Looks like February 23 will be a good day to call out sick.

[Shalom]

Because that's the date that Vicodin goes on Schedule II in New York State.

Effective February 23, 2013 the following changes will be made to the controlled substance schedules in Section 3306 of the New York State Public Health Law. Where applicable, some common brand name pharmaceutical preparations containing the controlled substances are listed in bold:

Schedule II Additions:
Hydrocodone (dihydrocodeinone) (Vicodin®, Lortab®, Tussionex®) This action renders all products containing hydrocodone, including but not limited to hydrocodone in combination with acetaminophen or ibuprofen, Schedule II.

It'll be nice not to have to argue over whether those refills were added by the doctor or the patient, since C-II drugs can't be refilled in the first place. You'll still get the refill too soon, dog ate my meds, forgot it on the bus type arguments, but you get those anyway.

Thank G_d I don't have too many people in this community on these class of drugs, or if I do they don't fill them in the community, but the guys working out in what I like to call "the real world" are going to have a lot of annoyed customers when this goes into effect.

Also Soma (carisoprodol) is now in C-IV in New York as well. About time that happened, it's just another isomer of meprobamate which has been controlled since forever.

(Oh, and while I was typing these very words, someone called up wanting a refill, of a prescription (not a control) that she already used up all the refills on. Joy. I'll send her five tablets and call her doctor in the morning...)

[Sapphire Silk]

On top of that, the prescriptions will have to be in triplicate. They won't be able to be phoned in anymore.

The result will be fewer physicians willing to write scripts for Vicodin; they won't want to deal with the paperwork hassle.

[bacchinalus]

I just want to say thank you for posting this. I don't post very often (more a lurker to see who feels my frustration with crustys), but I always seem to come across extremely helpful and important information here!

I can only assume this will be all my staff talks about today in the pharmacy.

[PepperElf]

I don't know why but I original read that as "Viagra" instead of "Vicoden" and was trying to figure out why they would make it Schedule II...
I kept thinking... "Are hard-on pills really that addictive?..."

[Sandman]

I don't know pepper... but if it was viagara I would say having too many of them would hold a huge stiff fine

[dalesys]

...hold a fine huge stiff

Isn't that what you really meant?

[Ellain]

That'll be worse than when PSE went behind the counter. Yikes! Glad I got out of pharmacy when I did, though I don't think Illinois is doing that. At least, not yet.

[wolfie]

Also Soma (carisoprodol) is now in C-IV in New York as well. About time that happened, it's just another isomer of meprobamate which has been controlled since forever.

That's going to blow up in someone's face. What classification was it before? I know from reading this forum that C-II is the tightest regulation (anything C-I is strictly illegal), but what are the other classifications?

[mhdagley]

c-II extra controlled meds extra addictive, examples are morphine adderall things like that
c-III slightly less controlled meds ababolic sterorids ketamine marinol
c-IV less controlled meds xanax valium
c-V lowest level lomotil lyrica
Generally c-II can not be refilled c-III-V can for differing amounts of time depending on state. As you move up the chain from c-v to c-II they become addictive/ more dangerous.
Here is the link to the act that did it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act

[PepperElf]

That's going to blow up in someone's face. What classification was it before? I know from reading this forum that C-II is the tightest regulation (anything C-I is strictly illegal), but what are the other classifications?

http://www.justice.gov/dea/druginfo/ds.shtml

it lists each schedule (I - V) and gives examples of common drugs for each.


Vicoden is still listed as III there (don't know if the fed list is changing as well as NY).

[Shalom]

That's going to blow up in someone's face. What classification was it before? I know from reading this forum that C-II is the tightest regulation (anything C-I is strictly illegal), but what are the other classifications?

Soma was formerly unscheduled (still is, on the Federal level). Not a controlled substance at all, although still a prescription item. We used to get it delivered in the tote with the controls, though, because some states long ago classed it as a controlled substance.

They're making noises about putting Ultram (tramadol) on C-III as well. I was surprised it wasn't there from the get-go, as it's a synthetic opioid analogue and can be habit forming.