How Many People Have To Die Before The FDA Takes Action? « Medical Detox Programs in a stress-free environment

July 2, 2009

How Many People Have To Die Before The FDA Takes Action?

Filed under: Big Pharma, FDA, pharmaceutical sales, pharmaceuticals, prescription drug abuse, prescription drug addiction — Rod Malcolm @ 9:06 am

The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson is dead at only 50, joining many other celebrities, and thousands of others, who’s untimely deaths have been associated with painkillers like Demerol and OxyContin. What is it going to take for the FDA to end the prescription drug carnage in this country, especially the deadly OxyContin epidemic?

The unexpected and tragic death of Michael Jackson, allegedly addicted to painkillers for some 20 years or more, emphasizes the urgency with which the FDA should address the problems surrounding this country’s lax prescribing regulations, easy availability, and widespread abuse of opioid painkillers like OxyContin.

Early reports of the pop star dying less than an hour after receiving an injection of pethidine, or Demerol as it is better known, have since been denied by lawyer representing the pop star’s doctor. Whether true or false, numerous cases of sudden cardiac arrest have been traced to “serotonin syndrome”, a sudden, overwhelming and toxic excess of serotonin activity that can lead to failure of the central nervous system, which can then progress to cardiac arrest.

Serotonin syndrome, or toxicity, can be caused by dozens of drugs, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter remedies, and popular herbal preparations. Whether used therapeutically or recreationally, they can either bring about the deadly condition directly, or inadvertently through interactions with other drugs.

Jackson family members, friends, employees and co-workers have all been quoted in the media about Jackson’s long-term dependence on various prescription drugs. Some have alleged abuse, and even addiction, especially to opioid painkillers like Demerol and OxyContin. The star’s drug use was reportedly to help relieve chronic back and leg pain caused by dance injuries.

The drugs most commonly associated with serotonin toxicity include:

* Opioid painkillers
* Antidepressants
* Central nervous system stimulants
* Triptans
* Psychedelics
* Various Herbs
* Numerous other drugs and remedies

Jackson, who reliable family sources are saying suffered from a 20-year addiction to Demerol, OxyContin and other opioid painkillers, was also reportedly taking benzodiazepines and/or antidepressants along with the painkillers before his death.

Dr. Deepak Chopra, spiritual adviser and physician, and a friend of Jackson’s for many years, told Canada’s CTV News last weekend that the pop star sought and found supplies of narcotics from multiple physicians. Chopra said his suspicions that the singer was addicted were aroused in 2005, when Jackson asked him for drugs. Chopra says he refused, but learned later that Jackson was “able to find enabling physicians who co-operated with him. That’s something that people who are addicted are very good at.”

$50,000 A Year Prescription Drug Bill?

In a related story, the Associated Press reported back in January that Jackson owed a Beverly Hills pharmacy $101,926 for prescription drugs, covering roughly the years 2005 and 2006, a debt the pop star finally settled in 2007. This represents annual prescription drug costs of over $50,000! The average senior with chronic conditions in the U.S. spends an average of about $2,000 a year for prescriptions, the AP said. Whether addicted or physically dependent, there can be little doubt that the singer was consuming plenty of prescription drugs during the years, months, days and probably the hours leading up to his death.

Many questions remain about the exact cause of Jackson’s death. Toxicology screens will take four to six weeks, according to the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office. Should it be shown that the singer died from cardiac arrest, as has already been indicated, it will be no surprise to learn that serotonin syndrome, or some other central nervous system failure, will be directly attributed to prescription drugs — if not the pethidine he was alleged to have taken, then another opioid painkiller like OxyContin, or some lethal combination of drugs.

The most famous serotonin syndrome death occurred in New York in 2003, when the daughter of a prominent New York family, Libby Zion, died of cardiac arrest following treatment with pethidine by weary, overworked doctors who failed to first establish whether or not Libby was taking any other medications. It turned out she was, which led to a fatal drug interaction. The result was new state legislation, dubbed “the Libby Zion law”, regulating the number of hours that physicians can remain on post in New York State hospitals.

Pethidine acts exactly like morphine in some ways, affecting the same receptors in the brain. In many countries of the world, including Australia, the use of pethidine has been severely limited, or banned completely. The FDA should provide at least as good protection from deadly opioid painkillers for American citizens.

Deaths across the country have soared dramatically in recent years from prescription opioids, with OxyContin the most flagrantly abused. Deaths, widespread addiction and ruined lives from OxyContin dwarf those associated with any other opioid painkiller. The active component of OxyContin, called oxycodone, has been found to be even more likely to cause dangerous drug interactions than even pethidine and most other, if not all other, opioid painkillers.

For these reasons, a petition calling on the FDA to ban OxyContin, sponsored by a concerned pharmacist and a drug detox specialist who routinely sees the worst that OxyContin can do, has attracted nearly 3,000 signatures. We urge everyone who wants to see an end to the OxyContin carnage to sign the petition. And be sure to read some of the dozens and dozens of harrowing accounts from signatories, who share the personal tragedies that OxyContin has wrought in their lives.

The FDA is already holding public hearings on the problems associated with OxyContin. Enough signatures can help motivate the FDA to take steps to curtail, or better, outright ban this dangerous drug.

Medical Detox Programs in a stress-free environment

July 2, 2009

How Many People Have To Die Before The FDA Takes Action?

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