Federal statistics show US border authorities seized 21,889 pounds of fentanyl in the 2024 fiscal year. Of that amount, 43 pounds were seized at the Canadian border — about 0.2% — compared with 21,148 pounds at the Mexican border, about 96.6%.

There’s no indication of any substantial change in the first three months of the 2025 fiscal year (October 2024 through December 2024). Of the 4,537 pounds of fentanyl seized by US border authorities during that period, 10 pounds, about 0.2%, were seized at the Canadian border, while 4,409 pounds, about 97.2%, were seized at the Mexican border.

Nor are American pharmaceutical companies altruistic heroes; they’re in business to make a profit for their shareholders. But profits are the reward for risking capital and producing something of great value. My wife’s Tagrisso is such a product. Tagrisso got approval in the United States before Europe thanks, in large part, to the United States’s robust pharmaceutical industry and the regulatory system that accompanies it.

And yes, the United States has a tragic chronic disease burden, for which medications are probably not the exclusive, or even primary, answer. But Big Pharma is becoming a scapegoat for problems that often originated in, or were compounded by, poor lifestyle choices.

For all its well-documented inefficiencies, the American healthcare system is second to none. And the pharmaceutical industry is an essential part of it. My son and my daughter still have their parents because of Big Pharma. I have a wife because of Big Pharma. And millions of others are alive because a scientist, paid well out of the revenue generated by a company’s previously issued medicines, discovered a new miracle medicine that could save or prolong a life.

Teen drug use continued to fall in 2024, extending a dramatic decline spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that experts expected would reverse now that the acute phase of the global crisis is well over.

But, according to data released Tuesday, the number of eighth, 10th, and 12th graders who collectively abstained from the use of alcohol, marijuana, or nicotine hit a new high this year. Use of illicit drugs also fell on the whole and use of non-heroin narcotics (Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet) hit an all-time low. //

The initial drop in drug use between 2020 and 2021 was among the largest ever recorded. And researchers like Miech expected the rates would bounce back, at least partially. But now, the data suggests the pandemic has started a wave of abstention that is still rippling through grade levels. //

Apophasis Seniorius Lurkius
7y
40
Subscriptor++
Apophasis said:
Maybe less IRL exposure to drugs as a consequence of more screen time?
Half right 🤷‍♂️

From the press release:

"[The continued declines] suggest that a delay in drug use initiation during adolescence could potentially lower substance use trajectories over a lifetime, Miech says.

Such a delay, he says, may prevent youth from associating with drug-using peer groups that encourage continued use and may forestall biological processes that contribute to the development of addiction."

The box of prescription drugs had been forgotten in a back closet of a retail pharmacy for so long that some of the pills predated the 1969 moon landing. Most were 30 to 40 years past their expiration dates — possibly toxic, probably worthless.

But to Lee Cantrell, who helps run the California Poison Control System, the cache was an opportunity to answer an enduring question about the actual shelf life of drugs: Could these drugs from the bell-bottom era still be potent? //

The age of the drugs might have been bizarre, but the question the researchers wanted to answer wasn't. Pharmacies across the country in major medical centers and in neighborhood strip malls routinely toss out tons of scarce and potentially valuable prescription drugs when they hit their expiration dates. //

Experts estimate such squandering eats up about $765 billion a year — as much as a quarter of all the country's health care spending. //

The findings surprised both researchers: A dozen of the 14 compounds were still as potent as they were when they were manufactured, some at almost 100 percent of their labeled concentrations. //

"Refining our prescription drug dating process could save billions," he says.

But after a brief burst of attention, the response to their study faded. That raises an even bigger question: If some drugs remain effective well beyond the date on their labels, why hasn't there been a push to extend their expiration dates?

It turns out that the FDA, the agency that helps set the dates, has long known the shelf life of some drugs can be extended, sometimes by years.

In fact, the federal government has saved a fortune by doing this. //

For decades, the federal government has stockpiled massive stashes of medication, antidotes and vaccines in secure locations throughout the country. The drugs are worth tens of billions of dollars and would provide a first line of defense in case of a large-scale emergency.

Maintaining these stockpiles is expensive. The drugs have to be kept secure and at the proper humidity and temperature so they don't degrade. Luckily, the country has rarely needed to tap into many of the drugs, but this means they often reach their expiration dates. Though the government requires pharmacies to throw away expired drugs, it doesn't always follow these instructions itself. Instead, for more than 30 years, it has pulled some medicines and tested their quality. //

In 1986, the Air Force, hoping to save on replacement costs, asked the FDA if certain drugs' expiration dates could be extended. In response, the FDA and Defense Department created the Shelf Life Extension Program.

Each year, drugs from the stockpiles are selected based on their value and pending expiration, and analyzed in batches to determine whether their end dates could be safely extended. For several decades, the program has found that the actual shelf life of many drugs is well beyond the original expiration dates.

A 2006 study of 122 drugs tested by the program showed that two-thirds of the expired medications were stable every time a lot was tested. Each of them had their expiration dates extended, on average, by more than four years, according to research published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Some that failed to hold their potency include the common asthma inhalant albuterol, the topical rash spray diphenhydramine, and a local anesthetic made from lidocaine and epinephrine, the study said. //

An official with the Department of Defense, which maintains about $13.6 billion worth of drugs in its stockpile, says that in 2016 it cost $3.1 million to run the extension program — which saved the department from replacing $2.1 billion in expired drugs. //

Federal and state laws prohibit pharmacists from dispensing expired drugs, and The Joint Commission, which accredits thousands of health care organizations, requires facilities to remove expired medication from their supply. //

Testing showed 24 of the 40 expired devices contained at least 90 percent of their stated amount of epinephrine, enough to be considered as potent as when they were made. All of them contained at least 80 percent of their labeled concentration of medication. The takeaway? Even EpiPens stored in less than ideal conditions may last longer than their labels say they do, and if there's no other option, an expired EpiPen may be better than nothing, Cantrell says. //

"The question is: Should the FDA be doing more stability testing?" Berkowitz says. "Could they come up with a safe and systematic way to cut down on the drugs being wasted in hospitals?"

Four scientists who worked on the FDA extension program told ProPublica something like that could work for drugs stored in hospital pharmacies, where conditions are carefully controlled.

Greg Burel, director of the CDC's stockpile, says he worries that if drugmakers were forced to extend their expiration dates it could backfire, making it unprofitable to produce certain drugs and thereby reducing access or increasing prices.

Last year, FDA advisers unanimously voted that oral phenylephrine is ineffective. //

No other lab was ever able to replicate the positive results from those two studies. And when FDA scientists carefully looked through the data, they found evidence that some of the numbers could have been fudged and that the results were "too good to be real."

As a final nail in phenylephrine's coffin, modern studies suggest that when phenylephrine is taken orally, it's highly metabolized in the gut, leaving less than 1 percent of the consumed dose as active in the body. The finding explains why oral doses don't cause the constriction of blood vessels throughout the body that could lead to an uptick in blood pressure—a side effect sometimes seen with pseudoephedrine. While researchers initially thought the lack of blood pressure increases was a positive finding, in retrospect, it was a hint that the drug wasn't working.

With that, a panel of advisers for the FDA voted unanimously, 16 to 0, that oral doses of phenylephrine are not effective at treating a stuffy nose.

The advent of a Cheech and Chong society has created a new problem for police departments: how to sort out legal marijuana enterprises from illegal ones. It isn't always that easy to tell weed that has been thoroughly taxed from the libertarian, free market variety; see California police hand deliver $800K worth of cannabis to distributor after illegal raid (nypost.com). //

24. OFFICER FRANCO compared the power usage of the TARGET PREMISES to nearby businesses and found it significantly higher.

25. OFFICER FRANCO, therefore, concluded that the TARGET PREMISES was cultivating cannabis, disregarding the fact that it is a diagnostic facility utilizing an MRI machine, X ray machine, and other heavy medical equipment—unlike the surrounding businesses selling flowers, chocolates, and childrens’ merchandise, none of which would require significant power usage. //

Raiding the NoHo offices near closing time, the SWAT team found pretty much what they would have expected to find if they had ever checked with city licensing agencies: a single employee and an X-ray and MRI machine. They detained the employee and proceeded to rummage through offices that obviously did not contain either marijuana plants or processing equipment.

39. Considering the search yielded no live cannabis plants or any other contraband, and the detained employee had already been released, it was evident—or should have been—that any further action taken by the LAPD Officers would exceed the scope of the search warrant.

    40. However, some LAPD Officers continued to roam freely throughout the TARGET PREMISES, casually engaging in conversation with one another. The whole operation was nothing short of a disorganized circus, with no apparent rules, procedures, or even a hint of coordination. //

43. Said LAPD officer, dangling a rifle in his right hand, with an unsecured strap, approached the MRI Office, glanced at the large warning sign on the door, reopened the door with his left hand and proceeded inside.

44. Expectedly, the magnetic force of the MRI machine attracted the LAPD Officer's loose rifle, securing it to the machine.

Wait, it gets better. With one SWAT team member's firearm welded to the MRI machine, our heroes search for a way out. They can't ask for help because the detained employee is a potential drug kingpin, and they don't want to look stupid, but mostly because they don't want to look stupid.

45. The MRI machine was equipped with a sealed emergency pull button labeled, "Caution, Emergency Use Only." This button was intended to be activated solely in the event of a genuine emergency, such as a health risk to a patient inside the machine, a fire, or an evacuation situation.

46. Rather than seeking assistance from the on-site employee, or waiting for the manager’s arrival, one of the LAPD Officers made the unilateral decision to break the seal and activate the emergency shutdown button, deactivating the MRI machine.

What could go wrong?

47. This action caused the MRI's magnet to rapidly lose superconductivity, leading to the evaporation of approximately 2000 liters of helium gas and resulting in extensive damage to the MRI machine.

We still haven't achieved Humiliationmax.

48. The LAPD Officer then grabbed his rifle, this time wearing the strap over his shoulder as he should have when he entered the MRI room, and proceeded to walk toward the entrance, leaving the magazine full of bullets on the floor of the MRI office. //

Anyway, the owner of NoHo Diagnostics is suing the LAPD for a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which would be misleading the magistrate about the nature of NoHo Diagnostics's business. It is suing the now-retired police chief Michael Moore for "willful, wanton, malicious, and done with a reckless disregard for the rights of Plaintiffs," and it is suing the city and all twenty officers involved in this fiasco for negligence. //

flatlander 2 minutes ago

Whatever happened to just making a phone call or simply visiting the building? How about checking with city hall to find out how the business is registered? Why does everything have to be so dramatic?

stickdude90 37 minutes ago

So at no point during the planning of this raid did anyone think to actually visit the business first?

Calling them Keystone Kops would be an insult to true Keystone Kops.

At first glance, vitamins and other dietary supplements seem like qualified medical expenses for health savings account (HSA) and flexible spending account (FSA) holders. They are designed to fill "gaps" in the average diet, offsetting nutritional deficiencies along the way — yes, even those deficiencies that can lead to larger health problems.

However, the IRS defines qualified medical expenses within the IRS Section 213(d) as “amounts paid for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation or treatment of a disease, and for treatments affecting any structure or function of the body.” The IRS has further specified that these expenses must be primarily to alleviate a physical or mental defect or illness.

So why are HSA users coming up empty when searching for HSA eligible vitamins and supplements? Learn which vitamins and supplements are HSA eligible. //

Currently, the only way to use a consumer-directed healthcare account to pay for most vitamins and supplements is if a specific vitamin or supplement is recommended by a medical professional to treat or mitigate a medical condition with a letter of medical necessity.

But sales are shrinking and with them, revenues. I'd add that the tax revenues were maybe not what some boosters told us they'd be. "Colorado collected just over $274.1 million in commercial marijuana taxes and licensing fees in 2023," Denver's Westworld reported in March, "and has tallied a little more than $43.5 through the first two months of 2024."

For a state that spent $38.5 billion last year, $274.1 million in taxes — shared in part with local governments — doesn't amount to much. It seems like a long time ago when the hippies were saying, "Just legalize it, man, and we'll close the deficit!" But to be fair, the hippies were probably stoned out of their minds when they came up with that.

More people have reported severe poisonings in an ongoing outbreak marked by people seizing and needing to be intubated after consuming microdose candies made by Diamond Shruumz, the Food and Drug Administration reported Tuesday.