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Merchants of Meth: How Big Pharma Keeps the Cooks in Business
Mother Jones ^ | 8/2013 | Jonah Engle

Posted on 08/16/2013 10:07:25 AM PDT by mgist

Meth-related cleanup and law enforcement cost the state of Kentucky about $30 million in 2009, the latest year for which the state police have produced an estimate. That doesn't include the cost of crimes addicts commit to support their habit, of putting out meth fires, of decontaminating meth homes, of responding to domestic-abuse calls or placing neglected, abused, or injured kids in foster care. Dr. Glen Franklin, who oversees the burn unit at the University of Louisville Hospital, says his unit alone sees 15 to 20 meth lab burn patients each year, up from two or three a decade ago. They are some of his most difficult cases, often involving both thermal and chemical burns to the face and upper body from a bottle that burst into flames.

According to a study coauthored by Franklin in 2005, it costs an average of nearly $230,000 to treat a meth lab victim—three times more than other burn patients—and that cost is most often borne by taxpayers. Meth use as a whole, according to a 2009 RAND Corporation study, costs the nation anywhere between $16 billion and $48 billion each year. (snip) CHPA's Kentucky filings of 2010 and 2011 tax returns show more than $1 million worth of payments to Winning Connections, a robocall company that typically represents Democratic politicians and liberal causes such as the Sierra Club's campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline.

Belcher's bill never came up for a vote. Over the ensuing months, the number of meth labs found in Kentucky would grow by 45 percent, surpassing 1,000.

(Excerpt) Read more at motherjones.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: democrats; lobbykeystonemeth; meth
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To: Sherman Logan
Yeah, they MADE them stop prescribing it. If speed was sooo dangerous, why did doctors prescribe it in the first place?

Instead, doctors had to prescribe Fen-Fen. That was a brilliant idea. (How many people did Fen-Fen kill?)

I'd rather trust someone who's been through med school making that decision than pencil pushing nanny bureaucrats.

21 posted on 08/16/2013 11:20:41 AM PDT by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: Slump Tester
I'd rather trust someone who's been through med school making that decision than pencil pushing nanny bureaucrats.

With 0bamaCare those days are over across the board. The pencil pushers will now decide whether you even get to see a doctor.

22 posted on 08/16/2013 11:23:02 AM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" is more than an Army Ranger credo it's the character of America.)
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To: Slump Tester
If speed was sooo dangerous, why did doctors prescribe it in the first place?

I don't know. Why did they prescribe thalidomide? Which caused no tragedies in the US because the pencil pushing nanny bureaucrats were slow approving it.

23 posted on 08/16/2013 11:27:10 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Third Person

Interesting in that the “before” shots seem to be mug shots, indicating that these people had a criminal bent in the first place.


24 posted on 08/16/2013 11:54:02 AM PDT by FrdmLvr
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To: DBrow

They took phenylpropanolamine off of the market because it was a bad drug. Many reported cases of hypertensive emergency and strokes.


25 posted on 08/16/2013 12:03:41 PM PDT by Kozak ("Send them back your fierce defiance! Stamp upon the cursed alliance! To arms, to arms.....")
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To: Slump Tester
I'd rather trust someone who's been through med school making that decision than pencil pushing nanny bureaucrats.

The truth is that most doctors rarely, if ever, conduct research on the drugs they prescribe.

Instead they rely on information about the drugs usage and efficacy that comes from the drug company sales reps.

See: Do doctors research the drugs they prescribe?

26 posted on 08/16/2013 12:31:43 PM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (People should not be afraid of the government. Government should be afraid of the people)
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To: Night Hides Not

you don’t get what i meant.


27 posted on 08/16/2013 12:50:16 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: DeWalt

Assuming the article is correct, Oregon made it a prescription drug and meth labs dropped 90%. That seems like slowing it down.


28 posted on 08/16/2013 12:53:20 PM PDT by Publius Valerius
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To: Kozak

That was one reason, the reason that mostly nobody missed it. At the time I read DEA and other reports that clearly warned of its use in clandestine syntheses.


29 posted on 08/16/2013 12:53:40 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: DeWalt

It also turned their heads from skinny & oval to plump & square.


30 posted on 08/16/2013 12:53:50 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: Ol' Dan Tucker

BS! Most doctors DID speed in med school. If you think the government knows more about medicine and health than doctors do, this conversation is pointless.


31 posted on 08/16/2013 12:56:43 PM PDT by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: Slump Tester
If you think the government knows more about medicine and health than doctors do, this conversation is pointless.

Easy there, cowboy.

Re-read my post to you. I never said that the government knows more than doctors.

I said that most doctors don't research the pills they prescribe.

If you're going to run off half-cocked instead of responding to what I actually wrote, then I agree that this conversation is pointless.

32 posted on 08/16/2013 1:19:34 PM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (People should not be afraid of the government. Government should be afraid of the people)
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To: mgist

In Texas, it is already behind the counter and you cannot purchase more than one package of 24 or so per month. Must show your driver’s license and pharmacy staff write your purchase down in a log they keep. Don’t see how going prescription could be anymore effective than that.

Sucks too as Sudafed is the only allergy medicine that works for me. On bad months, I’ve had to tap into my sister’s monthly allotment.


33 posted on 08/16/2013 3:39:59 PM PDT by jodyel
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To: Third Person

What causes the sores?


34 posted on 08/16/2013 3:41:12 PM PDT by jodyel
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To: jodyel

All Meth users suffer from what they call “Crank Bugs”. Meth is manufactured with chemicals that are toxic to the human body, and once the drug is taken the chemicals remain. The body’s natural reaction is to try and eliminate the toxins. Users itch and scratch which causes the open sores.

http://www.nmtf.us/methamphetamine/methamphetamine.htm


35 posted on 08/16/2013 3:57:28 PM PDT by Third Person (Welcome to Gaymerica.)
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To: Third Person

Thanks...posted before I saw it.


36 posted on 08/16/2013 4:27:22 PM PDT by jodyel
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To: jodyel

No worries... you’re welcome.


37 posted on 08/16/2013 5:22:51 PM PDT by Third Person (Welcome to Gaymerica.)
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