.
I am a believer that
a person is responsible for making his or her own
decisions in life. However, I have an even
stronger belief that it is the responsibility of a
government agency, charged with ensuring that
proper information is provided to the public, to
actually do their job. Obviously, Purdue, an
admitted criminal company, cannot be relied on to
explain the truth about OxyContin, so it falls to
the FDA to speak the truth as Purdue will
not.
Because opioids have
some valid uses to treat short-term pain,
OxyContin does not have to be removed from the
market, but its use needs to be much more highly
controlled. Purdue says that OxyContin
already has a strong Black Box Warning-the warning
required when the dangers of a drug are very
serious.
However, rather than
have the OxyContin Black Box warning say that the
drug has "...an abuse liability similar to
morphine", the warning should say "...an abuse
liability similar to morphine and heroin."
Most people don't really know how addictive and
dangerous morphine can be but everyone knows about
heroin.
Instead of the Black
Box Warning saying that this drug is "indicated
for the management of moderate to severe pain when
a continuous, around-the-clock analgesic is needed
for an extended period of time," the warning also
needs to include the information contained in more
and more of the medical literature: "The continued
use of OxyContin is being linked to opioid-induced
hyperalgesia (increased pain sensitivity) and in
these cases doesn't reduce but increases
pain. If you feel that your pain is
increasing and you are taking opioids then see
your medical professional
immediately."
On another
point, the Black Box Warning says, "OxyContin 60
mg, 80 mg, and 160 mg Tablets ARE FOR USE IN
OPIOID TOLERANT PATIENTS ONLY. These tablet
strengths may cause fatal respiratory depression
when administered to patients not previously
exposed to opioids." The warning needs
another sentence, "IF YOU TAKE THIS DRUG YOU MAY
DIE FROM TAKING ONLY ONE PILL ONE
TIME."
Pete Jackson made a
good point and would go farther. Pete said,
"Kids don't read the warning. We
want to prevent kids like my daughter from taking
OxyContin and thinking it is safe because it is
legal. We need to make them put a skull and
cross bones, the universal sign for poison, on the
bottle or even better-on each pill."
Let's make sure that
patients have the data on all prescription drugs
so they can make an informed consent. All we
ask is that the "business as usual" practice of
not telling the full truth about these deadly
drugs be changed and their use be sharply
curtailed and regulated like we do with other
dangerous drugs.
A final caution--the
world has won a great victory on May 5th, but
the war against the killing and addicting of
fellow citizens is not over. Purdue's guilty
plea shows that it will stop at nothing to protect
their profits, so we must be prepared to fight
more and more battles. We know this war can
be and must be won, but it will require vigilance
and continued effort from all of us. We need
to keep writing letters to the FDA and
Congress. Larry G needs to keep broadcasting
the truth. We need to speak out at town
meetings and every chance we get.
Thanks to Larry,
Pete, Ellen and many others, Purdue is now aware
that they are in a tunnel and the light they see
is an oncoming train. It is gaining speed
and will run over them if they don't become good
citizens. Purdue also sees that this is not
a train that they can stop by offering the
engineer a higher paying job-like Big Pharma has
done with many of their critics. This
train scares Purdue and Big Pharma because it is
driven by dedicated, caring people who are not
going to tolerate seeing their loved ones continue
to suffer and die so Purdue can make a profit.
NOTE:
This email is provided for general educational
purposes only and is not intended to
constitute (i) medical advice or counseling,
(ii) the practice of medicine including
psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy or the
provision of health care diagnosis or treatment,
(iii) the creation of a physician patient or
clinical relationship, or (iv) an endorsement,
recommendation or sponsorship of any third party
product or service by the sender or the sender's
affiliates, agents, employees, consultants or
service providers. If you have or suspect
that you have a medical problem, contact your
health
care provider
promptly.
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