DrugBuyers.Com: How much money do OP's make a day?

Actually, this is exactly how a pharmacy got investigated (and what inspired my post) ... which led to the subsequent bust of the OP.

It was a newspaper article I read, can't remember exactly who the parties involved were (I think the pharma was in Ohio), but nonetheless, it stated that the pharmacy caught the eye of authorities because they were filling 1,000 scripts a day (mostly for hydro).

There are probably others on here who can clarify a lot better than I, but as far as I know, the DEA does keep track of how many controlled substance scripts are written and/or filled by each registered Dr. with a DEA #. How closely they actually monitor this, I have no idea (think of how many Dr.'s are in the country). Of course with computer databases and interconnectivity (internet) this probably isn't as hard as it appears.

There is a post in the Law forum about a bill in congress right now (set for Jan. 2005) that would expand the DEA's database to include patient information for each of those CS scripts.

As I said before, if the OPs, pharmas, and mfgs could create a lobby organization - they could help their own cause - sadly, this is the only way things like this get done in government - pain patients just aren't a big enough story for people too busy to even read past a 30-second headline.

Some people might say that major pharmaceutical manufacturers might not want to be associated with such a borderline venture, BUT:

a) given the # of sales some of these OPs are generating, I am positive the money is too good to give up; after all, companies like Watson and Abbott are businesses, and the bottom line is $$$ - I wouldn't be surprised if OP's are doubling hydro sales for mfg's.

b) just because Watson, or Abbott, or whomever, would join forces with OP's and their affiliates (pharmacies) doesn't mean they necessarily have to attach their names to any common cause. "Think tanks" and lobby organizations are always formed as smoke screens to various other entities, filtering money through "sister" companies, etc.

I don't know, whose to say that OPs aren't a result of pharmaceutical mfgs in the first place?

It would be interesting to put together a little spreadsheet with a graph that shows the correlation between major pharmaceutical manufacturer earnings (usually reported in quarters) vs. the popularity/earnings/number of OPs (whatever info available).

For instance, if OPs started really taking off in 1998 (I have no idea) - how much of a spike would some of these mfgs be showing in profits? I mean, I'm guessing this has turned into a huge market for them if you consider the number of tabs being scripted and sold all over the country everyday online ...

sorry for rambling;

indecline