Salem-News.com Articles written by Marianne Skolek

Learn to Cope Carries a Lighted Candle of Hope in Massachusetts

First parent organization in the country that are also NARCAN trainers (used for acute opioid overdosage).

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - Ten years ago, Joanne Peterson founded an organization called Learn to Cope to help families deal with the prescription drug/heroin health crisis in Massachusetts.

Learn to Cope is solely peer to peer education, support, resources and providing hope for families thinking hope was no longer an option to them.

Bob Rappaport, MD, Division Director of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Addiction Products at FDA Retires

What if the head of the division of the FDA responsible for opioids being approved is not a "watch dog" to the American people, but rather is a "lap dog" to the pharmaceutical industry?

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - One of Dr. Rappaport's biggest contributions to the American people before the FDA announced his retirement was an opioid called Zohydro ER.

Zohydro ER will be the first hydrocodone-only opioid in doses of 5 to 10 times more heroin-like narcotic than Vicodin.

Legal Drug Pharmacies with Pill Mill Behaviors Must Be Accountable

Congressman Tom Marino (PA) and Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (TN) "prescribe" Walgreens be unaccountable for errors in loss of lives. Why?

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - An organization named Stoppnow out of Florida has been instrumental in closing pill mills setting up in storefront buildings throughout their state. Here is their website http://stoppnow.com/.

Representatives from Stoppnow attended the Fed Up Rally in Washington, DC last month and scheduled a meeting with Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (TN) to discuss a bill co-sponsored by the congresswoman -- HR 4709. The bill sparked my interest because it ties the hands of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) if a pharmacy makes a serious mistake with an opioid prescription.

Thousands March on Washington to End Prescription Drug Epidemic

Attorney General Eric Holder resigns! Lois Lerner, Commissioner of the I.R.S. resigns! Julia Pierson, Secret Service Director resigns! It's time for Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the F.D.A. to resign -- or better -- be fired!

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - This past weekend I attended and was a speaker in Washington, DC at the FED UP Rally for a Federal Response to the Prescription Opioid/Heroin Epidemic. It was an experience I will never forget.

Below are the names of the organizations sending representatives to the reception and march to The White House. Pretty impressive don't you think?

Rally for Immediate Coordinated Federal Response to the Prescription Opioid/Heroin Crisis

They will not ignore you if they know you are not going away.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - On September 27 and 28 I will be speaking at the FED UP Rally in Washington, DC calling attention to the national health epidemic - prescription opioids/heroin and the mounting death toll.

It is anticipated there will be a huge outpouring of families from all over the country who are "fed up" with the FDA picking the pockets of pharma by approving more and more opioids as a pay to play. For the past 12 years I have been exposing the prescription opioid/heroin Holocaust fueled by profiteers without consideration of the loss of life. My involvement in this journey for justice was as a result of the death of my daughter, Jill in 2002 to prescribed OxyContin.

Outrage Over Missing Emails But Not the US Opioid/Heroin Epidemic

The US Senate Committee on Finance focuses on Lois Lerner and the IRS emails and not the prescription opioid/heroin national epidemic!! Why?

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - On May 8, 2012 Senator Charles E. Grassley and Senator Max Baucus, Chairman of the US Senate Committee wrote a letter to John H. Stewart, President and CEO of Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin. Here is the first paragraph of the letter:

"As Chairman and a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, we have a responsibility to the more than 100 million Americans who receive health care under Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP.

FDA Commissioner Hamburg and Connecticut`s Governor Malloy Play Tug-of-War with Conflict of Interest

Handing out waivers and attempting to loosen or eliminate conflict of interest laws benefits....who?

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - If you continue to question why the head of the FDA and heads of states have allowed the prescription opioid/heroin epidemic in the country to grow from a spark into a raging fire, it may just be their ignoring the words "conflict of interest."

Let me begin with Margaret Hamburg, MD who begs to be terminated from her position as head of the FDA for sheer indifference to the safety of the American people. How truly dangerous is Hamburg in heading up the FDA while tens of thousands of people die and are addicted to prescription opioids/heroin? You decide.

Why Margaret Hamburg, MD should be fired as Commissioner of the FDA!

The epidemic is getting worse and still the drugs keep coming.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - Some interesting events occurred this past week in the prescription opioid/heroin epidemic paralyzing the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Hamburg, Bob A. Rappaport, MD and Douglas Throckmorton, MD need to be relieved of their duties at the FDA immediately. It is not enough to ask for the resignations of these individuals who have been accomplices in the prescription opioid/heroin deaths and addictions.

Let me lay out some facts that indicate why we are losing a generation of young people to the opioid/heroin epidemic in the U.S. and Canada while the FDA has had its eyes wide shut.

Dissecting the Opioid/Heroin Epidemic to Discover its Ugly Roots

What if the FDA, the DEA, Pharma and their
Lobbying Groups were responsible for the national
conspiracy in the Opioid/Heroin Epidemic?

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - Hypothetically, what if the FDA had an "interest" in approving dangerous opioids when just nine years an opioid called Palladone was pulled by the FDA after only a month of being on the market for its danger to the public?

Purdue Pharma, maker of the opioid, epidemic making drug OxyContin produced Palladone and had hoped to piggyback more profits in the billions with two blockbuster opioids.

Are Profiteers Continuing to Downplay `Addiction` to the Medical Profession??

Salem-News.com's Marianne Skolek will be speaking at the FED UP Rally in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 28.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - In a continuing effort to convince the medical profession that dangerous prescription opioids are not "addictive" by substituting words such as "pseudo-addiction", "tolerance" and "dependent" add the words "chemical coping."

In the past decade, Drs. Fishman and Passik have successfully bred physicians such as Dr. Del Fabbro to carry the torch downplaying the word "addiction."