Happiness is ...

[boutons_deux]

U.S. Drug-Related Deaths Outnumber Traffic Fatalities

OxyContin, Vicodin and Xanax are the most commonly abused medications, according to the CDC data. Prescription drugs now kill more Americans each year than heroin and cocaine combined.

Almost half of all Americans take at least one prescription drug, the CDC reports. Antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed drugs for middle-aged adults, while cholesterol-lowering medications are the most common prescriptions for older Americans.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/215777/20110918/u-s-drug-deaths-outnumber-traffic-fatalities-prescription-drug-deaths.htm

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Marijuana Arrests Driving America’s ‘Drug War,’ Latest FBI Report Shows


Police made 853,838 arrests in 2010 for marijuana-related offenses, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The arrest total is among the highest ever reported by the agency and is nearly identical to the total number of cannabis-related arrests reported in 2009.

According to the report, marijuana arrests now comprise more than one-half (52 percent) of all drug arrests in the United States. An estimated 46 percent of all drug arrests are for offenses related to marijuana possession.

“Today, as in past years, the so-called ‘drug war’ remains fueled by the arrests of minor marijuana possession offenders, a disproportionate percentage of whom are ethnic minorities,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in a prepared statement. “It makes no sense to continue to waste law enforcements’ time and taxpayers’ dollars to arrest and prosecute Americans for their use of a substance that poses far fewer health risks than alcohol or tobacco.”

Of those charged with marijuana law violations, 750,591 (88 percent) were arrested for marijuana offenses involving possession only.

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/09/19/marijuana-arrests-driving-america%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98drug-war%e2%80%99-latest-fbi-report-shows/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=alternet#

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no comment! :lol

... yet

[cantthinkofanything]

working with unicorns in a rainbow valley

[boutons_deux]

Abuse of Xanax Leads a Clinic to Halt Supply

“It is such a drain on resources,” said Ms. Mink, whose employer, Seven Counties Services, serves some 30,000 patients in Louisville and the surrounding region. “You’re funneling a great deal of your energy into pacifying, educating, bumping heads with people over Xanax.”

Because of the clamor for the drug, and concern over the striking number of overdoses involving Xanax here and across the country, Seven Counties took an unusual step — its doctors stopped writing new prescriptions for Xanax and its generic version, alprazolam, in April and plan to wean patients off it completely by year’s end.

The experiment will be closely watched in a state that has wrestled with widespread prescription drug abuse for more than a decade and is grasping for solutions as it claims more lives by the week. While Kentucky and other states have focused largely on narcotic painkiller addiction, experts say that benzodiazepines, the class of sedatives that includes Xanax, are also widely misused or abused, often with grim consequences.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/in-louisville-a-centers-doctors-cut-off-xanax-prescriptions.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Same happened recently in Louisiana, but I can't find the link now.

[cantthinkofanything]

balloon dancing with fairies and leprechauns

[boutons_deux]

Hey! It's a very lucrative business!

Two former law enforcement officials who worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as confidential informants on probes into police corruption have come forward with allegations of drug cartel ties to top cops, judges and elected officials.

Greg Gonzales, a retired sheriff's deputy, and Wesley Dutton, a former New Mexico livestock investigator, told The El Paso Times that the FBI uncovered some "big names" in the course of one investigation, but it was dropped without result.

Both men helped with several investigations during their 18 months as confidential informants, the report says, including one that ended with the arrest of FBI special agent John Shipley, who was allegedly selling guns to cartel members.

But far from a sole bad apple, these two whistleblowers claim drug cartels wield tremendous influence over law enforcement and elected officials, even throwing fundraisers and parties attended by "bankers, judges, and law enforcement officers." Large campaign contributions, they added, have been made to help influence key appointments.

And perhaps one of the most outrageous claims in their report: law enforcement is said to have personally escorted drug shipments, dropped from small aircraft onto private ranches near the border, to their next stops along the distribution chain.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/19/whistleblowers-drug-cartels-throw-fundraisers-for-u-s-officials/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[cantthinkofanything]

floating down a gumdrop river on a caravan of pink clouds

[101A]

Almost half of all Americans take at least one prescription drug, the CDC reports.

If this is true (and I have no reason to believe it is not), then it doesn't matter how we pay for healthcare. Private, public, out of pocket or insurance - we are a country of hypochondriacs. Each of those prescriptions, besides being expensive in and of itself, also represents doctor's visits, tests and other associated costs.

It is not new or novel, but drug addiction is EXPENSIVE!

[boutons_deux]

"we are a country of hypochondriacs."

Many HAs are suckers for the medical priesthood, so they are victims of an epidemic of diagnoses, not an epidemic of diseases. It's no secret or surprise that most docs don't like informed patients who ask a lot of questions.

HAs are ignorant of their own health mgmt, are so ignorant of how to eat to achieve and maintain health. They eat like cows (and look like pigs), sucking down whatever food-like industrial substances the food corps put in their feed bags and troughs. So they "trust" the docs with their health, which is an expensive error. Repug "death policies" will keep them sick and untreated, dying sooner, reducing their claims on SS and Medicare/Medicaid.

A true sign that America is in decline is when exorbitantly treated disease is a main driver of the economy. 50% of Americans are predicted to be obese by 2020, with same rise in CVD, stroke, diabetes.

[101A]

"we are a country of hypochondriacs."

Many HAs are suckers for the medical priesthood, so they are victims of an epidemic of diagnoses, not an epidemic of diseases. It's no secret or surprise that most docs don't like informed patients who ask a lot of questions.

HAs are ignorant of their own health mgmt, are so ignorant of how to eat to achieve and maintain health. They eat like cows (and look like pigs), sucking down whatever food-like industrial substances the food corps put in their feed bags and troughs. So they "trust" the docs with their health, which is an expensive error. Repug "death policies" will keep them sick and untreated, dying sooner, reducing their claims on SS and Medicare/Medicaid.

A true sign that America is in decline is when exorbitantly treated disease is a main driver of the economy. 50% of Americans are predicted to be obese by 2020, with same rise in CVD, stroke, diabetes.


Wow, you could care less, but we were very near in agreement on 100% of that post.