When a Pill Mill Really is a Pill Mill

June 11, 2012 7:34 pm Dr. Webster 2 Comments (Edit) Bloomberg Businessweek recently published an article detailing the takedown of what is described as “the largest U.S. pill mill.” Florida-based twin brothers, Christopher and Jeffrey George presided over a collection of so-called pain clinics that dispensed the most illegal oxycodone of anyone in the United…

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An Amendment to Reclassify Hydrocodone

June 18, 2012 1:10 pm Dr. Webster Leave a Comment (Edit) The U.S. Senate has signed legislation applying the same rules to all hydrocodone products that apply to other strong analgesics. If the president signs on, drugs that combine hydrocodone with acetaminophen or other products will move from Schedule III to the more restrictive Schedule…

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Hey Boo!

June 25, 2012 2:57 pm Dr. Webster Leave a Comment (Edit) One of my favorite movies of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird. This Pulitzer Prize-winning American classic story, first published in 1960, later became the Oscar-winning film starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Robert Duvall as Arthur “Boo” Radley. Each time I…

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Addiction Gene

July 2, 2012 11:22 am Dr. Webster Leave a Comment (Edit) Last week I met a young man in his early 20s who was seeking help for his opioid addiction. He had started with prescription opioids because they were easily available. His friend gave them to him. He said he used them because his friends…

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Finding a life with meaning by managing pain

August 22 Jerald Winakur’s Aug. 18 op-ed, “When a friend asks to die,” and WAMU-FM host Diane Rehm’s account for NPR of the death of her husband have renewed the conversation over living with meaning.In my decades of treating people with the worst imaginable chronic pain, patients often told me they would rather die than…

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Everyday Saints and Unsung Heroes

July 16, 2012 6:11 pm Dr. Webster Leave a Comment (Edit) Religions call their holiest people saints. In secular speak, a saint is a person who is pure, honest beyond reproach and mostly devotes one’s life to the benefit of others.  In our more common vernacular, we, call those who sacrifice themselves for the good of others heroes.…

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