'Lock Up Your Lethals' campaign targets prescription drug abuse

Times-Standard

While new studies show prescription drug abuse is declining, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it's still an epidemic. One in 20 people in the nation age 12 and older reported using prescription painkillers for recreational purposes. To counter the problem, Department of Health and Human Services officials have launched a new campaign called “Lock Up Your Lethals.” Radio and TV ads are being aired and a brochure is being produced to raise awareness about various hazards and to offer solutions.

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New Health Care Law Tax Surprise

NBC

The US Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration says that the IRS needs to do more to educate American taxpayers about the implications of the new Federal Affordable Care Act that will extend health care coverage to millions of uninsured Americans beginning in 2014. J. Russell George says he’s concerned that the Internal Revenue Service is making plans to implement the new changes but hasn’t adequately informed the general public about what’s coming and how it could directly affect them, especially potential tax returns uninsured taxpayers might be due.

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Sebelius Says HHS 'On Track' To Implement ACA Insurance Exchanges

California Healthline

On Thursday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius assured House lawmakers that her department is "on track" to implement the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges, one day after she offered the same assurance to a Senate panel, Modern Healthcare reports. Sebelius was testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, which convened a hearing on HHS' budget under President Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal.

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Promises, promises

Economist

A crucial piece of Barack Obama’s health reforms will be in place in less than six months. That, at least, is the plan. New exchanges for buying insurance must be open on October 1st. Democrats intended the exchanges to be jostling markets, run by the 50 states, where individuals could shop for insurance. The White House insists that the deadline will be met and the exchanges will be a success. But many of Mr Obama’s allies are less sure.

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Dan Walters: Jerry Brown's big issues have stalled

Sacramento Bee

Jerry Brown spent the first two years of his second governorship dealing with a chronic budget crisis and finally persuaded voters to raise sales and income taxes to narrow the budget gap. It's debatable whether Brown has truly resolved California's fiscal woes, since the budget is "balanced" only by ignoring several major issues, such as an immense deficit in the teachers pension fund and mounting costs for retiree health care. Moreover, the new taxes are temporary, while the tax ballot measure, Proposition 30, included a permanent, $5 billion-plus annual commitment to counties. Thus, Brown may leave behind a new budget problem if and when he finishes his last term in 2019.

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Baucus warns of 'huge train wreck' enacting ObamaCare provisions

Hill

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Wednesday he fears a "train wreck" as the Obama administration implements its signature healthcare law. Baucus, the chairman of the chamber's powerful Finance Committee and a key architect of the healthcare reform law, said he fears people do not understand how the law will work.  "I just see a huge train wreck coming down," he told Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a Wednesday hearing. "You and I have discussed this many times, and I don't see any results yet."

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Federal budget cuts strike California’s unemployed

Sacramento Business Journal

The pain of federal budget cuts is starting to hit California workers. This week, the California Employment Development Department began mailing notices to notify jobless claimants that federal extensions of unemployment benefits will be cut by 18 percent beginning April 28. More than 400,000 unemployed Californians will be affected, according to the EDD. Most people are eligible for 26 weeks of state unemployment and an additional 47 weeks of federal extension benefits. The cuts only will affect the federal extensions without reducing the overall number of weeks that jobless workers are eligible for unemployment aid.

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Report finds hundreds of mentally ill patients bused out of Nevada, some sent to Utah

Deseret News

Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Nevada over the past five years bused more than 1,500 mentally ill patients to cities and towns across the country, a Sacramento Bee investigation found. More than 400 patients were bused out last year, according to the report. Hundreds of people have been bused to California, while more than 50 people have been sent Utah and more than 100 to Arizona. At least 33 discharged patients have been bused to Salt Lake City, according to the Sacramento Bee's interactive map.

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Addiction can be fatal in San Diego County jails

San Diego City Beat

The last time Shaunda Brummette saw her son, Daniel Sisson, it was in a Vista courtroom late in the afternoon of June 23, 2011. Sisson, a sandy-haired 21-year-old who'd grown up surfing North County beaches, was there to answer to a drug-possession charge; Brummette went with him to the hearing. Sisson had been arrested the week before and posted bail, so he and his mom assumed the court appearance would be routine—he'd plead not guilty and wait for his next hearing.

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Pot Farmers Market Sprouts In Northern California

Huffington Post San Francisco

The Organicann Harvest Market in Northern California's Sonoma Country is a lot like the farmers' markets dotting small towns up and down the West Coast--vendors displaying locally-grown organic produce, customers chatting while strolling the aisles, laid-back reggae music floating out from a sound system somewhere. There is, however, one crucial detail that sets this farmers' market, located in a purple warehouse in the sleepy town of Santa Rosa, apart: the only product for sale is marijuana.

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Obama Sees Insurers; Health Law Is Subject

New York Times

President Obama met with insurance industry executives at the White House on Friday to coordinate the introduction this fall of the insurance marketplaces at the heart of the national health care law, and to discuss so-called rate shock if the industry sharply raises premiums. “We’re all in this together,” Mr. Obama told the executives, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified discussing it.

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Immigration proposal could affect California health safety net

Los Angeles Times

Making immigrants ineligible for public health benefits -- at least initially -- under proposed immigration law changes would push the costs of healthcare from the federal government to states and counties, said Sonal Ambegaokar, a health policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. And those costs could be sizable in a state like California, where there are an estimated 2.5 million illegal immigrants.

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Hospitals serving the uninsured face challenge under Obamacare

Washington Post

Hospitals that treat the most vulnerable patients may have the toughest time weathering spending cuts under President Obama’s health-care law. Approximately 1,500 hospitals nationwide are known as “safety net” providers because they care for a larger portion of uninsured patients than their competitors. Under the Affordable Care Act, the safety-net hospitals will gain a new source of revenue when millions of the uninsured gain coverage. At the same time, the law’s spending cuts could prove challenging for hospitals that tend to operate with relatively small profit margins.

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A big day in a big month for California taxes

Los Angeles Times

California is primed for a strong month for tax revenue after the Legislature's top budget advisor said Tuesday was among the biggest days for tax collection in state history. The state raked in $2.7 billion in income taxes Tuesday, according to the latest figures from the Legislative Analyst's Office. April is the most critical month of the year for income taxes, which are expected to supply more than 60% of general fund revenue for the current budget.

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Fearing abuse, FDA blocks generic OxyContin

Associated Press

Federal health regulators will require generic versions of the best-selling painkiller OxyContin to include recent formulation changes designed to make the pill harder to abuse. The Food and Drug Administration said late Tuesday it would not approve any generic versions of OxyContin based on the original formulation because it "poses an increased potential for certain types of abuse."

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Brown Says Calif. Might Release 10,000 Inmates Under Population Cap

California Healthline

On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said the state will prepare to release as many as 10,000 inmates if it is forced to obey court-ordered prison population caps, the Sacramento Bee's "Capitol Alert" reports. Background: In 2006, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson ruled that federal oversight of the state's prison health care system was needed after determining that an average of one inmate per week died as a result of medical malpractice or neglect.

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Exercise May Mitigate Brain Damage Due to Heavy Drinking

MedScape Today

Aerobic exercise may help prevent some of the brain damage caused by the effects of heavy alcohol consumption, preliminary research suggests. A study of adults who drank heavily showed that those who participated in low levels of aerobic exercise had decreases in white matter integrity in the brain's external capsule and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) — areas that are important for cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning. However, the association between alcohol intake and white matter health was not significant for those who reported high levels of exercise involvement.

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Just the Taste of Beer Triggers a Dopamine Response in the Brain

Healthline News

There’s something about beer that makes it hard to have just a sip. Recent research says that even the smallest taste of beer floods our brains with the neurotransmitter dopamine, prompting us to want the rest of the pint. Dopamine plays many roles in the brain, but is most often associated with motivation, including reward-seeking behavior, drug abuse, and addiction.

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California panel advances bills targeting prescription drug abuse

Los Angeles Times

A broad package of bills aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse and overdose deaths won approval from a key state Senate committee Monday. The bills, including a measure that would require coroners to report prescription-involved deaths to the Medical Board of California, followed a series of Times articles linking doctors to patient overdose deaths.

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Drug overdose prevention could be right at our fingertips

Los Angeles Times (Opinion)

What do you think is the leading cause of accidental death in California? If you said car accidents, you were wrong. In 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 3,200 people in the state died in automobile crashes, while 3,561 people died of drug overdoses, the bulk of them involving prescription pills. That high number of deaths is particularly tragic because we have a powerful weapon against drug overdoses, and it isn't used nearly as often as it could be.

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Female CSUN students reflect national binge drinking

Daily Sundial

Studies show that CSUN students are keeping up with the national average when it comes to binge drinking, especially for women. According to a recent study released by the Center for Disease Control in January, the prevalence and intensity of binge drinking for women age 18 to 24 was higher than for any other group of women. In 2011, more than 13.6 million women in the U.S. reported binge drinking at least three times a month. Most consumed an average of about six drinks per occasion. Binge drinking is defined by the CDC as having four or more drinks in a two-hour period for women, five or more for men.

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Health law expands treatment for addicts in Calif.

Associated Press

The number of drug and alcohol addicts eligible for health insurance that will cover substance abuse treatment will rise by 1.5 times when federal health care reforms kick in next year. Throughout the state, and particularly in Los Angeles County where the largest share of people get treated for substance abuse through the public health system, providers are scrambling for ways to serve the wave of expected patients. Officials remain uncertain how the new programs will be funded under the Affordable Care Act.

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Pre-Existing Conditions Bill Up for Final Vote

California Healthline

The Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday unanimously approved ABX1-2 by Assembly member Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), the bill to ban pre-existing conditions as a means of denial for health coverage. It now heads to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote. The bill already passed the Assembly, so Senate confirmation would be its ticket to the governor's desk. Brown Administration officials have said they support the bill.

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Drug Makers Use Safety Rule to Block Generics

New York Times

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have deployed an array of tactics aimed at preventing low-cost copies of their drugs from entering the marketplace. But federal regulators contend the latest strategy — which relies on a creative interpretation of drug safety laws — is illegal. The Federal Trade Commission recently weighed in on a legal case over the tactic involving the drug maker Actelion, and earlier this month a federal suit was filed in another case in Florida.

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Legislation regulating Narconon Arrowhead one step closer to Governor's desk

McAlester News-Capital

Legislation regulating Narconon Arrowhead and other drug rehabs is has passed the House and will head to the Senate for one more vote before it hits the Govenors desk, according to state offiials. Senate bill 295 passed the House 80 to 13 today and will now go before the Senate one last time before it's presented to Gov. Mary Fallin for signing. Narconon Arrowhead is a non-profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Canadian affiliated with the Church of Scientology.

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California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for legalizing pot

Los Angeles Times

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for the legalization of marijuana on Saturday. “It’s time to decriminalize, tax and regulate marijuana,” he told delegates at the California Democratic Party convention. “It’s time we own up to the fact that our drug laws have done far more harm than good. The war on drugs is an abject failure.” Newsom, who is known to have an eye on higher office, poked fun at the fact that he is the state’s acting governor because Gov. Jerry Brown is in China on a trade mission.

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Political Blotter: Sparks fly over 'zero tolerance' drug DUI bill

San Jose Mercury News

Sparks might fly as lawmakers later this month hear a bill that would make it illegal to drive with any detectable trace of marijuana or other illegal drugs in the blood, regardless of the driver's actual impairment. Marijuana advocates say this "zero tolerance" bill, to be heard April 23 by the state Senate Public Safety Committee, overlooks the fact that driving impairment can't be determined by the presence of marijuana compounds in the blood.

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Scientists try to trick drinkers into thinking they had a BAD time while drunk to make them cut down on alcohol

Daily Mail

Most people have had a horror experience with one particular type of alcohol, especially as a young person - in many cases swearing off that particular demon drink for ever. Inspired by this aversion, psychologists at the University of California are experimenting with research that creates false, negative memories for drinkers, thereby reducing the amount they consume.

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How health care overhaul may affect your tax bill

Sacramento Bee

If you're among millions of uninsured Californians eligible for government-subsidized insurance, the ripples of health reform start with Monday's tax deadline.

The government will use your return as its first yardstick for how much of a tax break it contributes to your health coverage. And if you don't have government-mandated health insurance a year from now, a penalty will be added to your federal tax obligations.

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Viewpoints: Medical insurance reforms can't wait

Sacramento Bee

Two weeks ago I was sitting in my office at the Capitol strategizing on how to navigate legislation through the Assembly and Senate, then onto the governor's desk and into the law books. Today I am recovering in a bed at UC Davis Medical Center after the removal of a brain tumor. People in government and politics don't always get to see firsthand the real need for legislation and the real problems that people need us to help solve. Sure, we hear testimony, and we read studies and analyses. But with the size of the state and the sheer number of different challenges we often have to function at a 30,000-foot level.

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With federal health law, medical professionals look to expand turf

Sacramento Bee

They want to take care of you. Doctors, nurses and a variety of specialized health professionals are duking it out in California's Capitol over who should get your business once federal law requires that everyone have health insurance. Physician assistants and nurse practitioners are pushing laws allowing them to see more patients for routine medical care. Optometrists want to diagnose and treat all kinds of ailments related to the eye – even diabetes – not just test vision and prescribe glasses.

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At Army base, an aggressive campaign against suicide

Los Angeles Times

Army Pvt. John Jeffery stumbled into Kyle Boswell's barracks room at Ft. Bliss before dawn one day in February, his eyes glassy. "I've done something," Jeffery mumbled to his buddy. "I can't tell anyone. It's going to happen." He had just learned his girlfriend was cheating on him. The Army had decided to kick him out for using heroin. Now the 21-year-old veteran of Afghanistan had downed more than two bottles of Vicodin and Oxycodone, powerful prescription painkillers. Boswell rushed him to the emergency room, and he remains in the hospital psychiatric ward.

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Generic OxyContin Pains the FDA

Wall Street Journal

The first patent on OxyContin expires Tuesday, a milestone in the history of one of the most powerful and abused painkillers on the market. But it could be quite some time before generic versions of the drug are available. Generic-drug makers have lined up to make their own versions of the medication, which has become synonymous with painkiller abuse. But first, they must wait for the Food and Drug Administration to decide whether they may produce the original version of OxyContin—the one losing patent protection—or whether they may make only newer versions designed to impede abuse, which won't come off patent for several more years.

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Pain and pain management in NFL spawn a culture of prescription drug use and abuse

Washington Post

When Fred Smoot, a former Washington Redskins defensive back, fractured his sternum and had to spend four months sleeping in a recliner because he couldn’t lie flat, he said his team doctors gave him a choice: Miss the rest of the season or “figure out a way to play.” Worried about his livelihood, he made it on the football field each Sunday thanks to a syringe full of a drug called Toradol. “Painkillers are like popping aspirin,” Smoot said. “They get to that point.”

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Clinical Notes: FDA Turns Up Heat on Compounders

MedPage Today

FDA inspectors issued violation notices to 28 compounding pharmacies after surprise inspections -- that is, nearly every pharmacy they visited that was producing supposedly sterile drugs. According to the agency, FDA inspectors recently performed 29 inspections at compounding pharmacies in 18 states believed to be selling sterile drug products. All but one resulted in "Form 483" notices listing deviations from safe drug production standards. Among the deficiencies: "Unidentified black particles floating in vials of supposedly sterile medicine", “Mold in clean rooms”, “Workers handling sterile products with their bare hands and wearing nonsterile lab coats”.

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Truly Motivated: Transitional homes allow residents to live clean, sober

Yelm Online

Carmin and Joseph Ottley met in a clean and sober living home in Sacramento, California. Carmin had moved to Calif. to get clean and have a fresh start, and Joseph had just been released from prison. After getting their lives back on track, they moved to Yelm. They then decided to create their own clean and sober community and start something similar to where they had met. They founded Truly Motivated in 2005 with the help of grants and fundraising, opening their own recovery homes and sharing their knowledge and experiences with others in various stages of recovery.

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Narconon Arrowhead Victim Complaint To Oklahoma Attorney General

Examiner.com

Today, a credible source from Oklahoma contacted me in Montreal with details of a formal complaint being filed against Oklahoma Department of Health and Oklahoma Department of Mental Health (ODH, ODHS, ODMH, and ODMHSAS). Because the complaint is concerning Narconon Arrowhead drug rehab, the Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) arm of the department will also receive the complaint.

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