Bad news

[nemo (imported)]

Fed drug czar declares war on illegal Net drugs

Death of Rutgers student and rise in prescription abuse renews battle

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

BY J. SCOTT ORR

STAR-LEDGER WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- The federal government yesterday promised a crackdown on illicit sales of prescription drugs over the Internet, citing a Rutgers University student who died of an overdose in his dorm room in December.

Pointing to statistics documenting the increase in the abuse of prescription medicines, White House drug czar John Walters said federal authorities would rededicate themselves to fighting the abuse of pharmaceuticals with an intensified focus on the Internet.

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The strategy includes the use of data-mining techniques to find and close illicit online pharmacies, a business that has seen explosive growth in recent years. Also included are initiatives by the U.S. Customs Service to block illegal shipments from outside the country, a crackdown on Internet service providers that host drug sites and pressure on credit card companies to ban the use of their cards to purchase drugs.

"If they can't get the money, they won't do the business," Walters said.

The strategy also includes education and efforts to help states track prescription drug use and prevent abusers from filling multiple prescriptions.

"The Internet has been a major source of diversion and abuse," Walters said adding illicit online pharmacies are "targeting youth because of their access and interest in the Internet."

One such person was 19-year-old Jason Surks, a sophomore at Rutgers who was majoring in pre-pharmacy, when he died Dec. 17. His parents, Mark and Linda Surks of South Brunswick, told Jason's story at a news conference with Walters and other top administration officials yesterday.

Mark Surks said his son showed no outward signs of involvement with drugs. He was a well-liked teen, whose social life revolved around his family and a faith-based youth group before he moved to Newark to attend Rutgers.

"The night he died, his roommates told us, they could see he was taking too much Xanax," Surks said. "They urged him not to take more. ... We think that he might have lost track of how much he had taken."

Standing before charts showing the rise in the abuse of prescription drugs in recent years, Surks said he was unaware of his son's drug abuse and the ease with which prescription medicine can be purchased online.

"I don't need these charts," he said. "I found out what is on these charts days after my son died. I wish I had found out days before."

Surks said his son relied on his experience working in pharmacies and on Internet sites in deciding what types and quantities of drugs to take. One online pharmacy, he said, sent Jason drugs monthly.

"They would just send it out each month to him. No questions asked. No doctor. No prescription. No fuss. It's as easy as buying a Beanie Baby on Ebay," he said.

Drug Enforcement Administrator Karen Tandy said cracking down on Internet pharmacies is a difficult task because there are so many sites, they rarely give addresses and they can close and open under a new names at lightning speed.

"Criminals who divert legal drugs into the illegal market are no different from a cocaine or heroin dealer peddling poisons on the street corner," she said.

Tandy said the DEA plans online educational initiatives including Internet versions of Public Service Announcements and pop-up ads that will appear on the computer screens of individuals searching the Internet for drugs.

Walters, Tandy and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Mark McClellan said the federal government's offensive against abuse of prescription drugs is not aimed at doctors and patients involved in the legitimate treatment of pain.

Chronic pain sufferers have long complained that the DEA's anti-drug efforts have made doctors fearful of prescribing strong medication -- particularly addictive narcotic painkillers -- even for patients who have demonstrable needs.

"When used correctly, opiods play a very important role in the management of pain," McClellan said.

The FDA's job is to maximize the potential benefits that patients receive from these drugs, while at the same time minimizing the risks, he added.

Tandy added that doctors prescribing narcotics to legitimate pain suffers "have nothing to fear from the DEA." She said only 51 doctors were arrested in DEA cases last year and the majority of them were involved in illegal activities like selling prescriptions, trading prescriptions for sex, or fraud.

[Rich (imported)]

I saw this article the other day and have watched with great interest. I'm not taking Androcur or any other med obtained from an internet pharmacy, but I do get prescribed some very strong painkillers from my neurologist to help fight my cluster headaches. Vicodin isn't one of them--it's nowhere near strong enough.

Things like this get me worried. I don't "doctor shop" or bounce from pharmacy to pharmacy, trying to get more meds. My overall usage has been dictated by the doctor for years and I have followed instructions--these help me live my life and I don't want the relief I've found to be cut off because somebody thinks I'm taking too much somewhere.

Unfortunately, the fear that doctors have of prescribing for pain will increase and it will become infinitely more difficult for those of us with chronic excruciating pain to get help. I've already been to one doctor who decided that he wasn't go to prescribe any more pain medications because of the federales looking over his shoulder at the prescriptions he was writing out. That sort of thing can make my life hell.

I hope it doesn't affect many of the doctors who are truly trying to help those of us with a genuine need. It's been nice to get the relief and get some semblance of my life back, even at the cost of heavy painkillers.

[Glenda J (imported)]

Rich, you hit the nail on the head. There are some really dangerous drugs available on the Internet. I hope they go after those and forget things like hormones which in my view should, for the most part, be over the counter in the first place.

Time will tell whether these people will enforce the law intelligently or simply go after some poor souls to get newpaper press.

Our drug laws are a real mess. One thing I can tell you. If the old kitty cats start getting hassled for buying their prescription meds over the Net, Bush will be in big trouble come November.

Thus far, I have had no problems ordering drugs from the 4 Corners Pharmacy, but I will admit that what I have ordered are drugs that I have a prescription for in the first place.

As for Androcur, it should be a prescription drug in this country (USA). I think it should be taken under the care of a physician. On the other hand, taken in smaller doses, from what I can tell, it should not hurt most people.

Glenda J

[An Onymus (imported)]

This whole issue, it seems to me, is about the question of how much government should do to protect us from our own ignorance and foolishness. Clearly, most people have neither the necessary knowledge or judgement to prescribe drugs sensibly for themselves. But I really doubt that government can regulate these things in a fully reasonable way either. I have to think that a combination of information and caution in the mind of someone using drugs, would provide the best regulation of drug usage--but, of course, that's a utopian concept, and unlikely ever to work on a large scale. Still, anyone using drugs should make an effort to find out all he can about them, regardless of whether or not a physician prescribed them. Look at what happened to sal.limpone.

[sag111 (imported)]

I am fearful of this also and think it could be bad for thoes who need chemical castration and wont be able to get the drugs thay need.And i see this at least once a day in the chat room someone needs chemical castration and dosent have ins.And i am afraid that thay may do somthing that may be harmful to them if thay cant get what thay need but i dont think thies people much care about any of us here yes a sad note.

I feel its the drug companys are just trying to tighten the market so thay can keep sqeezing us poor folk

[Iwtbaw (imported)]

I am fearful of this also and think it could be bad for thoes who need chemical castration and wont be able to get the drugs thay need.And i see this at least once a day in the chat room someone needs chemical castration and dosent have ins.And i am afraid that thay may do somthing that may be harmful to them if thay cant get what thay need but i dont think thies people much care about any of us here yes a sad note.

I feel its the drug companys are just trying to tighten the market so thay can keep sqeezing us poor folk

I couldn't agree more Sag, The all powerful drug companies are worried about loosing sales to online pharmacies so what do they do. slip alittle green to the politicians. Its about time the people in this country took a stand. we Don't need anymore big brother in our face,Thank You. And I agree hormones should

be over the counter in the first place.

[madscientist1 (imported)]

The strategy includes the use of data-mining techniques to find and close illicit online pharmacies, a business that has seen explosive growth in recent years.

These pharmacies are located overseas & so cannot be touched by any agent of the US government wthout violating that nation's sovereignty.

NAFTA was designed to send work to Mexico. Now, manufacturers are sending that work to places like China. It is safe to say that the Mexican government would never cooperate with the US government to shut down any of their on-line pharmacies & thus deprive its citizens of an income, to site one example.

Also included are initiatives by the U.S. Customs Service to block illegal shipments from outside the country

So many parcels are shipped without return addresses that it will be next to impossible to determine which ones come from pharmacies. And customs cannot search them all, and would never bother with the small ones. The DEA is only interested in people who purchase large quantities of recreational drugs, obviously for illegal resale.

a crackdown on Internet service providers that host drug sites

How? What can the government possibly do that does not violate the 1st Ammendment to the US Constitution?

and pressure on credit card companies to ban the use of their cards to purchase drugs.

How, exactly, does the credit card company know what the vendor is selling? And why should they care?

Credit cards are hosted by banks, the same banks that loaned money to Third World countries. The US government would like these banks to write off that debt & thus lose money. The same government is also making banking difficult for these banks through the Patriot Act. So why should they cooperate with anything else?

Remember the plan for taxing on-line sales? I don't. I have heard it discussed, though. Another grandiose plan by our government that will, most likely, never come to fruition