America's Fastest-Growing Drug Problem There are few wars that the United States can conceivably say

it's not won, but the war on illicit drugs and general drug abuse continues to be one such instance where there's no clear victory in sight. According to a National Drug Threat Survey (link opens a PDF) conducted by the Drug Enforcement Agency, the use of illicit substances in 2011 was actually down, but only marginally, to 8.7% of the population aged 12 years and older from 8.9% in 2010. The NDTA study notes that certain regions of the country deal with difficult challenges based on their location relative to Mexico, a country with weaker drug-trafficking enforcement. The study specifically notes that heroin infiltration from Mexico into the U.S. continues to be a serious problem in a number of regions. America's fastest growing drug problem What the report also notes is that the fastest-growing drug problem isn't even an illicit drug at all. With the exception of marijuana, which is still the most widely used illicit drug, controlled prescription drugs, or CPDs, represent by far the most rapidly growing drug problem we have in America.

Source: DEA, National Drug Threat Survey 2007-2011, 2013.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, pain relievers are the most commonly abused CPD, with its data indicating that 6.1 million people (about 2.7% of the U.S. population) aged 12 years or older admitted to nonmedical use of psychotherapeutic drugs. When polled over the prior month, CPD use was 2.4% of the population, compared with 0.4% for hallucinogens and 0.5% for cocaine. Marijuana use, as noted, was notably higher at 7% of the polled population. The truth of the matter is that prescription drug abuse is a very real and very serious problem, at least in the eyes of law enforcement

agencies around the country, of which 28% identified CPDs as the top drug threat in their region. Worse yet, NDTS's data indicates that access to controlled prescription drugs is only increasing, and may grow even further as Obamacare expands patients' ability to see their doctor for preventive care purposes. Based on the responses from lawenforcement agencies, the high availability of CPDs increased from 40.7% in 2007 to 75.4% in 2013. Notable steps have been taken to help curb the illegal use of prescription drugs, including disallowing the three top Internet search engines from allowing Internet pharmacies from advertising on the sidebars of search pages unless they're Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites, and through encouraging Americans to turn in unused or unwanted prescription medications at a number of nationwide locations. Ultimately, this isn't proving to be enough, as the data would suggest. High levels of CPD abuse are forcing the Food and Drug Administration to take a tougher stance on drug approvals, especially for chronic pain medications that are opioid-based, and it's pushing select drug developers to innovate new drug formulations that are abuse-resistant.

Source: DEA.

An area of immense opportunity Yet within this innovation lies a genuine opportunity for biopharmaceutical companies to make a meaningful difference on reducing drug abuse, and for investors to potentially get rich. Let's have a closer look at a few of the leading companies involved in drug-abuseresistant technologies and see what they're doing to reduce already high CPD abuse levels. One company completely geared toward curbing CPD abuse is Acura Pharmaceuticals, which currently has two abuse-resistant products currently approved by the FDA. The first is Oxecta, a drug that treats moderate to severe pain and is licensed out to Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) , while the second is Nexafed, a unique bioequivalent of the nasal decongestant Sudafed that will form a gummy gel if broken down and mixed with solvents typically used to create methamphetamine. Currently, Acura is working with federal regulators and discussing the possibility of bringing a new version of the painkiller hydrocodone to market. This hydrocodone-and-acetaminophen combo is currently in midstage studies.

Another key group of players in this space is the combination of Pfizer, Pain Therapeutics(NASDAQ: PTIE ) , and DURECT (NASDAQ: DRRX ) , which are on their third try of developing Remoxy, an abuseresistant, extended-release oxycodone capsule. The drug itself is designed to taste bad and is resistant to being ground down, injected, or snorted, which should reduce the chances for abuse. Unfortunately, even abuse-resistant pain meds are viewed with a discerning eye by the FDA, which has, on two previous occasions since 2009, issued a complete response rejection letter to all three parties. The trio announced this past October that a new set of studies would be giving Remoxy another attempt at an FDA approval. I would increasingly look for drug-abuse-focused companies to step to the forefront in an effort to counteract a rising tide of CPD abuse and would certainly suggest you keep your eyes on these companies moving forward.

The dark heart of medicine

WDDTY VOL 23, NO 1, MAY 2012 Doctors are deliberately withholding information about the dangers of some routine screening and clinical proceduresoften because they fear patients would then refuse treatment. Although it happens every day in surgeries and hospitals, the failure to inform is against the law and a breach of human rights legislationwhich gives the patient the absolute right of autonomy over his or her body. It also leaves the doctor open to a legal challenge of negligence, assault and battery, and possibly even manslaughter if the drug or procedure goes wrong. Effectively, any invasive procedure, including the prescribing of a drug, that is carried out without full informed consentincluding careful consideration of alternativesis an illegal act, although the doctor is so well protected by the medical establishment that proving it in a court of law is a different matter. Did you know that almost every surgical procedure, every drug youre prescribed, is an illegal act? This astonishing fact which has enormous ramifications for medicine and the patient is uncovered in the latest issue of What Doctors Dont Tell You, published this weekend.

Before any procedure or drug therapy can begin, you, the patient, must give your fully informed consent. Most of us give our consent by default when we pick up the prescription note, for instance, or we scribble our signature at the end of pages of legal rigmarole while were in the waiting room. But this type of consent isnt legally valid because its not informed. To be informed, your doctor should tell you all the side effects of the drug or treatment, its likely rate of success and any alternatives. Doctors get away with it because the patient doesnt realize the power he or she has and never asks for all the information that would make the consent informed. And this really matters because every drug has side effects, and many procedures have dangers. Being yet another victim of medicine is bad enough but its even worse if you never fully understood the risk you were taking. INFORMED CONSENT defined: A person's agreement to allow some thing to happen (such as surgery) that is based on a full disclosure of facts needed to make the decision intelligently; i.e., knowledge of risks involved, alternatives, etc. Informed consent is the name for a general principle of law that a physician has a duty to disclose what a reasonably prudent physician in the medical community in the exercise of reasonable care would disclose to his patient as to whatever grave risks of injury might be incurred from a proposed course of treatment, so that a patient, exercising ordinary care for his own welfare, and faced with a choice of undergoing the proposed treatment, or alternative treatment, or none at all, may intelligently exercise his judgment by reasonably balancing the probable risks against the probable benefits. Ze Barth v. Swedish Hospital Medical Center, 81 Wash.2d 12, 499 P.2d 1, 8. Blacks Law Dictionary Sixth Edition (page 779)

Please protect your-self at all Times.

The American people want a miracle pill that they can just pop into their mouth to knock out disease (which will NEVER happen). The American people want this because a miracle pill would allow them to keep living lavishly and frivolously while eating their beloved degenerate, denatured and devalued Standard American Diet. No pill will ever knock out (cure) any disease. A single pill didn't cause the pathology. It was the thought process (mindset), diet and lifestyle (or death style) of the person that caused the pathology. And yes, consuming various or multiple pills (drugs) plays a role in the development of pathology. Disease is multidimensional and not onedimensional. Unfortunately for Western allopathic medicine, they treat disease in a one dimensional way.

See: http://www.scribd.com/doc/207724169/America-s-Fastest-GrowingDrug-Problem