DEA is useful as tits on a boar
I hope the DEA is reading this, because they are not only a burden, but a tax drain on pharmacies and on the public in general. Thats right DEA, I'm talking to you. Lets show the whole world why you are as useful as tits on a boar.
In California, every pharmacy must transmit weekly a log of its controlled Rx's that it has dispensed. These are transmitted directly to the state as part of its CURES program. Good idea right? Sorta.
Whats nice about this is that I can fill out some paperwork, fax it in, and in 1-2 weeks I get a nice printout via mail of all the narcs a certain patient is getting. Of course this is after I can do absolutely nothing about it, but hey, its better than nothing. To be honest these reports are downright useful. I would give lapdances if they would have an online system where I could query in real-time my patients who might be narc-shopping. It wouldn't even be hard, just limit it to patients that have gotten something filled under the pharmacy's DEA number in the past. No HIPAA problems there.
You should SEE the look on a patients face when you slide the report in front of them after they have given you both barrels about how you wont refill their vicodin early. It makes it even sweeter when you say that you have faxed EVERY doctor on the list this report. One woman even cried in front of me. I almost felt sorry for her if she wasn't a raging bossy commanding bitch who would go from calm to insane if you told her no. See what happens when you lie to your pharmacist and doctors about pain pills? Don't give me this "She was in pain and it wasn't controlled" sob-story bullshit. If she took what the report said she received, her liver would of been blown out long by now. Guess the Escalade is going to be repo'd now. Pity.
Now, you may be asking why I think the DEA are useless with regards to the profession of pharmacy. Well, they collect this information, but do absolutely nothing with it other than collect it.
In the past, when I was out of school and 'Out to Change the World(tm)', I would call the DEA when I saw doctors with "funny" prescribing habits. Say like a month's worth of vicodin written out every 10 days. You know, stuff that your pharmacy will blacklist a doctor for (not piddly stuff like an oncologist giving an early fill once in a while). I call the DEA and the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement to get some ignorant dillhole who had no idea why I was calling. 5 transfers later, still nobody who had any CLUE as to why I was calling or who I should talk to. Wonderful. Fuck you DEA, I tried to help so now you can do your own fucking job.
To make matters worse, they are cracking down on the wholesalers. Did you know that I can order 80 bottles of concentrated oxycodone solution with no problems, but the DEA is forcing my wholesaler to only allow me to buy 2 x 1000 count of soma and 2 x 500 count vicodin per working day? They say its to prevent pharmacy diversion, but lets take a closer look at this.
1. The wholesaler knows how many I buy (obviously).
2. The DEA gets weekly reports as to how many I dispense.
so
Per month/year/whatever, they take the quantity from the stuff I transmit (#2) + whatever stock I have on hand (my vico-dans, let me sho u demz) and that SHOULD be ballpark to what my wholesaler sells me (#1). Since we have to do stock-on-hand estimates every 2 years, that can be the ballpark starting inventory before the tally takes place.
However the DEA, in their infinite wisdom, is mandating my wholesaler take PICTURES of the pharmacies (to which my boss promptly flipped off, there were patients in the store so I couldn't hang my bare ass at them) as well as sign a quadzilloin pieces of paper that say "I AM NOT AN INTERNET PHARMACY". They punish the wholesalers and the pharmacies because they are too stupid and/or lazy to use the information that THEY MANDATE WE GIVE THEM to determine who's selling under the table and who's not. In a high volume pharmacy, 1000 vicodin is what, 10 rx's? Soma is 20 rx's? Oh, did I mention that Soma isn't a controlled drug? Tell me how that works and tell me why the DEA is sticking their noses into what I can and cannot stock and how much of it I want to stock. What if there is a rumored price increase for soma and I want to buy a 6 month supply? Too bad. Guilty until proven innocent.
So day in and day out we are the vicodin police living in fear of the dreaded DEA audit. Those aren't fun, when hell freezes over and the agents get off their asses and actually do one. Do they care about phonies? Nope. Does anyone care about phonies? Nope. Even the doctors don't care when the patient decided to give themselves 3 refills on their Vico-Dan ES prescription; "Oh, the're in pain, fill it anyways - no refills". Yeah, write me out a check for $100 and after I add about 4 zero's behind it you can tell the bank "Oh, he's just poor, cash it."
Don't get me started at the whole logging Sudafed transactions. What roomful of non-medical politicians decided to jerk each other off and pass such a shitty hole-ridden law such as this is beyond me. Yay, I have a book that has every Claritin-D Rx in it. So does every other pharmacy out there. Doesn't prevent the 18-wheeler full of sudafed thats being trucked in from MEXICO that the crank-cookers use. Again, we can check our little books and realize that Juan Jose Carlos Maragariga VIII has been to every store in town to buy sudafed. Will work really great after he's arrested (or dead) after his lab blows up; BUT HEY WE HAVE THE LOGS TO SHOW HE BOUGHT SUDAFED (as if busted in a lab wasn't enough). The FDA shot themselves in the foot by pulling PPA off of the market because fatties were OD'ing on the stuff to lose weight - did they somehow not see this coming?
So DEA, after you are done subpoenaing me, auditing my store, ruining my life and wasting your time to find I've done NOTHING wrong, realize that pharmacists all over the country think that you pretty much suck and should stick your nose out of our business unless we call you. We went to school to deal with this shit, you didn't. Oh, and give us a web-interface for all of the HIPAA violating data that you collect on a weekly basis. We can do *your* job a whole lot better if we can get the information NOW rather than after the patient has shopped every pharmacy in town (as if you will do anything about it anways).
In California, every pharmacy must transmit weekly a log of its controlled Rx's that it has dispensed. These are transmitted directly to the state as part of its CURES program. Good idea right? Sorta.
Whats nice about this is that I can fill out some paperwork, fax it in, and in 1-2 weeks I get a nice printout via mail of all the narcs a certain patient is getting. Of course this is after I can do absolutely nothing about it, but hey, its better than nothing. To be honest these reports are downright useful. I would give lapdances if they would have an online system where I could query in real-time my patients who might be narc-shopping. It wouldn't even be hard, just limit it to patients that have gotten something filled under the pharmacy's DEA number in the past. No HIPAA problems there.
You should SEE the look on a patients face when you slide the report in front of them after they have given you both barrels about how you wont refill their vicodin early. It makes it even sweeter when you say that you have faxed EVERY doctor on the list this report. One woman even cried in front of me. I almost felt sorry for her if she wasn't a raging bossy commanding bitch who would go from calm to insane if you told her no. See what happens when you lie to your pharmacist and doctors about pain pills? Don't give me this "She was in pain and it wasn't controlled" sob-story bullshit. If she took what the report said she received, her liver would of been blown out long by now. Guess the Escalade is going to be repo'd now. Pity.
Now, you may be asking why I think the DEA are useless with regards to the profession of pharmacy. Well, they collect this information, but do absolutely nothing with it other than collect it.
In the past, when I was out of school and 'Out to Change the World(tm)', I would call the DEA when I saw doctors with "funny" prescribing habits. Say like a month's worth of vicodin written out every 10 days. You know, stuff that your pharmacy will blacklist a doctor for (not piddly stuff like an oncologist giving an early fill once in a while). I call the DEA and the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement to get some ignorant dillhole who had no idea why I was calling. 5 transfers later, still nobody who had any CLUE as to why I was calling or who I should talk to. Wonderful. Fuck you DEA, I tried to help so now you can do your own fucking job.
To make matters worse, they are cracking down on the wholesalers. Did you know that I can order 80 bottles of concentrated oxycodone solution with no problems, but the DEA is forcing my wholesaler to only allow me to buy 2 x 1000 count of soma and 2 x 500 count vicodin per working day? They say its to prevent pharmacy diversion, but lets take a closer look at this.
1. The wholesaler knows how many I buy (obviously).
2. The DEA gets weekly reports as to how many I dispense.
so
Per month/year/whatever, they take the quantity from the stuff I transmit (#2) + whatever stock I have on hand (my vico-dans, let me sho u demz) and that SHOULD be ballpark to what my wholesaler sells me (#1). Since we have to do stock-on-hand estimates every 2 years, that can be the ballpark starting inventory before the tally takes place.
However the DEA, in their infinite wisdom, is mandating my wholesaler take PICTURES of the pharmacies (to which my boss promptly flipped off, there were patients in the store so I couldn't hang my bare ass at them) as well as sign a quadzilloin pieces of paper that say "I AM NOT AN INTERNET PHARMACY". They punish the wholesalers and the pharmacies because they are too stupid and/or lazy to use the information that THEY MANDATE WE GIVE THEM to determine who's selling under the table and who's not. In a high volume pharmacy, 1000 vicodin is what, 10 rx's? Soma is 20 rx's? Oh, did I mention that Soma isn't a controlled drug? Tell me how that works and tell me why the DEA is sticking their noses into what I can and cannot stock and how much of it I want to stock. What if there is a rumored price increase for soma and I want to buy a 6 month supply? Too bad. Guilty until proven innocent.
So day in and day out we are the vicodin police living in fear of the dreaded DEA audit. Those aren't fun, when hell freezes over and the agents get off their asses and actually do one. Do they care about phonies? Nope. Does anyone care about phonies? Nope. Even the doctors don't care when the patient decided to give themselves 3 refills on their Vico-Dan ES prescription; "Oh, the're in pain, fill it anyways - no refills". Yeah, write me out a check for $100 and after I add about 4 zero's behind it you can tell the bank "Oh, he's just poor, cash it."
Don't get me started at the whole logging Sudafed transactions. What roomful of non-medical politicians decided to jerk each other off and pass such a shitty hole-ridden law such as this is beyond me. Yay, I have a book that has every Claritin-D Rx in it. So does every other pharmacy out there. Doesn't prevent the 18-wheeler full of sudafed thats being trucked in from MEXICO that the crank-cookers use. Again, we can check our little books and realize that Juan Jose Carlos Maragariga VIII has been to every store in town to buy sudafed. Will work really great after he's arrested (or dead) after his lab blows up; BUT HEY WE HAVE THE LOGS TO SHOW HE BOUGHT SUDAFED (as if busted in a lab wasn't enough). The FDA shot themselves in the foot by pulling PPA off of the market because fatties were OD'ing on the stuff to lose weight - did they somehow not see this coming?
So DEA, after you are done subpoenaing me, auditing my store, ruining my life and wasting your time to find I've done NOTHING wrong, realize that pharmacists all over the country think that you pretty much suck and should stick your nose out of our business unless we call you. We went to school to deal with this shit, you didn't. Oh, and give us a web-interface for all of the HIPAA violating data that you collect on a weekly basis. We can do *your* job a whole lot better if we can get the information NOW rather than after the patient has shopped every pharmacy in town (as if you will do anything about it anways).
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That sucks about Cali TAP. Here in Colorado we have an online database that I can pull up instantly! It lags by a couple of days but it's still pretty cool. It shows where the rx's were filled, which doc wrote them, how many were dispensed and how the patient paid. AWESOME!! Get on board Cali and get your shit together, online is the only way to be truly effective in the war against these fucking crackhead customers!
As a pharmacy tech, I've always wondered exactly what the DEA did besides tracking what we ordered (I'm in New Mexico). This sorta depresses me. Are we as pharmacists really the only defense against addicts, dealers, and their ilk?
Also, in the state of NM, Soma is a controlled substance. I thought this meant something, but now I'm not so sure it means anything besides the typical do-not-transfer rules.
I'm in Colorado too and that database is sweet. I mean seriously, we have a couple of people where it feels like we're scrolling through their profiles for forever. Ridiculous. And I concur, fuck the DEA! Especially for that sudafed shit
Here in IL, we also have to submit every schedule drug to Atlantic Associates once a week. But, it is available online once you register for the system. And, they actually called me to make sure I was a real pharmacist before they let me have access to the system. I just put the patient's name in and birthday and it tells me what drugs they are getting, the doctor, the pharmacy, the quantity, and the days supply....Considering IL is backwards compared to other states I have worked in, I'm suprised that in this one area, they seem to be ahead.
I'm at tech in Illinois and we just got access to the online rx monitoring system. It's fantastic. However, there are certain rules that dont allow you to look up everyone under the sun that you fill for or you will be heavily fined. You are only allowed to do it if you feel the customer is suspicious. LAME! We did however, find out that one of our cash brand Focalin customers was going to 7 diff Dr's and every pharmacy in a 100 mile radius....Another pharmacy she goes to called the cops. They dont care. Niether does the DEA. Big surprise!!!---Not!
Pharmacy tech @ 1.36,
Soma is scheduled in a few states, one of the states I work in among them:
http://www.cityofla.org/LAPD/traffic/dre/soma.htm
Wow, a form would be a blessing to us. Here in Connecticut, we have no such system at all. We have to rely on insurance companies and hoping that the addicts shop at Rite-aid down the street. God forbid they shop in the next town over as well, there's about 15 independants that they could use.
Side note: Did you know that it's an official Walgreens policy to prepare for CVS stores opening by trying to buy out every independant in a 3-mile radius? Yeah, I read it on the Walnet (Yes, it's called Walnet). Kinda scares me that I work for these monsters.
http://www.cityofla.org/LAPD/traffic/dre/soma.htm
"The Drug Enforcement Administration has collected relevant data and requested a scientific and medical evaluation and scheduling recommendation for carisoprodol from the Department of Health and Human Services. The Office of Diversion Control of the Drug Enforcement Administration continues to gather information on the abuse, diversion and trafficking of carisoprodol. Reports of actual abuse are an extremely important factor in establishing the abuse potential of a substance for control under the Controlled Substances Act. Please contact Doctor Kira Hutchinson at the below address for further information, or to report any encounter with carisoprodol."
Are you kidding me? still collecting data??
talking about idiot feds.
If the boar was some sort of transvestite, gender confused type, I bet he could find tits way useful.
Perhaps the boar could make a living as some sort of trans-gendered escort to other bi-curious boars. Then the tits would not only be useful, but would save him a lot in start-up sex-change surgery expense
I don't get the DEA, what to they get out of this? They are going against big pharm, and given the general MO of the current administration this is contradictory to how business is done with bushies.
Are their intentions (albeit misguided) good?
Or maybe has the DEA gotten so bad at stopping more tradition illegal street narcotics that now they are relegated to "stopping" drug transactions by medical professionals? That's got to be it. They need their drug busts to be fucking handed to them through medical records and pharm invoices.
Your post was depressing. Big fucking brother watching you to try and get some points for a congressman whose just wants to be able to say they are "cracking down" .