Medical Marijuana Study.

So NABP makes a blurb about The study “Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2010,”

Please note is that consumer use wasn't legalized in Washington and Colorado until 2012.  Medical marijuana may play a role? Yes, from a historical standpoint marijuana was in use in prior centuries in the US, but despite various lawsuits, even most Americans grew up only knowing that it was illegal.

The abstract mentions that three left coastal states of the lower 48 had medical marijuana before 1999. From then until 2010, 10 more states passed it. Authors assert that each year there was less opioid overdose deaths in states with marijuana access than without. 

So how does that reconcile with the fact that the very components of marijuana which reduce pain, are also associated with mental imbalance and a lack of cognitive thinking? (Source DrugStoreNews CE by medical marijuana expert).

The authors do not reconcile that point.

How about the fact that for almost everyone, an otherwise illegal substance, is legal if you're *really* sick and in pain. 

Thus, the authors say: more studies and time are needed.

Another aspect not always mentioned is that the younger generation wants it legal because they believe it is not as harmful as other illegal drugs. There is the belief among the young that they are invincible. Though also, let's not forget the impact that TV shows can have on one's belief's.
There's the fact that when alcohol was made illegal during prohibition and we had gangsters making money off its sale, and so libertarians like the now deceased Milton Friedman say "Well if we decriminalize it, maybe the drug traffickers will not be able to make a profit motive selling it illegally so lets try this social experiment."

What to do, what to do? Ah controversy....

National take back day……Saturday, September 27, 2014

Be aware.    Got drugs? Perhaps you have some you really don't need?

So the number of unintentional overdose deaths in NYC has gone from 638 in 2000 792 in 2001 remained in the 700s until 2005 (796) then increased to 828 in 2006 then shrunk to 695 in 2007, 618 then 593 then a low point of 541 in 2010 then increased 630, 730, then 782 in 2013. Politicians can't take credit for such bizarre movements of overdosing.  Of course based on statistics one can talk about the DRAMATIC RISE from the low point of 541 to the scary top of 782. over a 3 year period.  Many of them were from opioids (77%). 

     Di-acetyl morphine, which doesn't cause addiction in the UK (according to one website), is a menace to the Empire State, or at least Empire City. It is involved slightly more than half (54%)* of the overdoses. Here's a great example of percentages versus figures. Heroin killed 50% more people PER CAPITA in 2013 than it did in 2010. Here's the numbers: 209 versus 420. 

    Methadone's per capita rate is similar between 2008 and 2013 (2.4 vs 2.5 per 100,000). Most people needed to take 2 drugs to overdose. Anxiety medication was used 60% of the time. 

* 420/.54 = 777.8       778*.54~420 so I'm unsure why in the graph it has 782 as the # of unintentional deaths, but I doubt that one needs to quibble about math since there was an annotation that numbers may be changing. Bronx inhabitants eked out Staten Islanders (8.8 vs 8.6 per 100,000) in overdosing. The largest increase by ethnicity was among Hispanics/Latinos, but the largest group of people who died was Whites. Heroin is most commonly used by poor people. So, yes Virginia, poverty knows all racial groups. 

Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/epi/databrief50.pdf

A recent study from Radiology showed that iron absorption was abnormal (low) in patients with ADHD. This was based on 22 kids with it and 12 who never took any medications for it. There were 27 controls. It was coauthored by Helpern and Jensen (both PhDs). Of the kids with ADHD those on medication had higher iron levels than those who hadn't been on it. It was performed at the medical University of SC. I wonder though, how many of the families were meat eaters?

Less screaming at the doctor's office or pharmacy now that the CDC thinks it oks for kids 2-8 to get the inhaled flu vaccine instead of getting a shot. Honestly, who enjoys having a metal tube inserted into one's skin? Who looks forward to that senation of alcohol chilling the skin as its rubbed on and then possibly fanned on the arm? It's supposed to be better in terms of efficacy.
Minutia from the CDC memo, back in 2010 almost everyone at least 6 months old was asked to get a flu vaccine.

Here's the CDC link:
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/s0625-acip.html

http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/cdc-panel-recommends-nasal-spray-flu-vaccines-some-children
CDC panel recommends nasal spray flu vaccines for some children

Memo to the RPHs of the country, be honest when you file your tax returns.


From the IRS's website.:
Ohio Pharmacist Sentenced for Failing to Pay Taxes
On June 4, 2012, in Youngstown, Ohio, Ronald E. Lidderdale, of Magnolia, Ohio, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison and one year of supervised release for failing to file federal income tax returns. According to a written plea agreement, Lidderdale, who owned and operated a pharmacy and gift shop, failed to file income tax returns on which he was required to report adjusted gross income of approximately $249,497, $336,800, and $324,734 for 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. Lidderdale failed to pay approximately $281,341 in income taxes owing on that income.

https://freerangestock.com/sample/997/photo.jpg

Minutia about pharmacy:

"Ben Shalom Bernanke's parents owned/operated a pharmacy." Source: DrugStoreNews.

File this under weird pharmacy news.

A guy robs a CVS. His brother manages it. Is it the case of an inside job? Well read below to find out. Then again, who ever heard of sticking someone up not with a water gun, but a water nozzle? The entire article is copied below.
It's not quite as strange as a guy hitting a pregnant relative with a cheeseburger & pushing her because he disagrees with something she said, or an adult acting out because he can't play certain games, though normally children act out, not adults.

• Man issues threat over loss of game privileges

  A 29-year-old man was arrested after allegedly threatening his mother with a knife when she told him if he didn't do his chores, he would lose his game privileges. READ MORE

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/crime/police-blotters/report-man-hits-pregnant-woman-with-cheeseburger-1.326180

Naples man accused of robbing store with water hose nozzle

Posted: May 29, 2014 1:25 PM CDT Updated: May 29, 2014 6:18 PM CDT

By Bryan Anderson, Collier County Reporter - email

 

A man armed with a water hose nozzle is accused of robbing a Naples CVS store managed by his own brother.
Akeem Rendell Arnold, 23, of Naples, allegedly tried to steal over $14,000 shortly before closing, according to a police report.
Police say Arnold wearing a mask and dressed in black approached the store manager, who is his brother, while he was outside taking the trash out.
Arnold allegedly put what felt like a gun or knife to the manager's back and told him to re-enter the store against his will at 294 9th street South, according to the police report.
Once inside the store, Arnold is accused of hitting the manager over the head with the garden hose nozzle, taking money from the store's safe, and hog-tying him with a roll of plastic wrap.
Arnold then made a run for it, and police apprehended him along US-41 with a backpack containing the money, the garden hose nozzle, a mask, bandana and multiple pairs of gloves.
Reports show it took two pepper sprays and handcuffs to get Arnold under control.
Customers on Thursday were surprised by what happened.
"If that's true, that's really really shocking to hear that, and surprising what can happen within families," said Glynn Huntington, CVS customer.
Naples police lieutenant John Barkley credits the CVS manager, David Arnold's quick thinking for getting Akeem Arnold caught so quickly.