- The government’s struggle to hold opioid manufacturers accountable (washingtonpost.com)
Sixty-six percent of all oxycodone sold in Florida came from this company. But the DEA’s case against it faltered...Mallinckrodt’s blue 30-milligram oxycodone tablets became so popular among drug users and dealers that they acquired a street name — "M’s," for the company’s distinctive block-letter logo…the Drug Enforcement Administration trained its sights in 2011 on Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of the highly addictive generic painkiller oxycodone. ..It was the first time the DEA had targeted a manufacturer of opioids for alleged violations of laws designed to prevent diversion of legal narcotics to the black market. And it would become the largest prescription-drug case the agency has pursued…But six years later, after four investigations that spanned five states, the government has taken no legal action against Mallinckrodt. Instead, the company has reached a tentative settlement with federal prosecutors…Under the proposal…Mallinckrodt would agree to pay a $35 million fine and admit no wrongdoing.
- Cardinal settles with U.S. over painkiller shipments to pharmacies (reuters.com)
A drug distributor owned by Cardinal Health Inc has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve claims it failed to alert the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to suspiciously large orders of...painkillers by New York-area pharmacies...The settlement with Kinray LLC, a New York City-based pharmaceutical distributor, disclosed in papers filed...in federal court in Manhattan...Kinray shipped the drugs to more than 20 New York pharmacy locations in amounts that were many times greater than the distributor's average sales of controlled substances to all of its customers...Kinray ignored numerous "red flags" and did not report any suspicious orders to the DEA...latest agreement stemmed from a 2012 settlement with the DEA in which its facility in Lakeland, Florida, was suspended from selling painkillers and other drugs for two years...The 2012 deal only resolved administrative aspects of the case, not potential fines Cardinal Health faced in Florida or elsewhere...(Cardinal Health)...has set aside $44 million to cover those potential liabilities.
- Marijuana Petition Denied as U.S. Restrictions on Use Remain (bloomberg.com)
Denying a petition to loosen marijuana restrictions, U.S. officials said regulations on the drug’s use will remain in place, although more of it may be available for research into potential medical therapies...The Drug Enforcement Administration will maintain marijuana’s status as a schedule 1 drug, the most restrictive of five agency classifications, which means it’s considered highly addictive and without medical benefit. However, the agency will permit new suppliers to boost the quantity of marijuana available for study. Currently, researchers can only study marijuana overseen by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which contracts with the University of Mississippi to grow supplies..."Not everyone agrees marijuana should be legal, but few will deny that it is less harmful than alcohol and many prescription drugs," Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement. "Removing barriers to research is a step forward, but the decision does not go nearly far enough. Marijuana should be completely removed from the CSA drug schedules and regulated similarly to alcohol."
- Synthetic drugs pose alarming U.S. overdose risk: DEA chief (reuters.com)
Synthetic designer drugs, especially synthetic opioids like fentanyl implicated in the death of pop star Prince, pose an "unprecedented" threat for U.S. overdoses and deaths, especially among youth...Drug Enforcement Administration has been cracking down on synthetic drugs since they began gaining popularity in 2010. But because each newly designed drug needs to be separately banned through a "clunky and cumbersome" process, the problem continues to spiral, DEA head Chuck Rosenberg told a U.S. Senate committee...For every one substance we’ve controlled, legislatively or administratively, there are 11 more out there that are uncontrolled...Rosenberg testified that the DEA has seen a particularly alarming rise in illicit use of the fentanyl...More than 11 million people illegally consume prescription painkillers for non-medical purposes each year, and overdoses are likely to increase as fentanyl is introduced to that market...
- Hospital Fined $510,000 After Pharmacist’s Illicit Prescription Drug Diversion (pharmacytimes.com)
A Pennsylvania hospital has agreed to pay $510,000 in fines after an inpatient pharmacist stole controlled substances. The pharmacist, Renata Dul, was found to have stolen more than 35,000 units of a controlled substance, including oxycodone….Abington Memorial Hospital disclosed the pharmacist’s actions to the DEA after detecting a discrepancy during inventory, which prompted an investigation that revealed pill count discrepancies, missing or incomplete medication inventories, and altered or missing drug records. An internal investigation pinpointed Dul’s ability to exploit a gap in the software used to track prescription medications...AMH agreed to pay a fine in response to allegations that their failures in control and practices enabled Dul to divert controlled substances for illegal, non-medical uses...
- Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids Sold as Counterfeits in Deadly New Trend (realclearhealth.com)
In March and April, 56 people in the Sacramento area were hospitalized after taking Norco brand hydrocodone pills. Fifteen died...But, as we discovered, these pills were not pharmaceutical hydrocodone at all. They were counterfeits containing fentanyl that were purchased on the street. Fentanyl is an opioid far more powerful than hydrocodone...the distribution of illicitly manufactured fentanyl has risen to unprecedented levels...These...substances are generally formulated to look like others drugs – heroin or oxycodone tablets…These entirely synthetic, illicitly made "designer drugs" are designed to work on the same receptors in the body as drugs like marijuana, methamphetamine or heroin. The adulteration of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and street drugs with synthetic opioids is arguably the most worrying new trend...
- DEA Releases 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary (dea.gov)Drug Enforcement Administration released the 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary – Updated...The report outlines the expanding public health crisis afflicting America due to the use and abuse of heroin and other opioid drugs. Some key facts: (dea.gov)
Drug Enforcement Administration released the 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary – Updated...The report outlines the expanding public health crisis afflicting America due to the use and abuse of heroin and other opioid drugs. Some key facts:
- The number of people reporting current heroin use nearly tripled between 2007 (161,000) and 2014 (435,000).
- Deaths due to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl and its analogues, increased 79 percent from 2013 to 2014.
- Deaths involving heroin more than tripled between 2010 (3,036) and 2014 (10,574) – a rate faster than other illicit drugs.
- DEA opens shop in China to help fight synthetic drug trade (hosted.ap.org)
In a sign of improving cooperation between the U.S. and China to fight the global drug trade, the Drug Enforcement Administration will open a new office there...acting administrator Chuck Rosenberg will visit Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong...at the invitation of China's Ministry of Public Security...DEA maintains that China is the top source country for synthetic opioids like fentanyl and its precursors, which have been fueling the deadliest drug abuse epidemic in U.S. history. China is also emerging as a laundering destination for drug money... Beijing has taken significant steps to crack down on the production and export of synthetic drugs, even though these substances are not widely abused within China...
- Why the DEA just said ‘no’ to loosening marijuana restrictions
For the fourth consecutive time, the Drug Enforcement Administration has denied a petition to lessen federal restrictions on the use of marijuana...While recreational marijuana use is legal in four states and D.C., and medical applications of the drug have been approved in many more, under federal law, it remains a Schedule 1 controlled substance, which means it's considered to have "no currently accepted medical use" and a "high potential for abuse."...Just this week, the National Conference of State Legislatures, a group representing state lawmakers, called on the federal government to move marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2. The group criticized federal law for imposing "substantial administrative and operational burdens, compliance risk and regulatory risk that serve as a barrier to banks and credit unions providing banking services to businesses and individuals involved in the cannabis industry."...Despite this, the DEA says it cannot change the legal status of marijuana unless the FDA determines it has a medical use. The FDA cannot determine it has a medical use in part because of the highly restrictive legal status of the drug. It's a classic bureaucratic Catch-22...The only body that can truly resolve this conflict, now, is Congress — by amending the Controlled Substances Act to treat marijuana differently. Most federal lawmakers seem to agree that this needs to happen, but there's disagreement on how to do it...
- 5 Things Pharmacists Should Know About Dabbing (pharmacytimes.com)
For some, dabbing is a dance popularized by pro athletes like Cam Newton and LeBron James...For others, it refers to using a potent marijuana extract...Here are 5 things pharmacists should know about the potentially less familiar form of dabbing that is increasingly a public health concern.
- The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-concentrated substance is yellow and looks like honey or butter.
- The concentrate can have THC levels anywhere between 40% and 80%.
- The marijuana concentrate is often placed in e-cigarettes or vaporizers.
- The long-term effects of dabbing are unknown.
- One method to manufacture marijuana concentrate can lead to explosions.