Shock Survey: Less Than 1 Out Of Every 4 Republicans In Congress Support A Border Wall

It is time to flush the toilet in Washington D.C., because the professional politicians that we have been sending there just keep betraying us over and over again.  On Wednesday, I was absolutely stunned when I came across a brand new survey that was conducted by USA Today.  They asked all of the members of Congress whether they support a border wall or not, and less than one out of every 4 Republicans said that they did.  This is just another example of why the American people are so deeply frustrated with the Republican Party these days.  Most Republicans are spineless jellyfish that have been compromising for so long that they don’t really stand for anything anymore.

If President Trump had not promised to build a wall, he never would have won the Republican nomination in 2016, and he sure wouldn’t be the president of the United States today.  This is a point that Ann Coulter had made over and over again, and the fact that I strongly support building a wall is a big reason why she is supporting my campaign for Congress.  Conservatives all over the country want a wall, and that is why it is so disturbing to hear that most Republicans in Congress do not support building one…

President Trump has been adamant that he needs Congress to approve funding to start building his border wall, but Republicans on Capitol Hill are far less adamant about supporting it. When asked by the USA TODAY Network whether they support the president’s initial $1.6 billion budget request to begin construction, only 69 of the 292 Republicans on Capitol Hill said “yes.” Among the rest, three Republicans said they oppose the money, several evaded a direct answer, and the rest simply refused to respond to the question.

The USA TODAY Network asked the 534 members of the House and Senate whether they support the $1.6 billion down payment approved by the House and found fewer than 25% of Republicans willing to stand up for the plan.

Building a wall seems like such a no-brainer to me.  For decades we have had an immigration policy that is all mixed up.  We have made it exceedingly difficult to come in through the front door, but meanwhile we have been keeping the back door completely wide open.

Today, our system of legal immigration is a complete and total nightmare.  It is extremely confusing, it is very expensive, and it takes way too long.  I once helped someone through that process, and it was so convoluted that I could barely even understand it.

Meanwhile, we have kept the back door totally wide open and have allowed tens of millions of people to enter this country illegally.  So we are actually discouraging good people from coming into our nation legally, and meanwhile we have rolled out the red carpet for criminals, gang members, drug dealers and those that would like to take advantage of the system.

As I discuss in my latest book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters”, we need to make sure that everyone comes in through the front door.  It has been proposed that we can use “technology” and other methods to secure our borders, and I would love to see something that actually works.  But we do know that walls work, and we know that building a wall on the southern border would dramatically reduce illegal immigration and begin forcing people to come in through the front door.

I have previously written about the tremendous problems that illegal immigration is causing in communities all over the nation.  If we would just secure our borders, we could start significantly reducing levels of human trafficking, violent crime and gang membership, and so I don’t know why anyone would want to be opposed to doing that.

Unfortunately, when USA Today approached Republican members of Congress about a wall, most of them didn’t even want to take a clear stance at all…

The overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans refused to take a stance on the wall funding when asked by USA TODAY. Most simply declined to participate in the survey or refused to even respond to queries. Many others offered general positions about the importance of securing the border and requiring employers to verify the immigration status of their workers.

It is time for the era of politically-correct career politicians to end.

If a Republican running for Congress will not solidly commit to building a border wall, that individual does not deserve your vote.

You guys know where I stand, and I’m not moving.  I am committed to building the wall, and we need to elect others all over the nation that are also committed to building the wall.  I hope that you will help us, and I hope that as many of you as possible will get involved in our campaigns all around the country.

Individually, there is very little that we can get done, but collectively we can make a massive difference.

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Iran May Start Giving Drugs to Addicts in Effort to End Illegal Drug Trafficking

(ANTIMEDIA) Tehran, Iran – The Trump administration continues to demonize Iran, advocating regime change even as the U.S. acknowledges that the country is complying with the nuclear deal. Defying Western perceptions, however, the Middle Eastern nation recently announced its plans to move toward decriminalizing drugs in order to combat addiction and weaken the power of drug traffickers. If the plan receives final approval, the country will join a handful of other nations that have opted to help addicts rather than punish them.

The Independent reports that “[b]y allowing the government to give out diluted drugs to addicts, the proposal aims to cut the relationship between drug addicts and drug traffickers.”

The plan would allow the government to distribute methadone to addicts in place of heroin, cannabis, and other commonly used drugs in Iran. It would also allow the government to provide addicts with diluted forms of these commonly used drugs to help wean them off the substances.

Hassan Norouzi, a spokesperson for the Parliament’s Judicial and Legal Commission, said that in order to undermine the relationship between addicts and traffickers, “we decided that the government hand out diluted drugs to addicts, so that they will be able to give up their addiction gradually and, instead of being drawn to drug-traffickers, turn to the Establishment and meet their needs through official channels,” Iranian government-approved outlet IFPNews reported.

“These drugs include methadone and substances more diluted than previous ones, and the authority to decide on that rests with bylaws which are to be jointly drawn up by the Ministry of Justice and [Iran’s] Drug Enforcement HQ, and which could come into effect after getting the all clear from the Cabinet,” Norouzi said.

Norouzi noted that “The plan to distribute [low-grade] drugs is similar to what used to be implemented before the [1979 Iran’s Islamic] Revolution.”

IFP reports that Norouzi said “all relevant authorities have given the go-ahead to the proposal,” though it has not been finalized.

The Independent reported that “The judicial committee has also proposed a draft law halting the death penalty for carrying and distributing less than 100kg of traditional drugs such as opium or less than two kilograms of synthetic drugs.”

Iran has employed militarized anti-narcotic measures against traffickers in the past, even while showing some sympathy to addicts. Human Rights Watch previously reported that authorities often obtained forced confessions for traffickinf and also imposed the death penalty on indivuals possessing large quantities of drugs.

The latest measures come in response to skyrocketing rates of addiction in Iran in recent years, particularly in regard to opium. According to Iran’s Drug Control Organization, there are roughly 2.8 million people in the country consistently using drugs.

Despite Western perceptions that Iran is country doomed to the dark ages, some of its relatively progressive stances on drug addiction prove otherwise. In 2015, Maziyar Ghiabi, an Iranian-Italian Ph.D. candidate at Oxford University discussed rumors that the Iranian government would legalize cannabis and opium.

“This is an actual possibility but not in the short term,” Ghiabi, who focuses on drug policy and use in Iran, told Salon two years ago.

“One institution is really discussing measures to regulate the drug market. By regulation of the drug market, we can mean many different things. One of the ideas is to allow certain substances, in this case cannabis and opium, to be used under specific circumstances. It hasn’t been clearly stated what these circumstances are. What is interesting to me is that the discussion is open. It is a very interesting fact that in the Islamic Republic such discussions are taking place.”

Though Iran is far from completely ending its war on drugs — and its government is indisputably repressive in a variety of ways — its openness to a more lenient policy mirrors some Western nations like Portugal, which decriminalized all drugs in 2001, and parts of Canada, where injection centers have been established to allow addicts to consume drugs like heroin in safe environments. The Iranian government already has some 8,000 rehab clinics that offer methadone treatment for opium addicts  (however, it has been reported that addicts are tennis forcibly admitted to these clinics and arrests still occur).

Norouzi said the Judicial and Legal Commission will continue work to finalize the latest policy change.

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We Need To Build Trump’s Wall, And We Need To Build It Tall And Strong

Did you know that Mexico is the second deadliest nation on the entire planet? The drug war down there continues to spiral completely out of control, and often the violence spills over to our own side of the border. Thanks to President Trump, security along the border is improving, but we still have a long, long way to go. Ultimately what we need is a physical barrier, because large numbers of illegal immigrants continue to pour through the soft spots in our border security. I know that a lot of liberals don’t like the idea of a wall, but that is the only way that we are going to make sure that everyone comes into this country through the front door.

The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we will always need a certain level of immigration from other nations. But prior to the Trump administration, our approach to immigration policy was absolutely insane. We had made the legal immigration process an extremely costly and complicated nightmare that hardly anyone could understand or navigate, and yet we had kept the back door completely wide open for drug dealers, gang members, terrorists, sexual predators and anyone that just wanted to take advantage of the system.

We have got to make our legal system of immigration less costly and less complicated, and at the same time we need to slam the back door completely shut so that everyone is forced to come in to the U.S. through the front door.

To illustrate why this is such an incredibly important issue, I would like to share the story of Estefania Soto with you. Thanks to a drunk illegal immigrant, Soto lost her boyfriend and her baby recently in a horrific traffic accident…

Estefania Soto has spent her days in various hospital rooms since the crash on June 10. She and her boyfriend, 28-year-old Raul Diaz, Jr., were on a motorcycle on Farm to Market 973 near FM 969 in east Travis County when they were hit head-on by a truck.

The crash killed Diaz and resulted in the premature birth of their child. Soto, 26, was only six months pregnant. Their baby was delivered through a C-section after the crash and passed away shortly after.

Soto has had 15 surgeries over the past month including a leg amputation.

If Trump’s wall had already been in place, 38-year-old Cesar Corona-Quiterio may have never had the chance to enter this country illegally and Estefania Soto may still be looking forward to a new life with her husband and her baby.

Another tragedy that could have potentially been averted by a wall on the southern border was the brutal rape of a 14-year-old girl at a high school in Rockville, Maryland. The following comes from Fox News…

Jose O. Montano, 17, from El Salvador, and Henry E. Sanchez-Milian, 18, from Guatemala, were charged with first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree sexual offense after they allegedly attacked the girl at 9 a.m. last Thursday.

“The victim was walking in a school hallway when she met two male students, identified as Montano and Sanchez. Montano asked the victim to walk with him and Sanchez. Montano asked the victim to engage in sexual intercourse. She refused,” Montgomery County Police said in a statement.

“Montano asked the victim again and then forced her into a boy’s bathroom and then into a stall. Montano and Sanchez both raped the victim inside the bathroom stall.”

How would you feel if that was your own daughter?

I don’t understand how people can be against the wall. We literally have a war zone on the other side of the border, and CNN has reported that the drug war down in Mexico claimed an astounding 23,000 lives last year…

It was the second deadliest conflict in the world last year, but it hardly registered in the international headlines.

As Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan dominated the news agenda, Mexico’s drug wars claimed 23,000 lives during 2016 — second only to Syria, where 50,000 people died as a result of the civil war.

And the rising violence in Mexico and much of the rest of central America has been slowly spreading to communities all across the United States. For example, just check out what has been happening on Long Island…

With MS-13 blamed for a trail of 11 corpses of mostly young people found since the start of the school year in Brentwood and Central Islip, the nation’s focus has turned on how the Central American street gang built such a presence here.

The bloodshed in the two blue-collar towns has gotten the attention of President Donald Trump, who says the killings are the result of lax immigration policies that let too many criminal ‘scum’ slip through.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech Friday not far from a park where the bodies of four young men were found this month bearing MS-13’s hallmarks: repeated slashes from a blade that left the victims nearly unrecognizable.

Are you starting to understand why I am so adamant about building Trump’s wall?

We need to build it high, we need to build it strong, and we need armed guards patrolling every inch of it.

One of the fundamental duties of the federal government is national security, and for decades prior to the Trump administration we had leaders that absolutely refused to secure our borders.

Thankfully, now we have a president that is determined to do something about this national crisis, but we still have a Congress that is intent on blocking him every step of the way.

Every member of Congress that doesn’t want Trump’s wall needs to go, and they need to be replaced by new blood that is ready to do whatever is necessary in order to protect the American people.

The FDA Wants this Highly Addictive Opioid Taken off the Market

On June 8, 2017, the FDA requested that the drug-maker Endo Pharmaceuticals stop selling Opana ER – the extended-release version of Opana – because of “public health consequences of abuse.” It is the first time the agency has made efforts to pull an opioid from the market due to its highly addictive nature. [1]

According to the FBI, Opana ER is becoming a popular drug to crush, dissolve, and inject. An outbreak of HIV, Hepatitis C, and a serious blood disorder have been fueled by drug users sharing needles.

In March 2017, an FDA advisory committee voted that Opana ER’s benefits no longer outweighed its risks. [2]

FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb says:

“We are facing an opioid epidemic – a public health crisis, and we must take all necessary steps to reduce the scope of opioid misuse and abuse.

We will continue to take regulatory steps when we see situations where an opioid product’s risks outweigh its benefits, not only for its intended patient population but also in regard to its potential for misuse and abuse.” [1]

Endo said in a statement that the company is “reviewing the request and is evaluating the full range of potential options as we determine the appropriate path forward.”

But the company defended Opana ER for its ability to do what it is intended. It said:

“As a pharmaceutical company with a demonstrated commitment to the improvement of pain management, Endo feels a strong sense of responsibility to improve the care of pain for patients, while at the same time taking comprehensive steps to minimize the potential misuse of its products.”

Read: FDA Takes Major Steps to Address Growing Opioid Crisis

This is Endo’s one and only chance to cooperate, though. If the company refuses to voluntarily recall Opana ER, the FDA will revoke the painkiller’s market approval.

The FDA says:

“In the interim, the FDA is making health care professionals and others aware of the particularly serious risks associated with the abuse of this product.”

Opana ER won FDA approval in 2006. It was designed to be swallowed and to slowly release the medication into the bloodstream over several hours. But when it is snorted or inject, it gives the user a powerful high.

As the brain becomes acclimated to the euphoric feelings, more and more of the drug is required to produce the same levels of pain relief and well-being, leading to dependence, and eventually addiction. [2]

The drug is twice as powerful as OxyContin, another potent opioid that has led many drug abusers down the path to heroin addiction.

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control

Read: Washington City Sues OxyContin Maker Over Opioid Epidemic

Endo reformulated Opana ER in 2012 by adding a coating with the stated purpose of making the pills harder to snort or inject. Other opioid manufacturers have taken similar steps in recent years as the opioid epidemic ballooned into a full-blown crisis. [1]

The FDA said it decided to ask Endo to take Opana ER off the market after the agency reviewed all post-market data on the drug and found that when Endo reformulated the drug, people were injecting it more than they were snorting it. [2]

But the move seems to have backfired, as outbreaks of HIV, Hepatitis C, and other diseases sparked by people injecting Opana ER continued to spiral out of control.

Opana ER was the drug of choice for many addicts at the center of an HIV outbreak in Indiana in 2015.

Read: Even the “Safest” of RX Opioids Highly Addictive, Says Experts

Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, says:

“When we determined that the product had dangerous unintended consequences, we made a decision to request its withdrawal from the market.

This action will protect the public from further potential for misuse and abuse of this product.” [1]

In 2015, opioid overdose killed more than 33,000 people in the U.S., more than any year on record. Close to half of those deaths involved some type of prescription drug. [2]

Sources:

[1] NPR

[2] CNN

U.S. Centers for Disease Control

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

This Straw Allows You to Know If You’ve Been Slipped a Date Rape Drug

(ANTIMEDIA) — Date rapists often prey on those who fail to see their drink has been spiked, but three high school students in Florida may have just developed a tool to outfox the predators. Their Smart Straw exposes the most common date rape drugs that would otherwise be invisible.

Three girls attending Gulliver Preparatory School near Miami, Florida, recently won the Miami Herald’s Business Plan Challenge with their drug-detecting innovation, which they call Smart Straws. Unlike other test kits, these straws are easily carried and don’t attract much attention from those unaware of their true purpose.

Carolina Baigorri, Susana Cappello, and Victoria Roca competed against around 300 other competitors, but their work isn’t done yet. They plan to continue developing the straws, which currently test for GHB and ketamine, the most common date rape drugs. The devices have two test strips that turn blue if either substance is present in either alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks.

 In addition to expanding the test to include other drugs, the girls told A Plus that they may pursue a patent and even change the product’s name.

“We might have to change the name to Safety Straw since McDonald’s came out with a ‘smart straw’ last month that is good for drinking shakes,” Cappello told A Plus.

It remains to be seen how profitable such an instrument could be, but the girls found that 85 percent of Northwestern University students said they would use such a straw, the Miami Herald reported. Half of the respondents knew somebody who had been drugged at a party.

The team is in negotiations with a drug test kit maker over the manufacture of Smart Straws, but in the meantime is raising funds through crowdsourcing, according to the Herald.

However, not everyone is excited about the new potentially protective commodity. Dr. Elizabeth Yuko, who has a Ph.D. in bioethics, wrote on the SheKnows blog — where she is the health and sex editor — that “the more ‘tools’ we have to assist us in our own rape prevention, the more we’re blamed when something goes wrong.”

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Study: Cannabidiol-Based Medication Reduces Intense Seizures by 50%

Marijuana has been associated with reducing seizures in people with epilepsy for years, but only now is the topic getting more of the scientific scrutiny it deserves. In a recent study, cannabidiol (CBD) reduced the number of seizures by half in a substantial number of children and adults with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), a severe form of epilepsy.

GW Pharmaceuticals, a developer of cannabidiol, sponsored the study.

In a press release, study author Dr. Anup Patel, of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said:

“Our study found that cannabidiol shows great promise in that it may reduce seizures that are otherwise difficult to control. This is important because this kind of epilepsy is incredibly difficult to treat.”

Tracking the Effect of CBD on Seizures

For the study, researchers followed 225 people with LGS for 14 weeks. The participants had an average age of 16 and experienced an average of 85 “drop seizures” (also called atonic seizures) a month.

Read: Cannabis Compounds Reduce Serious Seizures in Children by 53%

These types of seizures result in a loss of muscle tone, causing the person’s head or body to suddenly go limp. Though atonic seizures generally last less than 15 seconds, the loss of muscle tone causes the person to fall to the ground, and they may need to wear a helmet or other form of head protection. [2]

LGS usually first affects patients beginning in childhood, have different types of seizures on a daily basis, and often have learning impairments. [3]

Source: LGS Foundation

The participants had also unsuccessfully tried an average of 6 epilepsy drugs and were taking an average of 3 epilepsy drugs during the study.

• One group of participants was given 20 mg per kilogram (mg/kg) of cannabidiol daily.

• A second group received just 10 mg/kg.

• A third group received a placebo.

On average, the group that took the lower dose of cannabidiol had a 37% decrease in seizures. The participants who took 20 mg/kg saw their seizures decrease by half or more.

The placebo group also saw a decrease – about 17%. About 15% had their seizures decline by half or more.

After doing the math, the researchers concluded that participants in the high-dose group were 2.6 times more likely to report their overall condition had improved compared with the those in the placebo group.

Read: Cannabis Compound Found to Help Rare Forms of Epilepsy

Some 94% of those in the high-dose group and 84% of those in the lower-dose group did experience side effects. About 72% of the placebo group said they, too, had side effects. However, the side effects – including loss of appetite and sleepiness – were mild to moderate. [1] [4]

Patel said:

“Our results suggest that cannabidiol may be effective for those with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in treating drop seizures. This is important because this kind of epilepsy is incredibly difficult to treat. While there were more side effects for those taking cannabidiol, they were mostly well tolerated. I believe that it may become an important new treatment option for these patients.”

Next, the team plans to seek approval from the FDA to license cannabidiol LGS sometime this year.

The study findings were presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 69th Annual Meeting in Boston.

Sources:

[1] Healthline

[2] Epilepsy Foundation

[3] Vocativ

[4] UPI

LGS Foundation

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About Mike Barrett:
	Mike is the co-founder, editor, and researcher behind Natural Society. Studying the work of top natural health activists, and writing special reports for top 10 alternative health websites, Mike has written hundreds of articles and pages on how to obtain optimum wellness through natural health.

FDA: Invokana Diabetes Drug Increases Risk of Foot and Leg Amputations

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirms the popular Johnson & Johnson (J&J) diabetes drug Invokana (Invokamet, Invokamet XR) increases the risk of foot and leg amputations in people with Type 2 diabetes. [1]

The results of 2 clinical trials showed leg and foot amputations occurred about twice as often in patients taking Invokana (generic name: canagliflozin) as those given a placebo, according to an announcement on the FDA’s website. [2]

The nation’s health watchdog says it is requiring that new warnings, including its most prominent Boxed Warning, be added to the Invokana label.

One of the clinical trials indicated that over the course of a year, the risk of amputation in Invokana patients was about 9.5 out of 1,000, compared with 2.8 out of 1,000 for those in the placebo group.

In the second clinical trial, the results showed the risk of amputation was equivalent to 7.5 out of every 1,000 patients treated with Invokana, compared with 4.2 out of every 1,000 patients given a placebo.

The most common amputations involved the toe and middle of the foot; however, amputations involving the leg, below and above the knee, also occurred.

People taking Invokana are being urged by the FDA to contact their healthcare professional immediately if they experience new pain or tenderness, sores or ulcers, or infections in their legs or feet. However, patients should not stop taking the medication without first discussing it with their healthcare provider. (I feel like I’m in a commercial.) [1]

The FDA says that before prescribing Invokana for a patient with Type 2 diabetes, healthcare providers should take into account whether an individual has a history of prior amputation, or suffers from peripheral vascular disease, neuropathy, and diabetic foot ulcers, as these may increase the risk of amputation even more.

Foot and leg amputations are common complications of Type 2 diabetes. This is because many people with diabetes have blood vessel disease, which results in restricted blood flow to the lower extremities, along with nerve disease (neuropathy), which reduces sensation in the feet. [3]

The combination of problems often leads to sores and ulcers that the individual may not be able to feel. When a wound goes unnoticed, and thus goes untreated, it can lead to infections that are sometimes impossible to treat.

Amputation is not an unavoidable complication, fortunately. Routine foot care can prevent the need for such drastic measures.

Source: The New York Times

Invokana belongs to a class of Type 2 diabetes drugs, known as SGLT-2 inhibitors, which help rid the body of excess blood sugar through urination. Other popular SGLT-2 inhibitors include Eli Lilly and Co’s Jardiance and AstraZeneca Plc’s Farxiga.

Sometimes the pharmaceutical drugs intended to keep blood sugar low and prevent devastating side effects and complications wind up doing more harm than good.

In 2014, a study found that a type of recombinant insulin intended for use in people with Type 2 diabetes may actually trigger Type 1 diabetes in patients.

Additionally, in 2016, the FDA issued warnings for diabetes medications containing saxagliptin and alogliptin, as the drugs were shown to increase the risk of heart failure, particularly in people who already have heart or kidney disease.

Sources:

[1] Dow Jones Newswires

[2] Reuters

[3] American Diabetes Association

The New York Times

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

Pharma company threatens shortages to hike up cancer drug prices by 4000%

There is not lack of controversy in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly when it comes to drug prices. Unethical, profit-generating tactics used by Big Pharma have never been clearer than the recent actions taken by South African Aspen Pharmacare. This company tried to drive up the price of five different cancer drugs as much as 4,000 percent. Moreover, it threatened to stop supplying the much-needed medication if health authorities didn’t agree to the higher prices.

Foul Tactics Used to Increase Cancer Drug Prices

Aspen Pharmacare purchased the rights to five different cancer drugs from British firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2009. As part of the deal, GSK became one of Aspen’s main investors. It received 16 percent stake in the company, which it sold off in 2013 and 2016.

In 2012, Aspen started to raise cancer drug prices in major European markets such as Britain, Spain, and Italy. The Times reports:

The price rises meant that the cost of busulfan, used by leukaemia patients, rose from £5.20 to £65.22 a pack in England and Wales during 2013, an increase of more than 1,100 per cent. The price of chlorambucil, also used to treat blood cancer, rose from £8.36 to £40.51 a pack in the same year.

When Aspen purchased the rights from GSK, it dropped the brand names. In Britain, the drug maker was able to exploit a loophole that allows companies to raise drug prices for unbranded generics.

In mainland Europe, Aspen targeted health authorities with its price hikes. The Times claims that it has documents and internal emails that show how Aspen “took an ‘aggressive’ approach to negotiations, sometimes creating shortages of the medicines or threatening to stop supplying the drugs altogether to force health authorities to accept its demands.”

For example, Aspen pressured Italian authorities to pay price increases of up to 2,100 percent. The increase took effect over only three months. Moreover, Spanish authorities faced price hikes of up to 4,000 percent. The Spanish Ministry did not agree to pay the higher prices. As a result, Aspen stopped supplying the Spanish market with its five cancer drugs.

In addition to busulfan, Aspen purchased rights to mercaptopurine, a treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which occurs in children. Some of Aspen’s medicines treat several types of cancer particularly prevalent among the elderly.

Big Pharma’s Price Gouging in the U.S.

Price gouging by drug makers is not exclusive to Aspen Pharmacare or the European region. Currently, the United States is one of the most lucrative markets for Big Pharma. This isn’t just because of the sheer amount of people in the U.S. population who take prescription medications. More importantly, in the U.S. drug companies are charging up to 10 times as much for pharmaceuticals when compared to other developed countries.

Alex Pietrowski is an artist and writer concerned with preserving good health and the basic freedom to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. He is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and Offgrid Outpost, a provider of storable food and emergency kits. Alex is an avid student of Yoga and life.

This article (Pharma Company Threatens Shortages to Hike Up Cancer Drug Prices by 4000%) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Alex Pietrowski and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.

The United Nations Says It Will Monitor the Fentanyl Market

On March 16, the United Nations (U.N.) added 2 chemicals used to make the painkiller fentanyl to an international list of controlled substances. Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield, the chief U.S. State Department counter-narcotics official, has hailed the move, but acknowledged that it won’t immediately decrease illegal trafficking of the chemicals. [1] [2]

Source: Healthland Heart Region

Read: Even the “Safest” of RX Opioids Highly Addictive, Experts Say

Fentanyl is a man-made opioid that can be up to 100 times more powerful than morphine. It is approved to treat severe pain, particularly in patients with advanced cancer, and is considered to be America’s newest deadly drug due to misuse.

In March 2015, the DEA issued a nationwide alert after more than 700 overdose deaths were linked to fentanyl in late 2013 and 2014. In 2015, fentanyl overdoses claimed the lives of 33,000 Americans, and over 300,000 in the past 16 years. [2] [3] [4]

Fentanyl is often combined with heroin or made to resemble other painkillers that grab a higher street price, often leading to the deaths of users who are unaware that the drug has been contaminated. [2]

At its annual meeting, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which is also the governing body of the Vienna-based U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), voted in favor of “scheduling” two fentanyl precursors and a fentanyl-like substance. In other words, these chemicals were added to an international control list, which should help ensure more stringent international monitoring of suspicious orders and transactions. This could make it harder for people get their hands on them and produce fentanyl. [1]

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman said in response to the decision:

“None of us lives under the illusion that this is a silver bullet to solving our opioid crisis. But this vote will make it harder for the criminals that are illicitly producing fentanyl to access the necessary resources. It will require countries to regulate the production, sale, and export of the precursors to fentanyl, and to criminalize sale or trafficking outside of those regulations.”

Read: FDA Takes Major Steps to Address Growing Opioid Crisis

The UNODC named the two precursors as 4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (ANPP) and N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP). The commission also added butyrfentanyl, a fentanyl analogue that is similar to the drug.

The State Department said in a statement:

“The U.S. mission [to the United Nations in Vienna] … welcomes this decision as a concrete example of how international action can have a clear benefit for the United States, as we face a crisis taking a tremendous toll on American communities.” [1]

Sources:

[1] VOA News

[2] ABC News

[3] CDC

[4] Vice

CDC

Heartland Health Region

Huffington Post (featured image source)

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

Mom Treats Daughter with Marijuana, Loses Custody of Her 2 Kids

A Gooding, Idaho, mom lost custody of her children and is facing charges after treating her daughter’s seizures with marijuana butter. [1]

Three-year-old Madyson began suffering seizures and hallucinations in early October after coming off of the prescription anti-psychotic drug Risperdal, which was being used to treat a history of seizures.

Madyson’s mom, Kelsey Osborne, explained:

“They [the seizures] would stop and come back, stop and come back with the hallucinations and everything else.” [2]

In an attempt to soothe her seizures, Osborne made her daughter a smoothie containing 1 tablespoon marijuana butter.  

Thirty minutes later, Madyson’s seizures went away, according to Osborne.

A few hours later, Osborne took the girl to the doctor, where she tested positive for marijuana, and the Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) was called.

Now, Osborne has lost custody of her 2 children and has been charged with misdemeanor injury to a child. She is currently protesting Child Protective Services (CPS) to regain custody rights of Madyson and Ryker, 2, from her ex-husband, Jerome. [1]

On November 3, Osborne and the Idaho Moms for Marijuana group rallied at outside the DHW in Boise, urging marijuana reform.

Idaho is the only state from the surrounding states in which all forms of marijuana use, medical or otherwise, are illegal. Just 34 children with severe epilepsy have any access to marijuana-based treatment, in the form of an experimental treatment program in Boise that utilizes cannabidiol oil (CBD).

DHW spokesman Tom Shanahan said:

“The [CBD] they use for epilepsy doesn’t have THC, it doesn’t appear to have any kind of brain development issues. Recreational marijuana does cause that so it’s not safe for these children.

He added:

“Marijuana is illegal, period.” [2]

The butter Osborne made did contain THC, as CBD oil is not available in Idaho beyond the program. [1]

Osborne has no regrets and believes she did what was right as a mother. She said:

“It’s something that I’m going to fight for and I’m not going to give up until I have them back home where they have been begging me to be. I’m not going to stop. I won’t stop. If it takes me two years, then it’s going to take me two years.”

Osborne has plenty of support, too. Her backers have launched a petition to return the children to her custody, gaining 719 signatures so far. The petition will become eligible to be viewed by Idaho governor, Butch Otter, once it has garnered 1,000 signatures. [3]

The petition states:

“Regardless of Idaho laws surrounding marijuana, a parent’s responsibility is for the care, control, and the well being of their children. Idaho laws should reflect science and logic and not impede upon a parent’s rights to choose what is best for their children. The Osborne case shows the failure of prohibition in Idaho and the need for reform of the archaic laws and CPS policies that prevent families from choosing a safer medical alternative for their families. Return the Osborne children to their mother, and change Idaho Marijuana laws/policy.”

Risperdal

Risperdal, or risperidone, is intended to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, both psychiatric conditions. Many people take Risperdal for seizure disorders, but it is considered an off-label use. [4]

In 2012, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the maker of Risperdal, agreed to pay a $1 billion fine to the U.S. government and most states over its marketing of Risperdal for unapproved uses.

Risperdal is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in children under 5.

The medication can cause severe side effects, including heart rhythm problems and kidney failure.

Ironically, 1 of the warnings on the Risperdal label is that the drug can actually cause epileptic seizures.

Source: Fox News

In studies, risperidone has been shown to shrink the brain.

Which is more dangerous – cannabis or Risperdal?

Which is the bigger crime – giving a kid a tablespoon of cannabis butter in a smoothie, or prescribing an ongoing course of frighteningly dangerous prescription drugs for a use not even approved of by the FDA?

What causes more brain damage – Risperdal or THC?

Sources:

[1] Fox News

[2] KTVB

[3] Opposing Views

[4] Healthline

Idaho Statesman

Fox News

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.