DEA with their thumbs up their asses

Crusty RPh writes,

DEA, DEA, DEA, Bullshit. Everyone worries about the DEA. The DEA has bigger fish to fry then worrying about me dispensing a Vicodin prescription to some jackass who got it down the street at another pharmacy 5 days ago. If I beleive the lost story, it is my decision. Fuck the DEA. If I say no,it is my decision with absolutely no concern about the DEA. The DEA is trying to find prescription mills, not the occasional poor judgment of a legit pharmacy. They currently get transmissions from the pharmacies — these transmissions include the Patient info, Dr. info, and drug info including the quantity prescribed. The DEA gets transmissions from the drug wholesalers which have the purchase information for each pharmacy for Schedule meds. In essence, all the information needed to audit each pharmacy, Dr and patient each month. With all this information, their answer to the problem is to limit the number of bottles of Vicodin I can order. Bullshit, if they have a problem with the amount of Vicodin I order, audit my store’s usage, don’t limit my supply. I am very strict with Schedule Rxs –I feel 99.9% totally legit, but I have high volume business and I don’t need any fuckin government agency telling I can’t order the meds necessary to fill these prescriptions.
I have requested reports from the DEA on patients, which show overusage and over prescribing. Why do I have to request this information–it should be forwarded to me as matter of record. That’s why I call BULLSHIT on the DEA. A letter to the Dr, patient, and pharmacy should generated automatically when there is a history of “repeated” abuse.

I’ve emailed back and forth with him, and it turns out California is required to send all controlled Rx info to the feds weekly. There have been reports of wholesalers limiting how much Vicodin/Soma you can buy under orders from the DEA.
DEA, get your head out of your ass. You can tell if a pharmacy is a drug-mill just by looking at the data that you force them to send to you! Here, let me help you.

1. The wholesalers transmit to you how many vicodin they sell to a store in a month.
2. The pharmacies transmit to you how many vicodin they dispense in a month along with patient and doctor information.
   Look at the two, if the pharmacy is 10,000 tablets off, they either have a huge stock in the store, or something is fishy. Pharmacies should get notices (along with the doctors) when say 100 vicodin are filled at 2 different pharmacies within an unreasonable period of time (say, 5 days). If the doctor auth’d the early refill (due to loss, stolen, etc) then the notice is just trashed and everyone moves on. This shit is all electronic now, so why cant they just generate reports to send to pharmacies about potential doctor shoppers? What the fuck is the DEA doing with all of that data that they require pharmacies to send to them? I’m sure it would be extremely easy to take all the data and give each pharmacy a weekly report on usage. At least then it would make the poor pharmacists who have to transmit this shit feel like they are actually doing something!
   DEA is like the Highway Patrol. Useless unless you have your head up your ass and screw up once. Then they are all over you like flies on shit.

Comments #

Comment by indietech on 2008-01-18 13:58:13 -0800 #

this is going on in utah as well. we had one wholesaler limit the amount of anything in the lortab/vicodin family we could order per month. we just recently had another wholesaler limiting how many oxycodone-containing products we could order. we don’t fill for anyone we think is a doctor-shopper and are very careful whenever dispensing narcotics. however, we have a doctor who tends to write multiple scripts for narcotics for each patient, so we go through a LOT of percocet and oxycontin. and, as far as our licensing agency is concerned, these scripts are legal. we have no basis on which to deny them, other than we don’t like the doctor. so the limits are starting to affect us pretty badly.

Comment by CATech on 2008-01-18 18:00:26 -0800 #

It’s not just that CA is limiting usage – they cut you off if you vary too much from your norm. We’ve had patients in my hospital who are on horse-tranquilizer doses of Dilaudid, or patients who are clinging to life on a constant high-dose Versed drip, and my wholesaler cuts us off. We’re trying not to order a lot, we’re ordering what we need every couple days, but they cut us off and then say it will take a couple days to do an “administrative review” before they can release ANY more narcotics to us. I’m told it’s flagged to check for diversion. I understand they have to do the paperwork, but don’t let my patient die in the process.

Comment by Drug Nazi on 2008-01-27 14:23:16 -0800 #

Someday YOU will be the person in pain. You will know what millions go through on a daily basis. If not you then your child, spouse, parent or grandparent. No one leaves life without significant illness or injury. SOMEDAY THIS WILL BE YOU. I hope you enjoy the pain you will be in for as much as you given it to others. Wait till you walk a mile or 100 in the shoes of someone in pain. Those who have the opportunity to help others should HELP- not rant in a blog.

Comment by J A on 2008-02-01 15:53:52 -0800 #

I completely agree. I had many RX for different pain meds last year. I saw a gazillion drs. trying to find answers to my chronic wide-spread pain. Instead of helping me, these RX’s screwed me over in the end. ALL the drs. got a letter. I didn’t go in asking for drugs, i went in looking for an answer to my pain. NOT One dr. offered to run tests, or check me for Fibromyalgia…No, they all wrote me a script and sent me on my way.
THE DEA now thinks that I am a drug seeker. WHAT!
I just want to be OUT OF PAIN!
I am now afraid to apply for a part time job for fear that I will have a “record”. I live in fear that my neighbors will think I’m a drug addict because of this.
SO I agree with Drug Nazi…I hope each and every one working at the DEA deals with severe chronic pain on a daily basis and doesn’t the get the pain medication they need to get out of bed and do basic daily functions.
God, deal with the REAL drug addicts and the guys on the street corners selling to our kids. Not a stay at home mom trying to live life pain free.

Comment by TS on 2008-02-09 17:27:49 -0800 #

JA and Drug Nazi, I commend you both. It took an act of courage to speak up in this atomosphere. In reading over this blog, and the vast majority of the comments on it, I must say I’m a little apalled. I’ve been a chronic pain patient for 7 years. In that time, I’ve been fortunate to work with an amazing Pain Management practice. They have given my life back, after Endometriosis, 4 Laparoscopies and a full Hysterectomy took it away. I can work full-time at a job I love, teach Martial Arts to lil’ kiddos, keep up with my own very active kids and even fall in love again. The only negative I’ve had in that time (aside from constant pain)? Pharmacists. Don’t get me wrong…there have been some very kind, helpful Pharmacists along the way…but only a couple. I understand it is a challenging, demanding job. I understand there are indeed people out there who will lie, cheat, steal, manipulate and do anything they have do to get extra meds, early refills or stronger dosages. But I am so tired of feeling the need to justify myself every month when I pick up my meds. And now, having read through this site, I understand the level of contempt that is directed towards your customers….and I agree with the above two posters. YOU should know what this constant pain feels like. And, YOU should experience the feeling of being looked down upon as a drug addict, slime ball, pill-popping liar when you’re following your Doctor’s orders and trying to reclaim your life.

Comment by star on 2008-05-05 11:42:24 -0700 #

I totally agree!!! I have had fibro and migraines for over 20 years but the last 8 have been so excruciating….my younger kids are 8 and 10 and its all i can do sometimes to roll onto the floor and crawl to the wall to pull myself up. I have absolutey NO ENERGY to even clean or make the bed or cook or do the laundry like i use to love to do. I havent christmas shopped in the last 6 years. my older daughters do it for me or i do it online and even that is exhausting!!
My chronic pain specialist and neurolist wont prescibe allderol for me and i KNOW that would help, as i used it when younger…i am at my wits end!!! they also wont give me B12 shots they just keep giving me DOWNERS (relaxeers, and pain meds) im just done with those! I want to feel alive and not like a zombie!! help

Comment by Ed P on 2011-09-27 21:24:06 -0700 #

Dear Angry Pharmacist,
You are an inspiration for me to start the angry engineer website. I am a consultant engineer travelling from state to state spending 6-12 months helping companies that lack the core technical and managerial competencies to see a project to completion. I end up putting them back on track..
I do want to know what you think about this new DEA Take Back Your Prescription Drugs program. What laws justify the DEA or any Law Enforcement from accepting old bottles of Scheduled prescription including Percocet, Oxycontin and Xanax?
In New York it’s always make clear with that bright orange label that says, “Federal Law Prohibits the Transfer of this Drug to Anyone Except The Patient it is Prescribed For”.
I am certain that those 5% of people who misuse or divert pharmaceuticals includes law enforcement.
People convinced they are doing the right thing when all they need to do is flush them down the toilet. Easy, “piece of cake”!

Comment by Erin on 2018-03-01 10:47:37 -0800 #

THIS. Why are government officials and lawyers telling doctors what to prescribe or pharmacists what to dispense? Doctors and pharmacists should now be able to practice law, tit for tat. I’ve lost my dad an uncle and a cousin to opioid OD – NONE OF THEM WERE SEEING DOCTORS FOR THE MEDS. Right on, Angry Pharmacist!!