Illegal drug purchases lasted years at USDA lab

Source: Des Moines Register

An illegal prescription drug buying scheme at a federal veterinary laboratory in Ames involved managers and supervisors and may date back 40 years, newly disclosed government records show.

Many of the drugs were purchased for human consumption without the required prescriptions from physicians.
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Some of the workers at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory responded to a recent federal investigation of the practice by accusing each other of misusing government property and keeping journals in which they cataloged the misdeeds of a colleague. Workers also told investigators of inter-office romances, friendships or family relationships that they said resulted in favoritism.

Read more: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090930/NEWS/909300375

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I suppose all the right wingers will now be saying this is the President's fault.

Do you know how long it takes to tap out a phone number with your foot?
And why am I craving hay...when it tastes so nasty?

Those involved will have to fight trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Amoxicillin. Yes, even a veterinarian who is well versed in the use of amoxicillin to treat infections in many different species must, according to U.S. law, go see a doctor of the MD type ($$), get a prescription and get it filled at a pharmacy ($$) that dispenses "human" drugs. Why did this happen in Iowa? Because if the lab was in San Diego or Tucson, the vet could buy said same amoxicillin over-the-counter at a Mexican farmacia without any MD or prescription.

The real "crime" here was that someone found out how to avoid paying tribute to the medico-insurance complex, and for that, they must be punished.

Yours I'd recommend.

we were talking about actual vets and not lab workers. Also, I'm curious how a lab-worker would know they absolutely had infection without WBC information.

Here's a list from the article

Klein and others routinely used their federal e-mail accounts to place orders with Owens for discounted prescription painkillers, inhalers, antibiotics, muscle relaxants, anti-fungus medication and topical anesthetics.

I'm betting a lot of this is GHB.

I'll admit, that's a new use. I wouldn't be so quick to attribute it to recreational use of illicit substances. It sounds more like the mundane practice of medicine -- with the knowledge, but without the license.

I was thinking ketamine, but typed GHB. I think that would fall under the muscle relaxer or painkiller category and not the fungal infection category.

They were not vets and did not have the ability to accurately diagnose conditions. God forbid that someone tries to treat what they think is a skin infection and its actually melanoma. Or treat swollen lymph nodes with antibiotics when they have lymphoma.

I was unaware that being a lab worker gave someone the "knowledge of medicine."

To work at a national laboratory, they must have a staff of illiterate half-wits who barely got out of third grade. Much better for them to go see a licensed MD, who will look at their chart for 30 seconds, palpate their swollen lymph nodes, and write a prescription for ampicillin for their lymphoma.

I'll bet you would be scared out of your gourd to go to a farmacia in Mexico and buy a box of amoxicillin from a 15-year old sales clerk. :scared:

You can tell the difference between viral, fungal, and bacterial infections? You of course know that antibiotics carry a host of nasty side effects if over-used right? I guess they limit the # of pills in the bottle though so they can maximize profit though and all that talk of "courses" of antibiotics is hooey. :eyes:

:thumbsup: