[Vision2020] Eye Opener

Tue Sep 20 11:31:06 PDT 2011

That does put a funny picture in the mind, Tom.  I can almost hear the
Grateful Dead music playing in the background as people stand there.

 Let me assure you this is handled a little differently.

PS-Feel free to call me Darrell.

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:22 AM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Mr. Keim -
>
> Your post kinda reminds me of my (much) younger days in LA when the Ventura
> County Sheriff's office would burn confiscated cannabis fields and we would
> gather (inconspicuously) downwind.
>
> Those were the days, my friend.  We thought they'd never end . . .
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 20, 2011, at 11:07, Darrell Keim <keim153 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Apropos to this discussion:  Thru my work with the Idaho Department of
> Health and Welfare, LCYAC, Moscows' Sustainable Environment Commission, and
> the MPD there is now a place to properly dispose of prescription drugs in
> Moscow.  We have an anonymous drop box in the MPD front office.  All drugs
> are incinerated.
>
> Why properly dispose of prescription drugs?
> 1.  Leftover prescription drugs are frequently stolen and improperly used
> or re-sold.
> 2.  Improperly disposing of leftover prescription drugs (flushing or
> throwing out) causes the chemicals to leach into our groundwater.
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 10:46 AM, Moscow Cares <moscowcares at moscow.com>wrote:
>
>> Mr. Falen -
>>
>> Exactly what is it about "Worst Pills, Best Pills" that makes you think
>> that it is a "left wing group"?
>>
>> It advertises itself as "Your expert, independent second opinion for
>> prescription drug information".
>>
>> http://www.worstpills.org/
>>
>> Is it the free drug tips it provides?
>> http://www.worstpills.org/includes/page.cfm?op_id=65
>>
>> Perhaps it's the drug reviews, warnings, and suggestions of safer
>> alternatives.
>>
>> Which is it, Roger?
>>
>> Tom Hansen
>> Moscow, Idaho
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sep 20, 2011, at 10:29, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks Wayne
>>
>> I don't know if you  take it or not, but Worst Pill, Best Pill" put out by
>> Public Citizen ( a left wing group) does a good job of pointing  out these
>> problems.
>> Roger
>>
>> -----Original message-----
>> From: "Art Deco" deco at moscow.com
>> Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:50:55 -0700
>> To: Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> Subject: [Vision2020] Eye Opener
>>
>>
>> Drugs, though legal, can be deadly
>>
>>
>>
>> By Lisa Girion, Scott Glover and Doug Smith
>>
>>
>> Los Angeles Times
>>
>>
>> LOS ANGELES - Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses,
>> drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Los
>> Angeles Times analysis of government data has found.
>>
>>
>> Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009,
>> killing at least 37,485 people nationwide, according to preliminary data
>> from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
>>
>>
>> While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drugs are an
>> exception. The death toll has doubled in the last decade, now claiming a
>> life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents have been dropping for
>> decades because of huge investments in auto safety.
>>
>>
>> Public health experts have used the comparison to draw
>>
>>
>> See DRUGS, A4
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Article Continued Below
>>
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> See DRUGS on Page A04
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> DRUGS
>>
>>
>> Continued from A1
>>
>>
>> attention to the nation's growing prescription drug problem, which they
>> characterize as an epidemic. This is the first time that drugs have
>> accounted for more fatalities than traffic accidents since the government
>> started tracking druginduced deaths in 1979.
>>
>>
>> Fueling the surge in deaths are prescription pain and anxiety drugs that
>> are potent, highly addictive and especially dangerous when combined with one
>> another or with other drugs or alcohol. Among the most commonly abused are
>> Oxy-Contin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma. One relative newcomer to the scene is
>> Fentanyl, a painkiller that comes in the form of patches and lollipops and
>> is 100 times more powerful than morphine.
>>
>>
>> Such drugs now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.
>>
>>
>> "The problem is right here under our noses in our medicine cabinets," said
>> Laz Salinas, a sheriff's commander in Santa Barbara, which has seen a
>> dramatic rise in prescription drug deaths in recent years.
>>
>>
>> Range of victims
>>
>>
>> Overdose victims range in age and circumstance from teenagers who pop
>> pills to get a heroin-like high to middle-aged working men and women who
>> take medications prescribed for strained backs and bum knees and become
>> addicted. A review of hundreds of autopsy reports in Southern California
>> reveals one tragic demise after another: A 19year-old Army recruit who had
>> just passed his military physical took a handful of Xanax and painkillers
>> while partying with friends. A groom, anxious over his upcoming wedding,
>> overdosed on a cocktail of prescription drugs. A teenage honor student
>> overdosed on painkillers her father left in his medicine cabinet from a
>> surgery years earlier. A toddler was orphaned after both parents overdosed
>> on prescription drugs months apart. A grandmother suffering from chronic
>> back pain apparently forgot she'd already taken her daily regimen of pills
>> and ended up double dosing.
>>
>>
>> Many died after failed attempts at rehab - or after using one too many
>> times while contemplating quitting.
>>
>>
>> Legal, but not so safe
>>
>>
>> The seeds of the problem were planted more than a decade ago by
>> well-meaning efforts by doctors to mitigate suffering, as well as aggressive
>> sales campaigns by pharmaceutical manufacturers. In hindsight, the
>> liberalized prescription of pain drugs "may in fact be the cause of the
>> epidemic we're now facing," said Linda Rosenstock, dean of the University of
>> California, Los Angeles School of Public Health.
>>
>>
>> In some ways, prescription drugs are more dangerous than illicit ones
>> because users don't have their guard up, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's
>> Sgt. Steve Opferman, head of a task force on prescription drug-related
>> crimes. "People feel they are safer with prescription drugs because you get
>> them from a pharmacy and they are prescribed by a doctor," Opferman said.
>> "Younger people believe they are safer because they see their parents taking
>> them. It doesn't have the same stigma as using street narcotics."
>>
>>
>> The triumph of public health policies that have improved traffic safety
>> over the years through the use of seat belts, air bags and other measures
>> stands in stark contrast to the nation's record on prescription drugs. Even
>> though more people are driving more miles, traffic fatalities have dropped
>> by more than a third since the early 1970s to 36,284 in 2009. Drug-induced
>> deaths had equaled or surpassed traffic fatalities in California, 22 other
>> states and the District of Columbia even before the 2009 figures revealed
>> the shift at the national level.
>>
>>
>> Keeping track
>>
>>
>> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collects data on all causes
>> of death each year and analyzes them to identify health problems.
>> Drug-induced deaths are mostly accidental overdoses but also include
>> suicides and fatal diseases caused by drugs. The CDC's 2009 statistics are
>> the agency's most current.
>>
>>
>> Drug fatalities more than doubled among teens and young adults between
>> 2000 and 2008. Deaths more than tripled among people aged 50 to 69, the
>> Times analysis found. In terms of sheer numbers, the death toll is highest
>> among people in their 40s.
>>
>>
>> Overdose deaths involving prescription painkillers, including OxyContin
>> and Vicodin, and anti-anxiety drugs such as Valium and Xanax more than
>> tripled between 2000 and 2008.
>>
>>
>> 'Insatiable appetite'
>>
>>
>> The rise in deaths corresponds with doctors prescribing more painkillers
>> and anti-anxiety medications. The number of prescriptions for the strongest
>> pain pills filled at California pharmacies, for instance, increased more
>> than 43 percent since 2007 - and the doses grew by even more, nearly 50
>> percent.
>>
>>
>> Those prescriptions provide relief to pain sufferers but also fuel a
>> thriving black market. Prescription drugs are traded on Internet chat rooms
>> that buzz with offers of "vikes," "percs" and "oxys" for $10 to $80 a pill.
>> They are sold on street corners along with heroin, marijuana and crack. An
>> addiction to prescription drugs can be costly; a heavy Oxy-Contin habit can
>> run twice as much as a heroin addiction, authorities say.
>>
>>
>> The most commonly abused prescription drug, hydrocodone, also is the most
>> widely prescribed drug in America, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement
>> Agency. Better known as Vicodin, the pain reliever is prescribed more often
>> than the top cholesterol drug and the top antibiotic.
>>
>>
>> "We have an insatiable appetite for this drug - insatiable," Joseph T.
>> Rannazzisi, a top DEA adminis-trator, told a group of pharmacists at a
>> regulatory meeting in Sacramento.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> MCT
>>
>>
>> Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Grace Schmidt books evidence from an
>> undercover prescription drug sting operation on a downtown Los Angeles
>> street.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________
>>
>> Wayne A. Fox
>>
>> wayne.a.fox at gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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