Salem-News.com Articles written by Marianne Skolek

Does the FDA Have a `Rapport` With Yet Another Pharmaceutical Company by Unleashing a Killer Drug on Us?

Zohydro ER will come in doses close to 10 times more heroin-like narcotic than other hydrocodone painkillers.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - A lethal painkiller named Zohydro ER will be available to be prescribed in 2014 after the FDA's reckless approval of it.

If you think OxyContin crippled the country in deaths and addictions, be ready for further devastation of families when Zohydro ER hits your pharmacies and finds it way onto the streets by over-production of the drug.

Is Lynn Webster, MD a Leading U.S. Pain Specialist -- Or `Dr. Death` as He Was Called During CNN interview?

Includes the transcript of Dr. Gupta's CNN interview.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - Is Lynn Webster, MD one of the leading specialists in the U.S. on pain -- or is he truly "Dr. Death" as he was called in a CNN interview?

On December 7, 2013 Sanjay Gupta, MD aired a segment on CNN regarding the prescription drug overdose epidemic. In the CNN program the husband of a woman who died while being treated at Lynn Webster, MD's clinic in Salt Lake City, Utah contributed to the story by interview.

Does the FDA Have a Conscience -- Or Are They Too Corrupt to Care About American Lives?

FDA approves potentially deadly drug against recommendations of their own committees, big pharma will do anything for money, and the FDA is in their pocket.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - Congress has major concerns about the FDA's approval of a dangerous and highly addictive new opioid set to be prescribed in 2014. The name of the painkiller is Zohydro ER.

Their concern is primarily due to the epidemic of deaths and addictions in the past decade plus because of dangerous opioids -- in particular OxyContin. You may wonder how the FDA could approve another opioid when the U.S. is fighting a tsunami of deaths, addiction and abuse currently to the opioids they had previously approved.

To Justify Profits, Pain Physicians Say Just About Anything

As members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and DEA celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I hope they envision empty chairs at dining room tables in countless homes whose family members are either dead or addicted because of the rules of a very cruel game called "pay to play".

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - Chronic pain is pain that lingers even if you are no longer ill or injured and other criminal statements the medical profession is being fed by profiteers in a "pay to play" scheme.

Last week I wrote about the Veterans Administration and the American Chronic Pain Association ties to the FDA "pay to play" scandal with the pharmaceutical industry.

Is VA Involved in `Pay for Play` With FDA & Big Pharma?

Our military heroes are victims of death and addiction.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - In my last article I wrote about the rise in prescriptions of painkillers by the Veterans Administration (VA) providers in the last 12 years -- a whooping 270%.

Think our military heroes have more of a problem than fighting in the battlefields? They do -- and its massive amounts of painkillers being prescribed to them for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with opioids -- such as OxyContin.

Rollin Gallagher`s Dark Alliance With Purdue Pharma and Prescription Painkillers

Narcotics prescriptions written by VA providers are up 259%.. VA prescriptions for Hydrocodone, OxyContin, Methadone, and Morphine have risen 270% in the last 12 years.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - TO: U.S. Senate Finance Committee

In May 2012 you announced an investigation being conducted by your Committee involving the rising rates of addiction and death throughout the U.S. to prescribed painkillers. Specifically you named pharmaceutical companies and their ties to pharma funded pain societies and paid physician spokespersons pushing painkillers for all levels of pain.

FDA Accused of `Pay to Play` Involving Universities of Rochester and Washington; Experts Connect Epidemic of OxyContin Addiction

Pain Medicine News is mailed to "the highest-prescribers of pain medication." Why would they target the highest prescribers? Could it possibly be to keep the flow of painkillers in the US and Canada to increase the profits to Purdue Pharma and other pharmaceutical companies riding the addiction and death train?

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - My interest has been peaked by a newspaper called Pain Medicine News advertising itself as THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER FOR PAIN MANAGEMENT.

There are problems here though. First at the top of the page of Pain Medicine News very proudly displayed is the "Purdue Pharma" insignia with an invitation for the reader to visit PurdueHCP.com.

`Pain Drug Champion` Under Senate Investigation for Financial Ties to the Pharmaceutical Industry

Part 2 in a series...

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - In December 2012 the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote an article about Russell K. Portenoy, MD "appearing" to have second thoughts about pushing opioids for chronic pain.

Since Portenoy is under U.S. Senate investigation for financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry to potentially benefit financially in encouraging the medical profession to prescribe opioids disregarding the dangers of addiction, death and abuse - are his second thoughts "the fire is raging and my hose is out of water?"

FDA Requirement to Change Labels on Painkillers is Weak, Ineffective

PART 1

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is making an attempt at requiring pharmaceutical companies to be held accountable for the weak package labels on painkillers warning of the dangers of addiction and death by issuing a directive that they think addresses the opioid epidemic. Am I impressed with the new FDA regulations? Not even close.

I still maintain that the FDA needs to be "swept clean" and have everyone from Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to Doug Throckmorton to Bob Rappaport on down replaced by people who recognize we have an epidemic which continues while the FDA and those capable of saving lives...

Why Did Purdue Pharma Miss Court Deadline in Kentucky Lawsuit?

The Kentucky lawsuit against Purdue Pharma deals with the marketing of the narcotic OxyContin to physicians in Kentucky and whether the company masked the addictive properties of the painkiller.

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - Purdue Pharma, the maker of the deadly drug OxyContin, missed a recent court deadline in the six-year lawsuit brought by the Commonwealth of Kentucky -- and word has it that this legal maneuver could cost the drug maker in a big way.

I'm not so sure. Could Purdue Pharma have not met the court deadline intentionally? You decide.