Has not one of the ostensibly High IQ Streeters figured this crisis out?

Medicaid expansion = "free" bottle of (insert your feel good drug of choice) =  $$$ on the street.

JetRx wrote:

Has not one of the ostensibly High IQ Streeters figured this crisis out?

Medicaid expansion = "free" bottle of (insert your feel good drug of choice) =  $$$ on the street.

Criminals are going to be criminals from poor to president, this is why we have regulations and regulators.

But I'll do the math for you Oxy @ $10 per pill, bottle of 30 pills = $300 (prices vary slightly by region).  Refills are strictly monitored. 

So to make any measurable money off of this there has to be significant white-collar criminal activity to get around the "on the ground" enforcement measures, ergo the quoted article.

States administer Medicaid, and several have had a very poor track record when it comes to monitoring opioid prescription patterns.  The worst by far has been Florida, I believe. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3030470/

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/889780

https://www.statnews.com/2016/11/23/med … id-limits/

Here's an interesting little mapping tool that the feds now provide:

https://cms-oeda.maps.arcgis.com/apps/M … e6e5800fa5

Last edited by Fled (2018-01-31 14:45:27)

Emmeran wrote:

Fled wrote:

States administer Medicaid, and several have had a very poor track record when it comes to monitoring opioid prescription patterns.  The worst by far has been Florida, I believe. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3030470/

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/889780

https://www.statnews.com/2016/11/23/med … id-limits/

Here's an interesting little mapping tool that the feds now provide:

https://cms-oeda.maps.arcgis.com/apps/M … e6e5800fa5

Can't we just stop beating around the bush and call them Opium Den's?

So Racist!

Emmeran wrote:

Watch "Deadwood", opium dens weren't just for the Orientals.

“That’s a joke, I say that’s a joke son”

Smudge wrote:

JetRx wrote:

Has not one of the ostensibly High IQ Streeters figured this crisis out?

Medicaid expansion = "free" bottle of (insert your feel good drug of choice) =  $$$ on the street.

Data?

AN EXCLUSIVE REVIEW OF MEDICAID PRESCRIPTION DRUG DATA FOUND OXYCODONE PAINKILLERS FLOODED INTO NEW YORK FROM 2012 TO 2014, INCLUDING 8.8 MILLION PILLS IN WESTCHESTER, ROCKLAND AND PUTNAM COUNTIES ALONE, ENOUGH FOR SIX PAIN PILLS FOR EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY.

STRIKINGLY, TAXPAYERS FUNDED MUCH OF THE FLOW OF DRUGS, COVERING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN MEDICAID PAYMENTS. THESE PAIN PILLS HOOKED MANY NEW YORKERS AND STARTED SOME DOWN THE PATH TO HEROIN, THE CHEMICALLY SIMILAR STREET DRUG BEING SMUGGLED INTO THE U.S. IN RECORD AMOUNTS BY MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS.

STATEWIDE, THE NUMBER OF PILLS PAID FOR JUST FROM MEDICAID REACHED 251 MILLION DURING THAT SAME PERIOD, ENOUGH FOR 13 PAIN PILLS FOR EVERY NEW YORKER. THE PRICE TAG FOR TAXPAYERS? MORE THAN $1 BILLION BASED ON A REVIEW OF PAIN-PILL REIMBURSEMENT RATES.

“IT’S NOT JUST A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE. THERE IS A FINANCIAL IMPACT WHICH WOULD SUGGEST THAT STATES SHOULD BE MUCH MORE AGGRESSIVE IN THEIR USE OF THIS DATABASE,” SAID DR. ANDREW KOLODNY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PHYSICIANS FOR RESPONSIBLE OPIOID PRESCRIBING.

IT IS DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE EXACTLY HOW MANY PILLS WERE PRESCRIBED, OR HOW MUCH THEY COST TAXPAYERS, BECAUSE THE NARCOTIC BUREAU WITHHELD MANY DETAILS, CITING PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY LAWS.

*********

https://spottedtoad.wordpress.com/2017/ … id-crisis/

*********

Naturally, with every other commercial on MSM promoting one drug or another, they're loathe to report on real culprits and risk loosing ad revenue.  I don't need any "data" for that assertion.  Same goes for my friend's sister who puts $1800 a month in her pocket subletting her pain prescription. 

All this taxpayer-funded  "free shit" needs to go.

Here's an on-topic example of a proposition on the same subject matter (expressing the opposite side of the argument, however) effectively made, using well organized, clearly thought out reasoning, and an appropriate amount of supporting data for a general summary:

...Begin with a logical assumption that has been broadly accepted since Aristotle walked the earth: For A to cause B, A has to occur before B in time. The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, but the national expansion of Medicaid didn’t begin until 2014. That’s after the 15-year-long quadrupling of prescription painkiller overdoses deaths from 4,030 to 16,234. Obviously those deaths can’t be attributed to a Medicaid expansion that hadn’t happened yet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/won … a4c022a527

Fled wrote:

Yeah, the "let's get rid of the free stuff" argument really falls short of being helpful.  What is called for is closer control on prescription of opioids, tracking of amounts prescribed, and sanctioning those who mis-prescribe.  As long as we're bothering to regulate opioids, that is.

Thank the heavens Trump is anti-regulation and anti-enforcement.

GooberMcNutly wrote:

Fled wrote:

Here's an interesting little mapping tool that the feds now provide:

https://cms-oeda.maps.arcgis.com/apps/M … e6e5800fa5

Can confirm, the dark red zip codes around here correlate perfectly with the presence of run down single wide trailers, obesity scooters crawling through stores and Family Dollars.

Sure.I'll buy that. Hopelessness has got to be a major factor, as it is in all drug abuse.

Well you can't even join the Army any longer with any type of conviction on your record, there is no place left to go but down.

It's a fact jack - I hate to think what would have become of me had I not joined the Corps straight out of High School.