"The city of syrup"

[EricTAMUCC-BSN, BSN, RN]

A recent article was published in the Houston Chronicle talking about pharmacists illegally dispensing opiod based cough syrup to drug dealers and crack heads. This concerns me first of all because it serves as a barrier to patients who actually need the medication and second of all it puts our licenses at jeopardy.

Lately I have been dispensing large quantities of hydromorphone to a smoker and patient whom I wonder if he really needs it every 3 hours. He does have pain for a fact but I am concerned whether he truely needs the amount of medication he is seeking at his age. It is even harder to limit him since he is a veteran healthcare worker. I know the doctors have the same problem with these patients and often have little time to do much about these issues.

I am wondering what kind of educational information is out there from the state of Texas concerning issues like these for MDs and RNs and anyone administering narcotics.

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A trial that helped illustrate why Houston was dubbed the "City of Syrup" by America's rap culture ended Tuesday as a federal jury convicted six pharmacists of illegally dispensing thousands of gallons of highly addictive cough suppressant...

Jurors in Hittner's downtown Houston court found the pharmacists guilty of filling fake prescriptions for promethazine with codeine, a narcotic known on the street by such names as syrup, lean, purple and drank...

Dr. Callie Hall Herpin, 34, a Houston physician who testified that her practice consisted of selling the prescriptions to individuals. Herpin has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing...

Peters said a survey he conducted in 2003 showed that 25 percent of teens at six alternative schools in Harris County had used the drug at least once. He did not name the schools...

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3382758

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