Pharmacy. Jim Plagakis. Pharmacist

A fourteen year old family member is now at a “ranch” in the Wyoming mountains where he will be in treatment and to continue his high school education.  This kid is a favorite of mine.  He is way too smart to be stuck in small time Wyoming where the schools hand out drug tests because the problem is so bad.  It is everything.  Oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam, carisoprodol, marijuana, but crystal meth is king.  Small town America.  This boy will be at the “ranch” for more than two years if he resists treatment and a minimum of six months if he goes with the program.  No one from his life, including his mother, can have contact with him for the first six months.  Mom’s Thanksgiving will be difficult.  V called to lend moral support, but a very strong woman is having a difficult time.

So when this testing outfit asked me to put this up, I did not hesitate.  To see the video click on “Snatched 8 mg”

snatched_8_mg

      Parents believe they know their kids.   I am here to tell you, after treating thousands of drug-addicted teens for three decades at Chapman House; parents cannot recognize a drug problem.   The biggest concern today is prescription drug abuse.  Some doctors say it is an epidemic among teens.  Recent DEA statistics reveal that every day, 2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time; 60% of those teens are 14 or younger.  Teens realize they have a free high right at home in mom and dad’s medicine cabinet.    Parents need to drug test their children.

       You no longer need to visit the doctor’s office.  You can safely and privately test them at home.   I endorse the MyteenSavers home drug test kit.  The test is easy to use, and maintains FDA approved standards for detecting drug use.   Most importantly, you can have peace of mind within minutes. The Myteensavers product is not just a test, it’s a plan. It comes with support for parents in crisis.   Counselors can answer questions about positive tests, treatment plans, and how what to do next.
           Parents naively smelling their teens for alcohol or marijuana could be missing a serious danger.   Recently, an Oregon teen died while attending a sleepover at a
friend’s house.   The parents were home the whole time.   One of the teens never woke up.   Turns out, they were high on prescription drugs, kept at the home.
             I have treated sick children, who are not old enough to drive, but have years of addiction under their belts.  Some of them are straight A students, all-star athletes, and are social with their peers.   The warning signs are not always there.   Parents are not experts in detecting prescription drug abuse.  Why take a chance?     Our children are our most precious creations.    Keep them safe.  Keep them drug free.  Drug test your teens.

Tim Chapman, CSAC

Tim Chapman Bio

    Tim Chapman is a 30-year veteran counselor, an author of two books and several published articles, a former 10-year columnist for the Orange County Register and the director of www.chapmanrehab.com.

     His insights into the world of teens and the habit of addicts have helped educate parents, teachers, and law enforcement.   Dubbed “America’s Parenting Coach,” Chapman has helped thousands of minors find sobriety and a cleaner path in life.    He hopes to heal families who are coping with a drug addicted loved one.

Lately, I have criticized CVS Pharmacies (CVS-Caremark).  I have claimed that CVS is a bully.  The bully their pharmacists and they have tried to bully the industry with shady deals at Caremark.  They cheat from all angles and now they are going to be held to task.  The Justice Department is investigating CVS regarding restriction of trade and antitrust violations.

CVS (executives) may be a bully, but CVS cannot bully the US Justice Department.  The FEDS don’t even bring it unless they already have the case.  90% of cases brought by the FEDS are won.

 CVS is paying a $77 million fine for illegally selling pseudoephedrine.  There is much more.

All I have to say to the executives at CVS-Caremark is this:  LYING TO FEDERAL OFFICIALS, PERJURY AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE will get you to the back row where the ex-CEO of Rite-Aid sits.   Martin Grass engaged in the big three LYING, PERJURY AND OBSTRICTION OF JUSTICE ended up doing hard time.  Ten years in a federal prison.

I’m interested to see who gets thrown under the bus.

I wanted to be fair, so I Googled these:  “RITE-AID IN TROUBLE” , “WALGREENS IN TROUBLE” AND “CVS IN TROUBLE”

I clicked only on the top two offering for each and these are what I got.

Rite-Aid

“Rite-Aid Closing a Total Shock” A Times Herald (Newman, Georgia) article on the closing of the local Rite-Aid distribution center and the layoffs

“Rite-Aid in Trouble Again” Worried writers wondering if they would get their rebate check.

Walgreens

“For Walgreens, scaling back is hard to do” A Yahoo Finance query about Walgreens opening up two distribution centers before the stores to support them are even open.

“Walgreens’ coupons” A customer found Walgreens coupons on-line and printed 20 of each to hand out to other customers.  She got busted by the store manager.

CVS

Here we go.  These are the legal issues CVS faces.  They indicate a company on weed, believing that they are bullet-proof, like a teenager.

From:  “The Hill’s Congress Blog”.  “CVS Caremark abuses warrant through FTC investigation and remedies.”

“New trouble for CVS as FTC starts anti-trust probe” November 6, 2010, CVS saw its market value cut by $10 billion (Didn’t Jay Pee suggest that you sell?)

Two Attorneys General cite CVS for selling expired products

CVS’s Press for profit may put patient health at risk.  Counseling or marketing?

CVS is most penalized retailer in Massachusetts

Chicago: Over half of CVS stores caught overcharging

CVS violates agreement with New York Attorney General

CVS sells patient data to Third Parties.

CVS takes money from Big Pharma and markets to you and your doctor

CVS failed to protect customer privacy online

Recalled Tylenol products still on CVS shelves in California

CVS takes millions in tax breaks and subsidies

That is enough.  Other than CVS has fewer stores in low income areas than Walgreens.  It isn’t even close.

CVS is headed for chaos.  They recently cut the hours of a bunch of pharmacies from 24 hour to 14 hour.  The company’s tight-fisted grip on the necks of the pharmacists will have to lighten. 

In the end, practicing pharmacy is not about the timers.  It is about practicing pharmacy.

These are some things I’d like to say:

Are we practicing a profession or aren’t we?  Is it not the law that we are mandated to counsel in certain circumstances?  Don’t our professional standards and personal ethics demand that we comply?  Don’t tell me that you are busy at the Prescription Mill and don’t whine, “Jay Pee, the counters.. you don’t understand.”

I don’t care and I DO UNDERSTAND.

Isn’t it true that we dispense poisons that could kill people if taken improperly?  Is it not important that our patients have a right to be told about any dangers and how to properly take the medicine?  Do not we have legal responsibility to warn?

YES, it is true?  “But, Jaaaaay Peeeee, you don’t understand.”

I do understand and I don’t care if you are so fucking institutionalized that you think ringing up an order at the drive through is more important than counseling the young mother whose 4 year old has never used an Albuterol MDI before.

“But, Jay Pee.  That young mother will figure it out.  They always do.”

How many of those kids end up at the Trauma Center for $1000.00 because they clamp their mouth around the opening and when they open their mouths, the mist comes right back out?  It takes counseling to make sure that doesn’t happen.  How many of those kids end up with oral thrush because nobody told the mom to have the kid rinse out his little mouth after using the inhaler?

“But, Jay Pee, you don’t UNDERSTAND, CVS times us and they will write me up.”

I don’t care.  If CVS overtly (you should be so lucky) impedes your counseling, document, document, document and get your ass to the state board with a press release telling all about it.  (I’ll help you write it.  I’m sure that any of you could get (EricRPh) Eric Durbin’s help.  David Stanley (Drug Monkey) would jump on this one.  Other bloggers who write compelling stuff would help.)  Join The Pharmacy Alliance and TPA’s Legal Counsel, Paul Garbarini, an RPh & Boston lawyer and faculty member at Northeastern University could advise you.

You not alone.  So don’t whine to me about CVS’s timers.  I know, I know, they are cutting 24 hour stores and laying off pharmacists.  That is because Caremark lost CVS ass last quarter.  It is their own damned fault.

Don’t people die because of doctor’s mistakes that you could catch at the counseling window?  Are people harmed every single day because a pharmacist did not counsel? Do PCs get slow or break only because you didn’t install registry cleaner in time?

When you are in court and the woman who used too much insulin points at you and says, “Her!” Don’t whine.  Just look to the judge and jury and fess up, “It was me, but Your Honor, you don’t understand.  The timers.  The Prescription Mill.  And I had to pee.”

The judge doesn’t care.  The legal system will hold you to standards that are so high that you will get a nose bleed.  A hint, if it is in the package insert, the law actually believes that both YOU and the Prescriber know every single word. 

Oh, I see, since I have been a retail pharmacist (mostly in chains) for 43 years, I am supposed to buy your whining.  I’m not and I won’t.  I don’t care about the timers.  I don’t care that you had to pee so bad that you were dancing and had wet panties by the time you got to the bathroom. 

I DON’T CARE!

What I do care about is your nice fat wage, your mortgage on that nice house and the two car loans.  The Lexus and the Escalade.  I care about the tuition to the kid’s safe private school, the dance classes for Millie and the Taekwondo for Junior.

I care about that because I am telling you, there will NOT be a professional’s wage for NOT doing a professional’s work forever.  Running the Prescription Mill is something that a smart, well-trained experienced technician can do. 

Think about it.  How  much do you NOT care what Jay Pee thinks now?

This story is removed a bit from our bailiwick.  It does not deal with drug therapy or medical care. 

It may not be substantially related, but it is contextually right down the middle of the plate (World Series Metaphor) and deals with how a pre-eminent authoritarian organization can actually cause patients pain.   She indicated that the kind of pain that these people suffer is such that would have you and me camping out at the dentist’s office.

Dental decay is rampant in remote Alaska.  People suffer from toothaches for months.  “Raging toothaches with swelling,” said Stephanie Woods, a Certified Dental Therapist.  She is not a dentist, but she and 13 others in Alaska are licensed and authorized to perform extractions.

These fourteen therapists bring much needed relief to patients who are so removed from a dentist that they probably have not come as close as hundreds of miles to the nearest dental office.

Most of these patients are native Alaskans, what we call Eskimos. 

Get this bullshit:  The American Dental Association is so dedicated in holding on to turf that they would let these people suffer.

The ADA’s official word is they oppose then use of non-dentists for “irreversible procedures”- including drilling and extraction- citing patient safety.

What the f***?  How about the invasive heart muscle infection from an untreated abscess?

Raymond Gist, the president of the ADA said, “If you have a patient in pain, that person has advanced disease.  I want that person to see a licensed dentist without delay.”

Doctor Gist just doesn’t get it.

I’ll segue now to the AMA and the knee-jerk reaction to anything pharmacists want to do for the benefit of the patient.

They don’t want us to have a 3^rd class of drug, a behind the counter class.  This can only benefit the patient who is poor.   

But, for the AMA as the ADA, it is all about turf.  The patient be damned.

Fuckin’ idiots.  Pathetic!