Prescription Drug Abuse Crackdown Hits CVS and Drug Wholesaler

A crackdown by the Drug Enforcement Administration against two big health care companies this month signals that the Obama administration is putting muscle behind its effort to combat prescription drug abuse.

The DEA took action against CVS Caremark, which runs the second-largest U.S. pharmacy chain and Cardinal Health, a major drug distributor in Florida earlier this month, both of which the DEA says dispensed a "staggering" amount of Oxycodone, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Four pharmacies, including two CVS locations, have reportedly been suspended.

CVS responded by saying it had already moved to cut off doctors they suspected of writing questionable prescriptions.

Tough actions against all parties involved in the illegal trade of prescription medicines is due, said Hughes Melton, a family physician from Lebanon, Va., who has specialized in the treatment of patients who abuse prescription drugs. "This is becoming more than just a doctor-patient issue. It's becoming a public health issue," he said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is ramping up efforts to punish doctors, drugstores and others as part the Obama administration's wider effort against prescription drug abuse, which it declared an “epidemic” last year. The White House outlined a comprehensive, multi-agency strategy to combat prescription drug abuse in 2011 and has backed a plan to require physicians to receive special training in order to prescribe painkillers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, narcotic painkiller overdoses kill 40 people a day.

But the crackdown isn't without controversy. The enforcement strategies have coincided with low supplies of Adderall and other medicines to treat ADHD and have prompted concern that federal authorities are making it harder for people who need medicines to get them. Even the Food and Drug Administration has faulted DEA's approach, saying it is exacerbating Adderall and Ritalin shortages, which the law enforcement agency disputes.

Yul Ejnes, a doctor in Cranston, Rhode Island, and chairman of the American College of Physicians's board of regents, says he is not aware that the administration's strategy is creating obstacles for patients who use pain medicine. The intensified attention to prescription drug abuse does remind physicians they should be taking prudent steps to determine whether their patients are abusing their drugs or diverting prescribed medicines for illegal use, Ejnes said.

Comments

[Hugo Stiglitz1]

07:03 PM on 02/19/2012

thats it, go after those filthy no good seniors with Rheumatoid and chronic pain, make things more difficult on them than they already are.

[kevmi16]

04:32 PM on 02/19/2012

Thank GOD! It's about time the DEA go after the drug pushers who kill the most Americans. No bust some Dr's and Drug companies and take some REAL assets!

[funeblonde]

04:02 PM on 02/19/2012

Is the government in our Dr's office now?

[rivertown]

06:32 PM on 02/19/2012

I guess we need them to protect us from ourselves there too! Always a few wreck it for the rest of us?

[angelwing1234]

03:52 PM on 02/19/2012

i think it isn't fair that i have to travel to multiful pharmacies to try to find the drug adderall for my daughter who has adhd, i think there are alot of doctor's, lawyers, judges, pharmasists, ect. all the individuals that have a carrier that requires alot of time and focusing are abusing the drug mainly. i really want them to know and im sure they do that they are hurting alot of children that need the medicine, also i think that the medical feild should really crack down on the adults on taking the medicine, i had never heard of an adult having adhd, children yes, i'm not going to mention names but i literally know 1 other child taking adderall, and i know about 40 adults taking the medicine so there is a problem somewhere, i will bet more than 3 quarters of the adults need the med. this has got to come to an end. i expect to get my daughter's prescription go to one pharmacy and they have it in stock, but not if we have more adults on it than children, i believe the medicine is out there mainly for children that have the actual disorder with an evaluation from a neuro doctor. my daughter has been sick in the past because of the pharmacy being empty on the adderall.

[Cheri Chavez]

03:50 PM on 02/19/2012

If they would legalize Pot then the pain pill abuse would subside. I kow for me I would rather smoke pot than take pain meds all the time. But the fear of it being illegal prevents me from going that route.

[Nomina]

03:41 PM on 02/19/2012

The patients who are drug abusers are the first to blame. They know that they are abusing drugs but don't care because they want the high at any price. They are the cause of their own problems. Just because it is more difficult for people to get the prescriptions does not mean that the abuse will stop. They will just get it on the street. The people who want to use drugs will do so and those who don't won't. When the abusers ruin their health they will die at an early age and then it will end. It is as simple as that.

[dterraman]

03:14 PM on 02/19/2012

why does officer friendly hide behind a mask?

[jozey57]

03:18 PM on 02/19/2012

Perhaps officer friendly moonlights as a drug dealer and doesn't want to lose clients.

[Phoenix20]

03:10 PM on 02/19/2012

So, here I am, doing everything right, seeing my doctor every couple of months, taking a piss test making sure I'm taking my medication properly. I have volumes of Medical documentation to back up the reason for my pain and the Government has already made it hard for me to get my Pain Medication. My Primary Doctor refuses to write for me in fear of the DEA so I have to drive an Hour and a half to my Pain Doctor once every 2 months and now the DEA wants to make getting them even harder! is it because we are easier targets than the Illegal criminals. Why is it that people with Chronic pain are treated less than people with pain that can be seen ie: broken leg, arm or or a black eye. That kind of pain people seem to sympathize with and understand, but Chronic pain is the silent overlooked constant rock in your shoe that never goes away but for some the worst pain you have ever had and it never goes away.

[tippy301]

03:08 PM on 02/19/2012

HILLARY 2012 !!!

[mhammer491]

03:06 PM on 02/19/2012

Why are the DEA Agents wearing masks? Are they like the SS forces employed by the NAZIs in Germany during the 1930's? Even those Henchmen were open in their acts against normal, legal innocent citizens.

These men have to hide their face, because they know that which they are doing is illegal, and unwarranted! It is only additional acts by the Team of Obama and Holder in attempting to take over the country.

[mhammer491]

03:04 PM on 02/19/2012

If this attack upon one of the most respected companies and upon the profession of Medical Practice does not get your attention as to how the Obama Administration is attacking various segments of the country one by one, piece by piece, then nothing will!

He has attacked Tax Practioners! The Catholic Church! Wall Street Workers! Banks who lend money and ask that it be repaid! Stock Holders and Lenders of 2 of the Automobile manufactures! Mothers who prepare Lunches for their children! School Teachers!

And know he is attacking Doctors who are attempting to help patients with pain by restricting their ability to practice medicine, unless they take his course on Pain Medication! He is also attacking those who sell and distribute the various medicines that the Food and Drug Administrations has deemed legal to sell! Even to the Point the FDA is accusing the DEA of restricting needed medications.

And all is being done under the Guise of "Correcting a wrong!" Just like all of his other nonsense proposals! He is a Pure Marxixt out to control the entire country. And many of you are totally blind to his undertakens, because you are expecting a free gift from Uncle Sam! Wake UP! There ain't no free rides! You will have to Pay in one way or the other!

[relaford]

03:57 PM on 02/19/2012

I agree with you 100%. Now, if he would put half as much energy into securing our southern border, and stopping the flow of illegal drugs, he'd have something to brag about.

[thomgrisso]

03:04 PM on 02/19/2012

vote 2012

[wllharrington]

03:03 PM on 02/19/2012

This is only because the Columbian and Mexican cartels complained to him that these people were cutting into their profits.

[mhammer491]

02:57 PM on 02/19/2012

The next president who ever he may be, will have a monsterous task just in the elimination of the sheer mountains of Regulations that have been written since the "Great Experiment" of electing an individual who has never done anything in his life to the office of President of the United States. If there ever has been an experiment in the history of the Country of this magnitude undertaken before, I am certainly not aware of it. Especially one that has failed so miserably.

Young people who knew nothing except what they have seen on MTV, the National News Shows, MSNBC, SNL, and all of the current trend of sitcoms that glorify the gay relationships, voted this, this.... this ...... man, into office on the guise of Hope and Change, without any idea what those terms meant. A back lash against the horrors of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the resulting aftermath of striking back at our enemies.

Obama rode that backlash into the office. And today, he is attacking every principle of common decency, and attempting to replace these with his own views of how society should be. May God Help all of us!

[tippy301]

03:07 PM on 02/19/2012

Wilson, FDR, LBJ, Carter and soon, Obama will join the pantheon of worst in US history.

[dterraman]

03:15 PM on 02/19/2012

don`t forget the bushys and clintoon

[Raidersteve]

02:55 PM on 02/19/2012

How about we start putting the DOCTORS in jail...They write the scripts

[pjs1voice]

03:54 PM on 02/19/2012

That's been done tooo many times..especially in Fla..under the cheney/rove/bush admin of all things.

[Raidersteve]

11:15 PM on 02/19/2012

Then lets all find the answer to it?