Prescription Drugs

On Thursday, the day the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, a 47-year-old Baltimore woman went to the drugstore, and pulled out her debit card to pay for a prescription refill. But she didn't have enough money in the account to cover the $425 charge. So she asked the pharmacist and staff for a favor. "I asked them to break up the prescription to give me one-third," says the woman, who would not allow her name to be published because she didn't want to disclose her medical conditions.

With epidemic rates of prescription opioid and heroin deaths in Maryland, families are demanding easier access to the antidote that could save the lives of their loved ones. Naloxone is used safely to reverse the effects of heroin and prescription opioid medications. Emergency medical technicians administer naloxone when they respond to an overdose emergency. All too often, however, these emergency responders do not arrive in time. State law bars family members and friends who may be in the best position to save the life of a person experiencing an overdose from obtaining a prescription for naloxone in their own name and administering this medication in an emergency.

When a recent study found that a popular class of heartburn drugs might weaken bones, Dorothea E. Kilner was alarmed, but not just because her medication could contribute to a hip fracture. For Kilner and the millions of Americans who suffer from chronic heartburn, the greater threat may be losing access to prescription drugs such as Prevacid, Prilosec, Protonix and Nexium. They're far more effective than earlier generations of heartburn medication, according to doctors and to patients who rely on them for relief.

Federal authorities announced Tuesday that they had cracked a large suburban Maryland drug organization, arresting 18 people and charging 15 of them with conspiracy to distribute more than a ton of marijuana. According to a federal grand jury indictment, the drug trafficking organization, primarily based in Anne Arundel County, also dealt in cocaine, prescription drugs, steroids and other drugs. Law enforcement officials said they seized at least 30 cars, 60 pounds of marijuana, $300,000 in cash and 35 guns in the investigation.

Have unwanted prescription drugs in your medicine cabinet? Don't toss them in the trash or leave them to experimenting hands. Drop them off at a designated site on National Drug Take-Back Day this Saturday. State health officials say abuse of prescription drugs is on the rise -- between 2007 and 2010, the percentage of prescription drug-related admissions to Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration -funded treatment programs nearly doubled, resulting in one in five admissions.

Local police departments are participating in the National Take Back Initiative this weekend by providing an opportunity for residents to turn in expired or unwanted prescriptive substances and other medications. At the take-back day, controlled, non-controlled and over-the-counter substances will all be collected, and donors will remain anonymous; no requests for identification will be made. Participants should remove any identifying information that might be found on a prescription label on a container.

Someone broke into a house in the first block of Gambrills Road in Severn and stole nearly $300 in prescription drugs, county police said.A resident of the house told police the intruder used a broom handle to break the glass in a rear door about 2:30 p.m. Friday to get inside and take the drugs.He said he recognized the man running from his home, police said.

A Frederick County woman accused of trying to buy prescription drugs by using a false name was arrested at a Woodbine pharmacy and charged with several counts, the Carroll County Sheriff's Department said. Deputies arrested Sue Ellen Luckenbaugh, 38, of New Market after a woman tried to purchase the anti-anxiety prescription drug Xanax at King's Pharmacy under an assumed name, they said. Workers at the pharmacy had complained to authorities last week after receiving phone calls requesting Xanax from a woman who said she worked for a local physician.

Two Maryland men have been indicted in federal court for illegally selling prescription drugs over the Internet and several other charges related to dispensing 10 million painkillers from their Baltimore pharmacy over two years - leading to overdose deaths of two customers, according to federal prosecutors. Pharmacists Steven Abiodun Sodipo, 51, of Forest Hill and Callixtus Onigbo Nwaehiri, 48, of Jarrettsville were indicted Friday on charges of illegally selling 9,936,075 pills of hydrocodone over the Internet, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and in monetary transactions using illegal proceeds, and tax charges, according to Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein's office.

Robert J. Penland was working undercover, negotiating to buy a ton of raw opium in a remote Pakistani farming village, when he got a sinking feeling.He was on his own.Armed guards were posted on rooftops of the village huts, and Mr. Penland, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, could quickly become their target. His backup protection was 10 miles away."I was all by myself, on my own wits," he said recently, recalling a sting operation that eventually netted a large cache of opium, the basic ingredient for heroin.

A Bel Air man was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to selling prescription drugs on dozens of occasions, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. Ronnie Stocks, 34, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute the drug Oxycodone. He was sentenced by a U.S. District court judge to 101/2 years in prison with three years of probation. Harford County detectives said Stocks had about three dozen customers and typically sold them drugs in amounts less than $100.

As efforts to crack down on the abuse of prescription drugs have worked, a new problem has emerged, with addicts who can no longer get their fix by popping pills turning to the old-fashioned street drug heroin, health and law enforcement officials say. The trend shows up in local arrests, drug seizures and overdose deaths. Drug dealers are finding new markets in the suburbs, where teenagers once got their stash from local drugstores or their parents' medicine cabinets, some experts say. "The kids who got addicted to prescription pills are flipping to heroin, and, as a result, these kids are dropping like flies," said Mike Gimbel, a longtime drug counselor in Baltimore County who now works at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center.

Health officials still aren't certain what is causing the alarming uptick in heroin overdoses that has occurred across Maryland recently. But it would be especially disturbing if the trend turns out to be an unintended consequence of state efforts to crack down on prescription drug abuse and fraud. The concern is that people addicted to prescription drugs are now finding them harder to get, and as a result may be turning to illegal narcotics like heroin, which are cheap and relatively easy to obtain on the street but which pose even greater public health and safety risks.

It's so hard ... to say goodbye ... to  Jersey Shore (I hope you slowly sang that in your head just like I did!). But hey -- at least we have another season before we have to come to term with our emotions. I was very excited when I found out that the premiere would be a double-header. It was so great to see all the cast members back in action times two, however I must say, it did lack the usual amount of drama. I know, I know -- they just reunited and it's too early for people to be throwing wine bottles or each other's belongings outside, but the cast overall definitely seemed more mature.

Anne Arundel County's newly renegotiated employee and retiree prescription drug contract with CVS/Caremark will not only save taxpayers $18 million over three years, but will also provide excellent benefits for both county government and school system employees ("Anne Arundel County to save millions on drug costs," Aug. 22). This beneficial collaboration between the county government and the school system is but one example of County Executive John R. Leopold's numerous cost-saving initiatives that have been incorporated into the county's operating budget over the past six years, creating savings that have amounted to over $70 million dollars for county taxpayers.

Seniors in Maryland have saved $56.5 million on prescription drug costs because of a provision under health care reform that has eased the Medicare donut hole, new government data has found. The savings were achieved with rebates and discounts to ease the burden of the donut hole, when patients reach certain limits that require them to pay 100 percent of their prescription drug costs. The $56.5 million in savings has occurred since health reform was adopted, according to The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

DRUG COMPANY officials can hardly believe their ears. Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington, a Republican, wants government to force down the prices they charge Americans for prescription drugs. He calls them "the new health-care villains." Folks in the pharmaceutical industry should know that there is nothing wrong with their hearing. It was only last October that the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America unleashed a spry old lady named Flo on the American public. In numerous ads, Flo envisioned that government bureaucrats would rifle through her medicine chest if President Clinton's proposal for Medicare drug coverage became reality.

Lunchtime inside Lexington Market: Amid crab stands and fruit stalls, shoppers and merchants bustle and buzz. It's a crowded, multiracial scene, a testament to the energy and random fellowship of city life. Just outside the market's main entrance on Eutaw Street, a different kind of commerce is taking place. Here, beside a picture window extolling the history of the nation's oldest continuously run public market, an illegal trade in prescription medications flourishes. In a city where sidewalk sales of heroin and cocaine are notoriously common, illicitly sold medicine may hardly seem like a major problem.

Marylanders spent $44.5 billion on personal health care in 2010 as costs in the state continued to outpace the nation, according to a new report. Spending on services including hospital care, prescription drugs and long-term care increased 3.5 percent compared to 2009, according to the report by The Maryland Health Care Commission. On average a Maryland resident spent $7,698 on healthcare in 2010, 9 percent higher than the national average of $7,066. The biggest chunk of money in Maryland was spent on hospital care, which accounted for one-third of spending.

Two unidentified operators of a prescription drug clinic in Lutherville that was raided by Baltimore County narcotics officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents Tuesday have been arrested, according to county police. One was arrested at the Healthy Life Medical Group clinic in the 1100 block of York Road, the other at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, police said. Both have been charged with conspiracy to distribute Schedule II narcotics, which include amphetamines, methamphetamines and other drugs that can be used in a medical setting but have "a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence," according to the DEA website.