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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,454
Registered: ‎01-13-2013

TINY WV town flooded with opioids

Drug firm poured 3M opioids into WV town in just 10 months, report says

 

In just 10 months, the sixth-largest company in America shipped more than 3 million prescription opioids — nearly 10,000 pills a day on average — to a single pharmacy in a Southern West Virginia town with only 400 residents, according to a congressional report released Wednesday.

 

McKesson Corp. supplied “massive quantities” of the painkiller hydrocodone to the now-shuttered Sav-Rite Pharmacy in Kermit, even after an employee at the company’s Ohio drug warehouse flagged the suspect pill orders in 2007, the report found. That year, McKesson — ranked 6th in the Fortune 500 — reviewed its customers, including Sav-Rite, and reported to the Drug Enforcement Administration that the purchases were “reasonable,” according to the report.

 

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/health/drug-firm-poured-m-opioids-into-wv-town-in-just/article_d2...

 

McKesson Corp.'s FB page:

 

GOOD LORD.JPG

 

 

WHAT????

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,921
Registered: ‎05-01-2010

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

Hooking poor people, making huge profits and oh yeah, picking up more cash from THE big tax cuts. Welcome to America.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,139
Registered: ‎04-16-2010

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

[ Edited ]

You know, I read about this. There was also an investigative report (I saw it on YouTube) about this and I have many questions that weren't answered. Understand that my son takes an extremely high amount of opiates on a daily basis. When he has to have morphine, we have to monitor his respiratory so closely to the point I can't leave his side. Even in hospital, the medical staff watch over very carefully so he doesn't stop breathing. I know what his doctors go through and the the risk they take for writing his scripts due to the DEA knocking on their door; same with the pharmacy that fills these scripts. I've talked with the pharmacy manager and they have been visited by the DEA at least once a month which has changed how they do things all the way up to no employee can ring up a prescription more than once; they have to rotate each sale so it doesn't appear that one specific person is always handling the sales. So....

 

*Where was the DEA?

*Why were the doctors/doctor not contacted by the DEA?

*Has anyone gone after the doctors...state? AMA? Anyone?

*Where were the insurance companies raising their red flags regarding the amount of pills being giving to patients(mine does ALL THE TIME!!!!)?

*WHO were these pills going to?

* 1 month supply of Oxy for my son costs me OVER ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Who was PAYING for these drugs and how?

 

Supply and demand. Yes, we can hate Big Pharm for providing the pills BUT they can't just drop them off at a pharmacy or clinic and say "here ya go. Bye." No, they can't. There are SO MANY OTHER INDIVIDUALS responsible for this but I'm not hearing about them. Why? 

 

In the end, I'm just disgusted by everyone involved.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,295
Registered: ‎03-27-2010

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

[ Edited ]

@SahmIam  My heart goes out to you and your son.  There are legit needs for opioids and this kind of irresponsible behavior by writing excessive scripts makes it very difficult for those who desperately need the pain relief that only comes from opioids.  You are correct, doctors fear writing the scripts and pharmacies fear filling the prescriptions.  This is a very challenging situation.  I would like to see those squawking about the misuse of these drugs see those who so desperately need the pain relief that they consider taking their lives daily due to the relentless unacceptable pain.  No compassion, only righteousness.  A very complex issue, with abuse and needs on both sides of the opioid controversy.

Regular Contributor
Posts: 186
Registered: ‎11-18-2018

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

There is certainly no simple answer to this situation. On one hand are doctors who are trained to relieve patients pain, and who honestly feel for their patients who are in pain. one another hand are those who are addicts and only want the medicine to get high. They come to doctors lying and manipulative.Pain clinics were originally designed to be doctors who are specialists at assessing a patient's needs , plus being aware of other techniques to relieve people's pain - ie: cortisone inj, PT , etc. If these clinics had turned out to be as was expected when the idea came up it would have been wonderful, but they don't seem to have turned out that way. Those who are in actual pain are way over prescribed, while those deemed not to be in pain or anyone who doesn't follow every rule and regulation to the letter are bounced to the curb heartlessly. Then, even for those who get a Rx for pain , there is the factor of cost. These meds are extremely expensive.

If someone could come up with an idea on how to address all sides of this issue - a plan that would really work - they should get a medal. In my opinion the answer lies somewhere in the world of non opioid meds. Perhaps it is antidepressants, or sedative meds in conjunction with pain meds. Perhaps therapy along with these medications. Heck, if I knew the answer, I'd be a wealthy woman!

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,296
Registered: ‎09-18-2010

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

Thousands of people died in that area of drug overdoses during this time. I think people should be held accountable, from the DEA who turned a blind eye, to whatever drs prescribed large amounts of meds, (if that was going on) I wonder how many of these millions of pills were sold on the black market.

How many drug treatment centers are in that area, I wonder? Probably not near enough. This is so sad, and infuriating. I didn't read anything about accountability in the article, but hopefully that will happen. I really think people need jail time. This messes up folks lives forever, let alone over dose deaths. This doesn't need to be swept under the rug.

 

My neighbor brought me a mis delivered package yesterday. He is a vet, somehow we got to talking abut addiction. He said he hadn't had pain pills till he went to the VA, told me how easy it was for him to become addicted. He had to quit everything cold turkey, and he said he had trouble for nearly a year. Poor fella, its so sad, I can't even imagine, really.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,139
Registered: ‎04-16-2010

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

I am still trying to wrap my head around not only who was receiving this many pills but HOW they were paying for them.

 

Was the pharmacist selling them to people illegally? A "hey, come on by for your fill fix. We sell to anyone!" If so, why aren't they in jail? Were the scripts from the same doctors located in that small town or where they from ANY doctor ANYWHERE?

 

For those who may not need or don't have a loved one who takes copious amounts of opiates, you may not be aware of what it takes to get them or how much they cost or the policies around prescription opiates:

 

* The prescription can be filled by any pharmacy in the US.

* Any doctor can write the prescription (it's different NOW but in the time period this took place, any doctor could do it)

 

Knowing this, a person could get a script in one state and have it filled in another. I'm willing to bet the pharmacists/this pharmacy knew exactly what it was doing and the profits made many happy. A drug company can't just give them to a pharmacy, they must be ORDERED and scripts kept on file for proof of the need. 

 

Moving on:

 

I have a high deductible which is how I know the cost of the drugs my son uses. My cost is over a thousand but back in 2000, it wasn't so high. Still, how did people have the money in such a poor town? The majority were on Medicaid or Medicare and they, even then, were strict about the cost and coverage of opiates. Private insurance wasn't something most had so....how did people pay for the drugs? Again, willing to bet it was those coming from OUTSIDE the town to have scripts filled and paying with cash because they were suppliers/dealers selling the drugs elsewhere. 

 

It's because of greed that those who truly need opiates are jumping through hoops to get it. I understand why the policies are so strict; situations like this was the cause. It boggles my mind that SO MANY EYES weren't watching. Wouldn't surprise me if some of those DEA officers were on the take; not at all.

 

Last, Pain Clinics don't take on patients that have any condition that will NOT improve. They are looking for the quick and easy buck; a rotating door, if you will. Interesting fact: the majority of pain clinics in the US are owned by podiatrists. Now, tell me, what does a podiatrist know about brain damage leading to extreme nerve pain/dissolving of the nerve sheath? Not to mention that the people handling out the pills are simply those making minimum wage with no medical training at all.  Yes, there are exceptions, but you'd be shocked if you did the research.

 

Again, you can be mad at Big Pharm for the mark-ups but in THIS situation, I think the finger should be pointed elsewhere.

Regular Contributor
Posts: 186
Registered: ‎11-18-2018

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

[ Edited ]

@SahmIam I completely agree with you. This entire problem, at the base of it all, is about GREED. The addicts greedy for more drugs, the doctors greedy for money, the pharmacist, etc etc etc all the way down the line, up to the drug manufacturers.

I worked with doctors who had pain clinics during my career, as their patients often end up in ICU where I worked. All the "pain" doctors I worked with were anesthesia doctors.

I wonder where you heard they were podiatrists?

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,504
Registered: ‎05-22-2014

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

@SahmIam, Your post is so spot-on.  There are certainly numbers of people who depend on serious pain medications to attempt to have a decent quality of life.  Why should these people suffer needlessly because there are some who abuse these drugs?  Very unfair.

 

First of all, any qualified physician can analyze multiple tests to determine whether or not a patient is experiencing great pain.  Are we saying we don’t have ethical physicians?

In CT, a patient is given pain meds for 30 days.  The physician must re-order.  There are periodic urine tests to double check levels in the patient’s urine.  I have never heard of a pharmacy handing out opioids without following these laws.

 

Prescription opioids are expensive drugs.  Any drug overdoses I hear of here are heroine and and other “street drugs.”  They are far cheaper and much more readily available than prescription opioids.  

 

So now the “solution” is to deny these meds to the very people who need them.  I wonder how many opioids are illegally entering our country.  I bet, with some effort, unethical physicians, pharmacies, and pharmaceutical companies could be stopped.

 

My best wishes to you and your son.  I hope we can come to a common sense solution to this addiction problem without punishing someone like him.  There are too many lay experts, with no medical knowledge, who are making sweeping judgments.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,305
Registered: ‎06-08-2016

Re: TINY WV town flooded with opioids

Opiods are some of the cheapest drugs to buy here in Alabama, with or without insurance.   Less then $1 per pill for 10mg.