http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/deadly-new-drug-pt-1

From 2005 to 2009, suicide attempts in which drugs played some role rose from 11,235 to 16,757 among women ages 50 and up, a federal survey found. The increase, driven in part by the last of the Baby Boomers entering their sixth decade, provides a new example of the toll wrought by the nation’s prescription painkiller epidemic. In 2009, 16 million Americans age 12 and up had taken a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant or sedative for non-medical reasons in the previous year, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

The trends involving women and suicide appeared in a Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report dated May 12, 2011, but released Thursday to coincide with a meeting of the public-private Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. The report, prepared by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, wasn’t limited to suicide attempts involving deliberate overdoses; its authors counted any suicide attempt in which drugs were involved, such as a woman slashing her wrists while smoking marijuana.

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Among women of all ages, emergency hospital visits for attempted suicide involving alcohol or illicit drug use remained “relatively stable” from 2005 to 2009, but increased for particular drugs. Drilling deeper into the report reveals that:

 ER visits for suicide attempts associated with women taking drugs intended to counter anxiety and insomnia rose 56 percent, from 32,426 to 50,548. Hospital visits for attempted suicides involving a class of anxiety drugs known as benzodiazepines rose 67 percent. Those involving alprazolam (Xanax) went up 74 percent. Hospital visits for suicide attempts in which the insomnia drug zolpidem (Ambien) played a role rose 158 percent, from 2,177 visits to 8,190 visits, for all women, but only were statistically significant among women 35 to 49.

 ER visits for women’s suicide attempts associated with pain relievers grew more than 30 percent, from 36,563 to 47,838. Suicide attempts involving narcotic pain relievers remained relatively stable overall, but climbed 67 percent among women who took hydrocodone (Vicodin), from 4,613 to 7,715. They soared 210 percent for suicide attempts involving oxycodone (Oxycontin), from 1,895 to 5,875. A closer analysis found statistically significant increases in ER visits for attempted suicide involving oxycodone for women 21 to 34, and attempted suicide involving hydrocodone for women 35 to 49. Those age ranges span the years during which women typically marry, have children, build careers and reach menopause, all of which can contribute to stress.

Adult addiction specialist Dr. Elizabeth F. Howell, a past president of theAmerican Society of Addiction Medicine and associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, said the report findings reflected higher overall rates of prescription abuse and addiction. They weren’t surprising, she said, because as doctors spend less time with their patients, they rely more on pharmaceutical treatments for physical and psychological problems.

“When you go to the physician, there’s not as much time to talk to the doctor. If I’m not sleeping very well, the doctor is more likely to give me a prescription, rather than talk to me for 5 minutes about sleep hygiene,” she said. “There are not as many psychiatrists as we need. Even suicidal patients have trouble getting to see a psychiatrist.”

Primary Care Doctors Prescribing Meds for Problems Psychiatrists Once Handled

As a result, “many more primary care professionals are put in the position of prescribing for anxiety and depression,” even when their patients have health insurance and the means to see a specialist. Patients initially prescribed powerful pain medications for sports injuries or after surgery may discover those drugs help them relax or sleep better and begin “self-medicating their psychiatric symptoms and not just the physical pain,” Howell said.

Howell said she suspects that women in their 50s, who tend to suffer aged-related aches and pains and have problems stemming from hormonal changes, are complaining to their doctors about “things that may not sound totally like depression or anxiety.” She said they leave with prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs, painkillers or sleeping pills, when they might benefit more from therapy, antidepressants or in some cases, hormonal therapy.

With so many primary care doctors and specialists handing out so many powerful pills, it’s little wonder that patients end up with more medications than they need in their medicine cabinets. “If you paid for it, you tend to hang onto it,” Howell said. “And then if you become depressed or otherwise impulsively suicidal, you look at your medicine cabinet. Overdose is a very common way to try to attempt suicide.”

Although statistics show men more likely to kill themselves than women, women are more frequently treated for attempted suicide, according to 2011 figures compiled by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2009, there were more than 215,000 ER visits by women trying to hurt themselves and women accounted for 3 out of 5 ER visits for drug-related suicide attempts.

The DAWN report said hospital emergency rooms are key places to identify at-risk women and refer them for “appropriate mental health and social services” that address underlying anxiety, depression and domestic abuse, before they can succeed in ending their lives. But it said much of that intervention could also take place by having doctors “monitor the frequency of requested refills, assess medical need, and refer to mental health services when indicated.”

“The steep rise in abuse of narcotic pain relievers by women is extremely dangerous and we are now seeing the result of this public health crisis in our emergency rooms,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, an attorney and former state mental health director. “Emergency rooms should not be the front line in our efforts to intervene.”

Given that older women represent one of the fast-growing populations, and that pain and sleep disorders increasingly are treated with prescription drugs, report concluded by saying that “expanded research on women’s aging issues and the potential use of these drugs as a method of, or influence on, suicide attempts is critical.”

Article By JANE E. ALLEN, ABC News Medical Unit

How many times have you received an inquiry and had to turn away the prospective customer because you didn’t offer the toxicology test they needed? Are you offering only basic drug and alcohol testing services to your clients and wish you had alternative options to better assist them? Do you want to broaden your menu of services to more fully support your employer, medical, legal and school clients?

ExperTox is the single source laboratory solution for community-based drug and alcohol testing businesses across the country. You don’t have to be limited to “standard” tests and services; join the toxicology laboratory known for its comprehensive offering of drug, alcohol, poison and toxin testing services. We’re different and can help you make a difference. 

To find out more about ExperTox’s tests and services and how to partner with us, contact us 281-476-4600 or email us at info@expertox.com. You may also complete and submit our Client Information Form and we’ll be happy to contact you.

Become a Collection Site for ExperTox

ExperTox provides toxicology testing services to clients across the U.S. On many occasions, we contract with drug and alcohol testing businesses to perform specimen collections or to subcontract under Requests for Proposal. 

If you are interested in being listed as a collection site for ExperTox, complete the attached Collection Site Service Agreementand return to us via fax, 281-930-8856.

Collection Site Protocols and Forms

Contracted collection sites are required to follow ExperTox’s specimen collection protocols and utilize ExperTox’s collection supplies. Below are our downloadable protocols and supply order form for your use upon approval of your collection site application: 

• Urine Specimen Collection Protocol
• Hair Specimen Collection Protocol
• Alternative Body Hair Collection Protocol
• Nail Specimen Collection Protocol
• Oral Fluid Specimen Collection Protocol
• Supply Order Form

 Collection Site Training

Do you want to become a certified collector? 
Contact ExperTox at 281-476-4600 or info@expertox.com for more information about our Certified Collector Training Program.

Open House Invite

Our state of the art laboratory was designed by President Loretta Anderson and RGR Partnership, LTD and constructed by Tribble and Associates Contractors. The new lab space has over 3100 square feet with the option to utilize an additional 5000 square feet of off-site storage as needed.

The lab was designed with optimal work flow, employee convenience and with environmental sensitivity in mind.  There are separate departments for accessioning, specimen preparation, screening, EIA, ELISA, Heavy Metals ICP-MS, GC/MC, LC/MS, extraction hoods and analyzing (test data). In addition, there is a dedicated department for Certifying Scientist for reporting results.

What are the signs of Thallium poisoning? 

In the first 48 hours after serious thallium exposure, the affected individual will usually experience nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Within a few days, symptoms of nervous system damage become apparent. These symptoms can include pain, loss of reflexes, convulsions, muscle wasting, headaches, numbness, dementia, psychosis, and even coma. After two to three weeks, characteristic changes are seen in the bases of hair shafts, and there is hair loss (alopecia). Finally, after around three weeks post-exposure, heart rhythm disturbances may occur.

Thallium poisoning can be treated. Effective treatment to prevent absorption of thallium is available if therapy is begun within six hours following ingestion. The antidote against thallium (known as potassium ferrihexacyanoferrate, or Prussian blue or Berlin blue) works by sequestering thallium molecules and preventing their absorption by the intestine. Other treatments that may be successful for victims of thallium poisoning include dialysis and medications to increase the kidneys’ excretion of thallium.

What is Thallium?

Thallium is a soft, malleable gray metal that was previously widely used in rat poisons and insecticides. Thallium itself and compounds containing the element are highly toxic. It is particularly dangerous because compounds containing thallium are colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Because of this high toxicity, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends against the use of thallium in rodent and insect poisons. However, poisons containing thallium are still in use in some parts of the world.

Small amounts of thallium are normally found in the earth’s crust and atmosphere. It is also present in small amounts in cigarette smoke. Thallium has multiple industrial uses, and certain isotopes of thallium are used in medical imaging studies. Thallium can be absorbed from the skin as well as be ingested or inhaled. If a significant amount (significant poisoning is usually defined as ingesting over 1 gram of thallium, or over 8 milligrams per kilogram of body weight) of thallium enters the body, symptoms of thallium poisoning develop.

As even Wikipedia points out, thallium was “once an effective murder weapon”, but the emphasis is one “once”. That time is long past. Forensically, it’s not the first thing that you think of, certainly, but it got picked up at autopsy in this New Jersey case. And it’s not like there’s any other way a person could get a high level of the element in their tissues, nor, with modern analytical techniques, can it be mistaken for anything else. Honestly, anyone who believes that they have a good chance of getting away with a thallium murder is just not thinking the whole business through.

ExperTox^® is the expert in identifying questionable substances – call us for details.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=79810

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/02/09/thallium_poisoning_in_this_day_and_age.php

So what happens if you are caught with distributing or in possession of these substances?

After the DEA’s action, DSHS is required by state law to place the substances on the Texas Schedules of Controlled Substances.

Schedule 1, the most restrictive category on the Texas Schedules of Controlled Substances, is reserved for unsafe, highly abused substances with no accepted medical use. Five chemicals, JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47, 497 and cannabicyclohexanol that are found in K2 were placed on the Schedule.

Penalties for the manufacture, sale or possession of K2 are subject to a fine not to exceed 4,000 and or confinement in jail for a term not to exceed one year.

Since January 2010, approximately 600 calls were made to the Texas Poison Center Network related to K2 exposure. Reported adverse effects associated with use of these marijuana-like substances include chest pain, heart palpitations, agitation, drowsiness, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and confusion.

SOURCES:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/layouts/contentpage.aspx?pageid=33953&id=8589952196&terms=synthetic+marijuana

http://houstoncountylife.com/2011/04/20/state-outlaws-k2-and-other-synthetic-marijuana-products/

News Media Contact: Christine Mann, DSHS Assistant Press Officer, 512-458-7511.)

DSHS Press Office on Twitter

Our state of the art laboratory was designed by President Loretta Anderson and RGR Partnership, LTD. It was constructed by Tribble and Associates Contractors. The new lab space has over 3100 square feet with the option to utilize an additional 5000 square feet of off-site storage as needed.

The lab was designed with optimal workflow, employee convenience and with environmental sensitivity in mind. There are separate departments for accessioning specimen preparation, screening, EIA, ELISA, Heavy Metals ICP-MS, GC/MC, LC/MS, extraction hoods and analyzing (test data). In addition, there is a dedicated department for Certifying Scientists for reporting results.

During this time we are also upgrading our Laboratory Information System software and database. You will continue to notice changes in reporting and the website as we continue upgrading our system.

Keep on the lookout for an invitation to the Laboratory Open House in June!

K2, Synthetic Marijuana has been banned in the state of Texas. Click here the link for more info.