From MSNBC.COM

Interestingly, they mention that abuse is going up, AND that use is going up (the obvious correlation which is normal with any controlled substance, but they fail to point that out directly)..

"Rising deaths blamed on painkiller patch abuse
Addicts may be turning to fentanyl patch due to to crackdown on oxycodone


ST. LOUIS - Justin Knox bit down on the bitter-tasting patch, instantly releasing three days’ worth of a drug more powerful than morphine. He was dead before he even got to the hospital.

The 22-year-old construction worker and addict was another victim in an apparent surge in U.S. overdoses blamed on abuse of the fentanyl patch, a prescription-only product that is intended for cancer patients and others with chronic pain and is designed to dispense the medicine slowly through the skin.

“I cannot tell you the amount of people I’ve seen and the creative ways they abuse this drug,” said Dr. Scott Teitelbaum, director of the Florida Recovery Center in Gainesville, Fla. “Fentanyl has been abused for years. But recently there has been an increase. I’ve seen more chewing, squeezing of the drug off the patch and shooting it up.”
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Fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic, was introduced in the 1960s, but it was not until the early 1990s that it became available in patch form. Last year, the first generic versions of the patch hit the market.

At least seven deaths in Indiana and four in South Carolina since 2005 have been blamed on abuse of the fentanyl patch, along with more than 100 deaths in Florida in 2004. About a week after Knox’s death in Farmington, Mo., in March, a second man in the same county was prescribed the patch legally and died after injecting himself with the gel that he had s****ed from it.

Emergency-room visits by people misusing fentanyl shot up nearly 14-fold to 8,000 nationwide between 2000 and 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The figures do not indicate how many of those ER visits were because of the patch.

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(In recent months, more than 100 deaths have been reported from Chicago and Detroit to Philadelphia among drug addicts who overdosed on heroin mixed with fentanyl. And federal drug agents believe fentanyl is being made in clandestine labs in Mexico and elsewhere.)

The first fentanyl patch was Duragesic, made by Johnson & Johnson. Sales more than tripled from 2000 to 2004, according to the Pacific Law Center in La Jolla, Calif. Worldwide sales were more than $2 billion in 2004, and half of that was in the U.S., according to the J&J’s Web site.

More than 5.7 million prescriptions were written in 2003 for the Duragesic patch, according to IMS Health.

Mark Wolfe, spokesman for PriCari, the J&J unit that oversees Duragesic, said the product comes with strong “black box” warnings about the dangers of abusing Duragesic.

One theory is that addicts are turning to the fentanyl patch because of a government crackdown on abuse of another powerful prescription painkiller, OxyContin, or oxycodone.

“The abuse of oxycodone and the fear of litigation is enough to scare doctors from prescribing it. Duragesic is in vogue, as we’ve seen over the last year and a half and two years,” said Dr. John Brandt, a chronic-pain specialist at the University of Florida.

In Missouri, the man accused of illegally selling the fentanyl patch to Knox has been charged with murder.

“The awareness is just not out there. I had never heard of this patch,” said Knox’s mother, Rose Marler. “There’s a new generation of drugs and people just need to be aware.” END ARTICLE

Thanks for posting this beachgal...fentanyl is a great drug for chronic pain patients but in the wrong hands it is fatal.I pray this kind of news coverage does not have adverse effects on patients being prescribed them....juju

Great article. You know all these overdose deaths are tragic. But consider that 5.7 million scripts were written for its use in a year. And let's say 500 died (most likely by abuse) which is probably a high figure. That is 1/10000th of 1%. Compare that with the complications from NSAIDs. And I bet most of the overdose deaths weren't from people that received prescriptions. Unfortunately, there are always going to be people that will do stupid things like that. Even if all opiates were completely illegal, I doubt you would see any less of this type of abuse. Perhaps even more.
PB

60 deaths in Chicago since 1/1/06 from the fentanyl/heroin.

I read interviews with junkies who said they would continue to use in spite of this.

A lot of junkies here keep a dose of the antidote...nalexone?...on hand, just in case.
I think they can get it for free when they exchange their needles.

What a waste of human potential.

2 different people in my state in the last years, put scrubs on and pretened to work in retirement homes, and went in and stoled the patches right off of the elderly's patients bodies.
They caught one girl because she was going back for the second time, and called first and pretended to be a detective and ask how the investigation was going on finding the person responsible for stealing the patches.

They hadn't filed a police report, but when they got the call they called the sherrif, and the girl came in close to an hour later, and the cops were able to catch her.

They charged her with multiple counts, including impersonating an officer, and when they looked in her purse, she had 3 other patches and hydrocodone as well.

She was in her early 20's, really young girl, too. It's very sad.
Codi

Speaking about the way people are at other boards (not all mind you). I sometimes wonder why some of these places have CS problems sometimes. Even the best, you will catch someone that seems really frazzled, or curt. Then when you read the posts of a lot of people, not so much here, but some other places, you can imagine how things can be for a CS person at an OCS. I am sure that many handle themselves similarly to the way they post. That is, very childish, impatient, constantly calling or emailing over the slightest things...like not having a tracking no. at precisely 5 pm, etc. Then, when one of us has a serious issue, such as Rosie's recently, we get lumped in with all the a-holes they deal with and aren't taken with the seriousness we should expect. Oh well, just a theory of mine that I have pondered as I read things at other places. I have generally found that even when I have a big beef, it is far better to be cool headed and reasonable about it. But when I am not taken seriously, I have to wonder why.
PB

I thought I was posting to something Codi posted. Maybe I have the wrong thread Gee, am I losing my MIND!!!!

Help!! Hydrogen, what does this mean?!

I read it all but am not sure what to think of it...I have never taken fentanyl, patch or otherwise and dont intend too, but it almost looks to me as if there may have been less problems before the patch.

God knows Im not defending junkies...but why would a guy subscribed the stuff abuse it like that? My first thought was the nicotene patch...mine wouldnt stay on...I had to duct tape it to my arm...I quit smoking for about 3 months but still needed the patch (heavy smoker) but after 2 months i couldnt find a spot on my body that wasnt raw from duct tape. After the pain of ripping off duct tape off of spots already sore I gave up!

IMO maybe the patch isnt workin for some people. Is it possible that drs are prescribing the patch to people who actually need a pain reliever in another form?

I dont know myself, its just a different way of looking at things. MY brain tryin to figure out why I guess....I tell you though theres no way in he** I would stick one of those things in mt mouth...and after they were stuck on somebody else? eeewww!

"Last year, the first generic versions of the patch hit the market."

I've been watching these trends for years---decades actually---because I'm pretty cynical about the drug companies. If you look at the history of most pharmaceuticals, you can see the pattern.

Oxycontin, when it first came out and the company was making tons of money from it, was way overmarketed and wound up being overprescribed to people who didn't need it. As soon as the drug went generic, all of a sudden it began to get really bad press. Tons of overdoses, got on the DEA watch list, etc.

Now the same thing is happening with fentanyl. I know a couple of people with legitimate prescriptions for it that have told me how much the patches cost. Now that the price is going to drop and the company that originally marketed it isn't going to be pocketing all that cash, you're going to be seeing a lot of stories about people OD'ing on it, etc.

Don't worry, though, because the companies have some new fancy and very expensive replacement moving up the pipeline that will replace these "dangerous" medications. Of course, in the meantime, who's going to suffer? Probably a few addicts and drug diverters that will (and should) wind up in the clink, but mostly legitimate pain sufferers who will lose access to the medication that makes their lives worth living.

Sorry for my rant, but it really ticks me off that so many patients that really need these medications are going to suffer due to the machinations of the money-hungry drug companies and the prosecution-hungry federal government working together against the sick people they should be trying to help in order to further their own agendas.

CatLady

That's okay PB, I know exactly the post you are talking about, and I agree 100%, some people that continuosly email and call(unless it's coming up on a hoilday or something)but just calling every step of the way, to me make themselves look like addicts. Besides that if it is a refill then they should still have meds at 25 days later, small stuff like that. Oh well.

And another thing about the patches. I know a guy who has chronic pain, and the doctors don't prescribe enough breakthrough, or for some reason this last time he was switched from his monthly dose of hydro's to tramadol, or something like that, anyway he started going through bad withdraws, cramps, couldn't sleep, you know all the stuff you hear about.

His Doctor had went out of town, so he was unable to reach him, so he cut open one of the patches, and would lick the gel, not all of it at once, but just to help with the withdraw, until he could reach his Doctor.

I tried to talk him into going to the e.r., but no insurance, and his pain management cost enough, and to top it off, he didn't want his wife to see him like that, because she was not please with the amount of meds he was on.

One of his church members knew of his situation, so he did everthing he could to make it to church, and the guy had enough to hold him over til he could see his Doctor again.

So, I know people that have run out of the other, and one of my family members(haven't heard from her in a year, hubby side)she would wear 3 patches at a time, because she was so immuned, I guess. She also got like 100 methodone, and xanex a month, and has hep c, too.She is diabetic, with one leg & a knub.
Codi

Thats sorta what Im talkin bout Codi....it seems as if the patch doesnt work well for that man....geez, if it/they dont work or he needs somethin else than the docs should give him somthin else!! I personally dont consider the guy you describe as a junkie...he HAS to have his meds for pain!!!! I figured the article above was something along those lines about the guy who was shootin what he got from the patch. it just gets me all to you know where that a doc wont prescribe what the individual person needs.

What works for me may not work for you and vice versa....I just get sick of "junkie press" cause not everyone is that way. I'd bet you dont here bout some kids stealing patches off of people that often... but low and behold media will find where some kids did. BUT the story man you just described..there are thousands...no media report though...it just t's me off. and Im not near as bad off as many people.

quote:

Originally posted by A.-Codi:
2 different people in my state in the last years, put scrubs on and pretened to work in retirement homes, and went in and stoled the patches right off of the elderly's patients bodies.
They caught one girl because she was going back for the second time, and called first and pretended to be a detective and ask how the investigation was going on finding the person responsible for stealing the patches.

They hadn't filed a police report, but when they got the call they called the sherrif, and the girl came in close to an hour later, and the cops were able to catch her.

They charged her with multiple counts, including impersonating an officer, and when they looked in her purse, she had 3 other patches and hydrocodone as well.

She was in her early 20's, really young girl, too. It's very sad.
Codi

that is crazy! what the hell? some people need to get a life.

I'll admit that I've asked for and been given meds that people were not going to use and intended to throw out.

I know that that is bad.

But to take medicine right off of someone who needs it. I don't care how bad WDs get, I could never live with myself knowing I'd done that to someone.

I remember by grandfather slowly wasted away due to cancer. If I found out that someone had been robbing him of his morphine and he suffered anymore than he already did, I'd cry about that for the rest of my life.

(This was way before Fentanyl patches were invented.)

That's a sad story, but it is insane to do something like that. Didn't this guy realize what he was doing?! I guess not! I don't think incidents like this one ruin CP'ers chances of getting adequate pain control. I mean how many people would just bite down on a heavy duty painkilling patch like that?! Not many and any doctor in his right mind would realize that.