This is really outrageous-it might make you angry to read this article.

Kathy


Town's OxyContin Buyers to Be Fingerprinted
Pulaski Pharmacies Plan to Use Invisible-Ink System in Police-Led Battle Against Abuse of Painkiller

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By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 11, 2001; Page B04


Patients in the small southwest Virginia town of Pulaski will have to provide fingerprints at the area's six pharmacies to get OxyContin as part of a novel law enforcement effort to curb widespread abuse of the prescription painkiller.

Pulaski police plan to meet with pharmacists next week to show them how to use a chemical fingerprinting system that employs invisible ink to "sign" documents for authenticity. Patients will be asked to leave their fingerprint signature on prescription papers so police can track cases of fraud.

Police hope the technology, regularly used to prevent payroll fraud and for cashing checks, will stem the increasing number of fake prescriptions for OxyContin. Police will be able to use the fingerprints to ferret out suspects and link them to illegal transactions.

The system is not used anywhere else for prescription drugs except Louisiana, where doctors use it for several sensitive narcotics.

"Anything that will stop the flow onto the streets we'll be happy with," said Detective Marshall Dowdy of the Pulaski police. "This is a seemingly never-ending battle."

OxyContin, which comes in a time-release pill and is similar to morphine, has emerged as one of the most widely abused drugs throughout Appalachia. It has been linked to at least 43 deaths in southwest Virginia since 1997 and has been blamed for significant rises in crime -- from fraud and theft to violence and murder -- throughout the region.

Pain patients who rely on OxyContin for relief consider it a miracle drug, but abusers are drawn to the pills' purity and availability. They crush the pills and snort them or inject them for a euphoric, heroin-like high.

Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Conn.-based manufacturer of OxyContin, supports the fingerprinting as long as it is applied to all controlled substances and is not limited to OxyContin. Company officials believe singling out OxyContin will simply lead criminals to go to other pharmacies or abuse other potent prescription drugs.

"Any identification technology that does not discriminate against patients or stigmatize them will be a valuable aid to reduce prescription fraud and aid law enforcement in their investigations," said J. David Haddox, senior medical director for health policy at Purdue Pharma. "There's no question in my mind that there are instances now where patients are being under-treated or quite frankly don't have access to this drug when this drug is what works best for them. And that's an absolute tragedy."

Pulaski officials said the fingerprinting would begin only with OxyContin prescriptions, but could be expanded later.

To make the print, a patient swipes an index finger across a pad, picking up an invisible chemical. The patient then places the same finger on a treated paper sticker, which almost immediately displays a blue, smudge-proof print. During investigations, police can scan the print and compare it with local and national databases, as if it had been taken with ink.

Abuse of OxyContin has been creeping onto the streets of Northern Virginia and has popped up in urban areas across the country. Northern New Jersey and the Boston area have recently seen waves of abuse and crime related to OxyContin, while Florida has experienced a steady rise.

Pulaski police said they had more than 1,800 drug-related crimes in the first six months of the year -- almost one crime for every five people in the town -- most of which were connected to OxyContin.

Dowdy, who came up with the idea after seeing a similar system for validating checks at a local grocery store, said the fingerprinting won't be an "end-all solution" to the problem but could make at least a small dent.

"It's horrible, and I don't know if it can get any worse here," Dowdy said. "We're at least willing to try."


© 2001 The Washington Post Company

Instead of the POLICE looking for a DOctor is trying to HELP PATIENTS, WHY don"t the POLICE find the OTHER doctors who are DEFRAUDING THIER PATIENTS and FILE FALSE REPORTS< STATEMENTS< AND DO IT WILLFULLY!! MARYLAND< Physicans Ouality COntrol Board, ISSUE that require action from the BOARD are SECTION 14-404 # 11*** Willfully makes of files a false report or record in the practice of medicine?? WHICH are INSURNACE DRS< IMES< WHY don't they STOP these DOCTORS, if you going to do a job do it right!! TAKE the DOCTORS who are leaving us in PAIN, and MISDIAGNOSING there Patients, and filing false record to cause Patients to loose thier CASE????? SOUNDS FRAUDULENT TO ME?? GOD BLESS DEBBIE

WELL SAID ! ! ! !

Wish there was a way to hold these doctors responsible.

Erin here


Anonymous....

After reviewing your emails....I wanted to know:

If you have any documents from any woeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee in which they have lied, doctors lied or attacked any doctors who are actually trying to help you.....would you please consider sharing your story with me..I am not asking for the documentation, just your story......as I slowly collect stories that are documented I plan to go public so that I may help improve the "Plight of the Pain Patients"...I live here in Maryland..hopefully I wish to wind up in front of Congress.....then it would be important to have the documentation.....but that would be between your attorney and Congress...

PLEASE EVERYONE.
Let me know if anyone is interested in sharing their story please send your story to:
sionell@home.com

sorry about that guys.......lololol.....it is supposed to read:

I retract my last post.....I hit post instead of edit....my apologies.....

Erin here


Anonymous and All:

After reviewing your emails....I wanted to know:

If you have any documents from any w/c insurance company/agency/ doctors who have acted in bad faith or appeared to target doctors who are actually trying to help pain patients with punitive actions.....would you please consider sharing your story with me..I am not asking for the documentation, just your story......as I slowly collect stories that are documented I plan to go public so that I may help improve the "Plight of the Pain Patients"...I live here in Maryland..hopefully I wish to wind up in front of Congress.....then it would be important to have the documentation.....but that would be between your attorney and Congress...

****PLEASE EVERYONE****
Let me know if anyone is interested in sharing their story please send your story to:

sionell@home.com


Goddess Blessings...
Erin
sionell@home.com
©Copyright 1998 - 2001
Doctor Hendler's Website: www.painend.com

Take power in treating your pain
"...patients must be empowered to demand adequate pain relief, regardless of
the cause of pain or the methods required to achieve relief"
C. Stratton Hill, MD
The Journal of the American Medical Association
1995: 274:1881-1882

Erin
Alchemy
Owner
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the
first
thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." --
Captain Picard,

Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested in such a venture.....Thank you

If anyone's interested, I sound an online source for oxycontin 20mg from a pharm manufacturing company at http://www.staykleen.netfirms.com I offer this only as an alternative to those of you who may be having getting prescriptions from your current doctor. They don't understand pain and only fear the dea and losing their license. I'm totally surprised at how uneducated the doctors actually are about this medication. Most patients know much morwe than their doctors do about its chemical composition and it's purpose.