Goodbye Independent Pharmacies

Another caring, independent pharmacy bites the dust. Farmville Discount Drug Inc. in Farmville, North Carolina and its owner and pharmacist-in-charge, Robert (Bob) L. Crocker, have been closed down by a consent agreement with the government. Mr. Crocker will surrender his license to practice pharmacy and never seek its renewal, and Farmville Discount Drug Inc. will permanently surrender its registration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Bob Crocker opened his first pharmacy in 1976, having only $300 to his name, but a big dream. Now, at age 73, when he should be able to enjoy retirement years, the government is probably claiming everything he made over the last 50 years for their own salaries. Parasites! They are collecting $600,000 for the government-created “infractions” of doing his job.

Through this post I will quote statements in the DOJ press release, followed by REAL commentary on what the statement really means.

“The consent order resolves a complaint filed by the United States alleging that Farmville Discount Drug and Crocker repeatedly filled prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.”

This statement by the US Department of Justice shows the extent to how far afield from the intent of Congress they are straying in attacking innocent professionals for money and job security using the Controlled Substance Act.

Filling a prescription from a legitimate medical practitioner written for a patient is NOT and NEVER WAS an infraction of the CSA. As has been repeatedly stated in Supreme Court decisions, the CSA refers to the illegal selling of controlled substances “in the conventional sense”, and does not refer to medical prescriptions.

“The United States alleged that, for years, defendants ignored well-known “red flags” of drug diversion and drug-seeking behavior when filling prescriptions for controlled substances.”

Doctors and pharmacists aren’t policemen, and shouldn’t have to be. The doctor, per the CSA (802(56)(c)) is the only person who can determine “legitimate medical practice”. So even expecting a pharmacist to second guess and refuse a legitimate medical prescription written by a medical provider is contributing to total breakdown of the medical profession.

“These prescriptions often involved well-known, highly addictive, and highly abused painkillers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and methadone, along with other “potentiator” drugs—drugs that heighten the euphoric effects of opioids, like diazepam (i.e., Valium), alprazolam (i.e., Xanax), and zolpidem (i.e., Ambien). Those potentiators also increase the risk of abuse and overdose.”

These are propaganda statements that are not medically sound. But this is the government lie that we have to contend with and get people to understand. No DRUG causes addiction or abuse. And benzodiazepines only increase the euphoria with the use of specific opioids, like Xanax helps methodone become euphoric. But for the most part, legitimate pain patients aren’t taking either medication for euphoria. So attacking legitimate patients instead of learning the REAL cause of addiction will get us nowhere except more addicts.

“As detailed in the complaint, many prescriptions raised multiple red flags, but Crocker and Farmville Discount Drug failed to take the required steps to resolve those red flags and ensure the prescriptions’ legitimacy before filling them.”

It isn’t the pharmacist’s job to “ensure legitimacy” of a prescription except that it was written by a legitimate provider for a patient. Other than that, for a pharmacist to try to determine medical justification for a prescription should be considered practicing medicine without a license. But now the government is forcing pharmacists to do just that, or be next with their neck in the noose.

If the prescription is written by a licensed medical practitioner, then the “red flags” listed below by the DOJ have no bearing.

• Crocker and his pharmacy filled prescriptions for dangerous, highly abused prescription-drug cocktails for long-distance patients who saw a doctor an hour away and lived an hour away

So many chain pharmacies are now making it difficult for patients to get their meds filled, or treating them like addicts at the window. Independent pharmacies, like independent physicians, are usually more compassionate and patient-oriented. So when a patient finds a good, compassionate, understanding pharmacy, they have the right to travel as far as needed to be treated like a human being.

• The pharmacy filled hundreds of opioid prescriptions for multiple members of the same family

If the prescriptions were from legitimate medical providers for their patient, the pharmacy’s job is simply to fill. Categorizing pain as illegitimate because multiple members of families have it is not in the pharmacist’s control.

• The pharmacy filled prescriptions for a prescriber that Crocker knew had been cut off from other pharmacies

Just because other pharmacies are scared, the brave and compassionate ones shouldn’t be attacked. Remember, the government is chasing a rabbit blaming drugs for addiction in the first place.

• The pharmacy filled controlled-substance prescriptions for patients who hopped from doctor to doctor or pharmacy to pharmacy

This day and time, most legitimate pain patients are having to hop from doctor to doctor in order to get any treatment for their pain, thanks to the illegitimate attacks on the best physicians in the treatment of pain. And because of the unscrupulous methods of chain pharmacies to deny prescription filling, patients are having to pharmacy hop as well.

• When other employees expressed concern to Crocker about Farmville Discount Drug’s practices, he dismissed them, saying that if a doctor wrote the prescription, the pharmacy would fill it.

So Mr. Crocker is actually following medicine as it should be followed. The fact that he is being attacked for it shows the extent of unconstitutional government overreach into medicine.

“The claims resolved by the consent order remain allegations only, and there has been no judicial determination or admission of liability.”

That is what the boards say when you sign a consent agreement. But the fact is that in the writing of the consent agreement, a lot of incorrect statements against the licensee are added by the prosecution. Then those statements are treated as fact in the court. This is how the professional boards are now working as arms of the DOJ, leaving a paper trail against providers so that they can be used in the criminal prosecution of the licensee.

“Opioid addiction and abuse have devastated communities across our nation, and eastern North Carolina is no exception,” said United States Attorney Robert J. Higdon. “Today’s order demonstrates our office’s unwavering commitment to hold all those who had a role to play in this crisis—from distributors, to prescribers, to the pharmacies who ultimately put the pills in patients’ hands—responsible for their actions.”

But they aren’t interested in learning the REAL cause of addiction because they have jobs to attack, not solve. They really aren’t interested in ending the opioid crisis. After all, the CIA ships the illegal drugs into the US, the DEA distributes them, prison guards provide drugs to all the inmates. If we were interested in identifying the biggest cartel in the US, it would be the United States Government.

“DEA Diversion Investigators will continue to aggressively pursue the unlawful dispensing practices of healthcare providers,” said Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division.  “These providers should be in compliance with a set standard of rules and regulations. This civil suit and permanent injunction shows that DEA, its law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are committed to making sure that healthcare providers are abiding by its mandates.”

This statement shows the intent of the federal agencies—to take over the practice of medicine, controlling who gets what treatment. For those of us who understand history and see what this means, it is considered legal genocide of the expendable populations. Hitlerism is alive and well in the federal government.

So what is the purpose of the attack? It forces more people on to the streets where the government-provided illegal drugs are available. Also, $600,000 is confiscated from Mr. Crocker to pay for jobs and spread the wealth among the real criminals—the employees of the DOJ, DEA, and law enforcement.

Addendum:

I have failed in my mission to end these attacks on doctors and pain patients. Through John Bevere’s book The Bait of Satan, I have figured out why—my lack of forgiveness to those who attacked me. As in Mark 11: 24-26:

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.

And when you do not do the will of the Father, you are estranged from him and he will ignore you.  So we all must forgive the agents who attacked us in order for things to be made right through any of our works.

Jesus said

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

But we cannot lay down our lives for God unless we know Him well enough to trust Him. We must have the assurance that He would never do anything to harm us. He always looks out for what He knows is in our best interest. As a nation, those of us suffering from these attacks must understand that we are serving as God’s messengers of love.  We must forgive those who persecute us and love them instead, following God’s will for us. Then and only then will we see fruits from our labor.

So I hope that everyone who has suffered from what happened to RPH Crocker can trust the Lord, forgive those who have hurt you, and help bring this country back to the God-fearing country that our forefathers founded. Then, and only then, can you be a part of the effort to stop these attacks. I look forward to that day.