DEA crackdown in FL, leading to pain pill shortage

Had my PM appointment today for script refills... my Dr... told me he would be surprised if I could find ANY Roxicodone/Oxyxodone pills anywhere...there has been a federal shutdown of pain pill sales at two wholesale drug companies prominent in south Florida and it has led to a shortage of oxycodone/Roxicodone... yet again...

I have been using oxycodone as my BT medication.

While I understand it is a big problem for people getting the drugs from bogus pain clinics who "sell" the drugs to people who come across state lines to bring back up north to sell.... it only makes it harder for
the people who are really in pain and need the medication to get by..... we are the ones that suffer and it just doesn't make sense and isn't fair!!!


This is a very interesting documentary for anyone interested.... it's called... The Oxycontin Express...www.hulu.com/watch/100279/vanguard-the-oxycontin-express

Just makes me very angry that people who really need the drug suffer.... the response had been to just take it away from everyone....

(Draka, I turned your link into a HOT link)

Post Edited By Moderator (Chutz) : 7/12/2010 6:24:58 PM (GMT-6)

Good grief! What is going on down there in Florida?! I recall Pete posting about that same problem a while back. And I think someone else did before that. Seems like they ought to be able to find a better way to control this problem that making the most fragile in society pay for the sins of the wicked.

But we have different issues up here in IL. So many wicked people were breaking into pharmacies to steal Actiq (which is commonly sold on the streets) that now almost no one will even order it for you. There is literally only one pharmacy I can get to order it regularly for me & they are 90 minutes away. Another pharmacy can usually get it for me if I'm willing to wait, but who has time to deal with "usually" they are 80 minutes away in another direction. And when the shipment doesn't come in on time, it's yet another trip to the PM. Actiq is routinely brought up as a "dangerous drug of choice" on public-access televised police-community meetings. We get newsletters in the mail about it. It's no wonder I can't get any peace from anyone at work or while I'm out who happens to see me taking my medication.

On the flip side though, there are a LOT of people who are hooked on the stuff who never ever had a pain problem. It's super addictive (way more so that probably any other drug out there -- though not everyone gets addicted to it) because it lasts for only 3-4 hours at a time, tops. People are dying from a single overdose. And that sucks. I'm not saying it doesn't -- just like it sucks that idiots are going overboard abusing oxy in Florida (they do it here too, but usually if someone's dead it's b/c of Actiq) -- but it's just lousy that we're the ones who have to pay the price.

Hang in there Florida CPer's. Hope they can find something to help you until that mess gets straightened out. Can you order them by mail order prescription? Maybe that's a way around it. Even if your doctor won't write you for 90 days, at least you would only have to go a week without your prescription.

-frances

Our local Walgreen has a HUGE sign that says that oxycontin is in a timed delayed safe, I think it's sad that they have to put that up...I remember when I was on Actiq, I only knew of three pharmacies that carried it, and 2 of them only sold them in boxes of 30, and I had a pain doctor that would give me coupons for 6 free Actiqs that I could fill every 3 days, and only one of the pharmacies would break the box open for me, and if they where out, then I had no choice but to wait. But truthfully I don't hear much about Actiqs around here, the drug of choice seems to be hydrocodone, but then again I don't really hang out with the people who abuse medication (eventhough I'm surrounded by them).
Since I live in HUD apartments, their's ALOT of drug activity going on, it seems like everytime I go outside to walk my dog around the apartments, I'll see a drug dealing going on. It's a scary situation, I wish I could move, but living on SSI doesnt give me any choice in housing.
Also I've heard that they're really cracking down on those so-called "pain clinics" in florida lately. That show "oxycontin express" was made a year or more ago, and since then it's really brought attention to their problem, and I hear it's starting to get better. I would think that if that's the only place that has that problem, then they should be able to stop it like they do everywhere else in the states (I forgot why they said that county in florida gets away with it, but I would think it would be easy to stop it since it's ot a national problem). Well I guess only time will tell...
-kitty

Here we go again!!! The Whole thing SUCKS!!!! Thats all I'm gonna say!
Hugz to All my Fam's & Peep's!!!!!
Pete

Jim1969 said...
I would love to take everyone one of these legalized drug pushers out somewhere and break every bone in their body and then give them some Tylenol for their pain.

hee, hee, hee... so evil, yet i don't disagree

Hey Draka , I just watched that expose on the oxycontin problem in Florida , My God that was so terrible !! Those poor folks are being decimated by this !!! My god thanks Draka I never would have known , its like drug cartels in South Florida they are all over and so many are suffering . Its so sad . Mikel

Oh gosh! It makes so much sense now! I read an article a long time ago and I thought at the time "that is weird, why would they want to make that kind of medicine" but now I know why. But, just now when I went to look up the medicine, I found an article says the FDA didnt approve it.....

~~~> http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20080506/fda-panel-nixes-abuse-proof-oxycontin

~~> http://arthritis.about.com/cs/analgesic/a/oxyabuse.htm

Watching this has shaken me to my core. I am shocked, disgusted and quite frankly scared for "us". And worse... this video is old ... which means it has only gotten worse over time.

Why does it always seem like the motto is "Punish the masses to prevent the few"? The people who abuse these drugs are going to break the law to do it to do it if necessary and if you take away one drug another will pop up...I agree we need to shut these bad docs & clinics down b/c it makes everything harder on the honest people. Living in south florida i have seen this problem first hand time and time again and the problem is BAD but punishing the chronic pain patients is not the answer. I hope they can put their focus on the doc who are basically selling meds to people they know dont need them so the rest of us can get treatment in peace. I dont have an issue getting meds from my doc but when you first start going to any doc down here they will not prescribe narcotics on the first visit...its just become a rule for the docs down here now...at least that Ive encountered. Oh well, fingers crossed that they get this worked out soon.

This is all just so frustrating. I used to be 100% in favor of trying to make it as hard as humanly possible for these nit-wits to get their hands on medication for no good reason at all.

But now I'm finding that it ends up frustrating us more than it does them. Case in point, the new "risk management" plan with Onsolis (a non-cavity causing alternative to Actiq or Fentora). The darn thing is so hard to get that none of the pharmacies can even order it for me. I'm told it's because it's new, but these problems didn't exist with Fentora. We could get that as soon as it came out, complete with coupons & pitches from the drug reps.
No one's allowed to rep the Onsolis for months so the pharmacies barely know it exists. Patients have to agree to be listed on a National Registry Database (fine, I'll tattoo a number on my arm if it'll get me a medication without so many side effects) and I have no problem with that. But they can't figure out how to work the darn thing -- yeah, maybe someone should have thought about that before they federally mandated that you get registered before you can order, fill or re-fill the darn drug. So now that's cost me an extra $150 that I really don't have.

I'd be very, very, very happy if the guidelines could actually keep idiot people from wrongly getting their hands on Onsolis, but if it's at the expense of anyone at all getting the medication then why did the FDA even bother to approve it? Why not just say "we care more about preventing dim-witted people from killing themselves than we do about helping people who want to be productive in society to achieve that by making sure they get their medication".

ARRRGGGHHH! So frustrating.