New Report Shows 85% of Fake Online Drug Outlets Don’t Require Valid Prescription, Fuel Prescription Drug Abuse

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From the 28 July 2011 Drug Information Forum article by Marvin C Pankaskie

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy^® (NABP^®) today issued a public health alert to warn Americans about the serious dangers associated with medicines purchased through fake online pharmacies. A report NABP released today on Internet drug outlets found that 96% of 8,000 rogue Web sites analyzed continue to operate out of compliance with United States pharmacy laws, fuel prescription drug abuse and misuse, and provide an outlet for counterfeit medicines to enter the US drug supply – all of which significantly endanger the health and safety of Americans.

“The fake online pharmacy crisis has reached an epidemic level – they prey on prescription drug abusers and the most vulnerable members of society who rely on medicine every day for their health,” said NABP President Malcolm J. Broussard, RPh. “They offer easy access to potent medicines without a prescription and indiscriminately push dangerous counterfeit drugs. This problem poses a clear danger to Americans’ health and safety and weakens the essential relationships between pharmacists and patients. By issuing a public health alert, we are calling on pharmacists, physicians, and other health professionals to educate their patients about the growing public health threat posed by these illegal online enterprises.”

http://www.nabp.net/news/nabp-issues-rogue-online-pharmacy-public-health-alert/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NabpNewsroom+%28NABP+Newsroom%29

Related articles

• NABP Says Most Online Pharmacies Illegal (forum.thenewalchemist.com)
• Tracking illegal online pharmacies: Evidence of web manipulation (Science Daily)
• New Study Shows Safety of Ordering Prescription Drugs From Online Pharmacies Verified By PharmacyChecker.com (prweb.com)
• Online Pharmacies Certified by PharmacyChecker.com are Guaranteed to Provide Safe and Authentic Prescription Medications (prweb.com)
• 3rd Annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Slated for October 29, 2011 (forum.thenewalchemist.com)
• FDA ‘Bad Ad’ Program Raises Awareness of Provider Role in Ensuring Truthful Prescription Drug Promotion (forum.thenewalchemist.com)
• Protecting Consumers from Rogue Online Pharmacies (eset.com)
• Google Was Warned on Rogue Drug Ads (online.wsj.com)
• PharmacyChecker.com Begins Blog About Americans’ Access to Affordable Medication (prweb.com)

‘Bath salts’ pose new test for law enforcement – they also can lead to a flesh-eating bacterial disease that needs quick treatment to prevent amputations

‘Bath salts‘ pose new test for law enforcement

From a February 4 Stateline article

State and federal law enforcers already have their hands full trying to fight the use of methamphetamine, the highly addictive street drug that has wreaked havoc from Oregon to Maine. Now, other meth-like substances — which can produce a similarly dangerous and potentially violent high in those who take them — are prompting new concerns from government officials.

The substances are white, crystallized powders that are sold legally online and in many convenience stores and gas stations around the country as “bath salts.” Like meth or cocaine, the powders can be snorted or smoked, and are often marketed under names including “Ivory Wave,” “White Rush” or “Vanilla Sky.”

Ivory Wave is a powdery methamphetamine substance marketed as simple bath salts.
[http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=14298118]
The products are attracting scrutiny at every level, from the White House to local police departments. Gil Kerlikowski, the nation’s drug czar, warned last week that the powders can “pose a serious threat to the health and well-being of young people and anyone who uses them,”according to The Associated Press. At the state level, Florida recently joined Louisiana in banning their sale, reports National Public Radio.

The effects of abusing so-called “bath salts” can be dramatic, sources tell NPR.  Those who take them can experience a kind of “psychotic break,” in the words of Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana Poison Center. “They’re extremely anxious and combative, they think there’s stuff trying to get them, they’re paranoid, they’re having hallucinations. So, the encounters are not pleasant.”

In Michigan, emergency departments have reported 18 cases involving “bath salts” in recent weeks, The Grand Rapids Press reports. “It certainly is nasty stuff,” a spokeswoman for the state community health department says. “It is something that has spread very quickly across the country.”

Related Articles

• ‘Bath Salts’ Identified As New Source Of Flesh-Eating Infection (MedicalNews Today, January 15, 2012)

   Article includes this paragraph
  ”
  A study led by Russell R. Russo, MD, a third-year Orthopaedic Surgery resident at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has identified a new source of life-threatening necrotizing fasciitis[bacterial infection which “eats” soft tissue and the fascae –  tissue surrounding muscles]  – “bath salts.” The study, describing the first known case of necrotizing fasciitis from an intramuscular injection of the street drug known as “bath salts,” is published in the January 2012 issue of Orthopedics, now available online. “
  “Necrotizing fasciitis is an orthopedic emergency. The ability to quickly and accurately diagnose this rapidly spreading disease can save a patient’s life and limb. However, the diagnosis is complex because necrotizing fasciitis usually manifests as a less severe cellulitis or abscess while the majority of the damage rages beneath the surface of the skin.”
  The article goes on to talk about a patient who developed the infection within 2 days after injecting bath salts.  At first she did not tell the emergency room doctors she had injected bath salts. So, they treated her for cellulitis. Her condition got so much worse they had to amputate her arm, shoulder, collar bone, and one of her breasts…
  …Necrotizing fasciitis has a rapid time-line to tissue destruction and loss of life. A 1995 study found the survival rate of those diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis to be as low as 50%. However, wide ranges of death exist depending on a multitude of factors.Treatment for this virulent disease remains a swift diagnosis with extensive surgical debridement [removal of dead  and infected tissue] to obtain complete control of the organism and prevent death. However, the authors maintain, the best treatment is prevention with public, street-based education and early detection. ”

  Bath Salts: The Latest Drug Problem? (outsidethebeltway.com)

• San Francisco Bath Salt Company Educates the Public on Bath Salts
• Officials: ‘Bath Salts’ Are Growing Drug Problem –Ivory Wave and Bliss: Officials concerned chemicals sold as bath salts causing hallucinations
• Pot Use Might Speed Onset of Psychosis: Study
• States race to ban risky ‘bath salts’ drug (USA Today)
• ‘Ivory Wave’ May Be New Legal High After ‘Miaow Miaow’ (Mephedrone) Ban (Science Daily)
• Woman loses arm, shoulder after injecting bath salts (foxnews.com)
• Bath Salts Add Flesh Eating to Their Side Effects (humanbodyengineer.wordpress.com)
• Injecting Bath Salts Causes Woman to Lose Arm to Flesh Eating Bacteria [Gross] (jezebel.com)
• Hallucinogenic ‘bath salts’ entering Canada (cbc.ca)
• Woman Injects ‘Bath Salts,’ Loses Arm To Flesh-Eating Bacteria (npr.org)
• Horror With Bath Salts: Woman Injects Them And Loses Her Arm (blisstree.com)