project My Sisters Keeper Blog

Poplar Bluff doctor's office raided by police

Thursday, June 25, 2009
By Michelle Friedrich ~ Daily American Republic
POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Local, state and federal authorities served a federal search warrant Wednesday morning on a medical clinic and arrested a physician.

A federal search warrant was served at about 8 a.m. at Haven Hills Medical Clinic, at the intersection of North Westwood Boulevard and Lurlyn Road, according to Poplar Bluff police chief Danny Whiteley. Dr. D.K. Varma was arrested on a federal charge, he said

Details about Varma's charge were not available by press time. After Varma's arrest, Whiteley said, federal authorities transported him to the U.S. District Courthouse in Cape Girardeau. Whiteley said Varma was to then be transported to the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Louis.

As Varma was en route to Cape Girardeau, about 20 law enforcement officers and federal forensic investigators continued the search, Whiteley said.

Assisting in the search, Whiteley said, were members of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Drug Enforcement Administration, Missouri attorney general's office and Poplar Bluff Police Department.

Haven Hills Medical Center reportedly includes a medical clinic staffed by Varma, a pharmacy and a laboratory facility.

At this time, Whiteley said, authorities could not release the details of the investigation, which has been "ongoing" for more than six months, or discuss what items, if any, were being seized from Varma's office.

Marc Wolfson, public affairs director for the Office of Inspector General in Washington, D.C., described this as an "open investigation. I can't really tell you more about the specifics of the operations."

While specifics were not available "on this particular warrant," Wolfson said, the OIG at Health and Human Services has special federal agents in field offices around the country, including in 
Missouri.

These agents, he said, work with the FBI, Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney's Offices and "specifically focus on health care fraud 
investigations."

here is the direct link:

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1550001.html

Do not give up!

Just Finished Listening To My Talk Radio Interview on PrescriptionAddictionRadio.com - I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to share project My Sisters Keeper's message of hope and promise. Take a listen at prescription addiction radio online. Let me know what you think.

Admittedly, I got a little tongue tied now and again (NERVES) but still feel really good about the interview.

Thank you to all of my friends, old and new for your support and encouragement.

Sincerely,

Crystal

Nearly a third of new drug abusers begin their downward spiral into addiction with prescription drugs, and potent narcotic painkillers, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone, are the first-time choice for one in every five new abusers, says a new report from the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC). And all across the country, thousands of people who have fallen victim to prescription drug addiction are searching for treatment to help them get back their lives.

Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy, has released a report on prescription drug diversion and abuse, calling non-medical use of prescription drugs a serious threat to public health and safety.

According to the report, unintentional deaths involving prescription opioid painkillers increased 114 percent from 2001 to 2005, while treatment admissions increased 74 percent in the same period.

Since then, unofficial figures suggest the destructive trend is only getting worse. More than 8,500 Americans died in 2005 as a result of prescription drug addiction and abuse, all involving opioid painkillers. That’s a 114 percent increase since 2001. Emergency room visits for nonmedical use of painkillers increased 39 percent from 2004 to 2006, and treatment admissions increased 74 percent from 2002 to 2006. Nearly a third of all individuals who began abusing drugs in the past year say their first drug was a prescription drug -- and 19 percent indicated it was a prescription opioid. Thus, 1 in 5 new drug abusers are initiating use with potent narcotics, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone.

The most recent reports have revealed that diverted prescription drugs are more readily available than heroin in all drug markets. Opioid painkillers are most commonly diverted, and are the drugs most associated with prescription drug addiction, injury and death. Diversion methods include prescription drug fraud such as “doctor shopping” and forged prescriptions, outright theft and robberies at knife- or gun-point, along with rogue Internet pharmacies, friends and relatives.

In fact, says the NDIC, the primary source of controlled prescription drugs are friends and relatives, most of whom have no idea they are supporting someone’s prescription drug addiction by leaving their Vicodin, OxyContin or Perocet lying around where it can be stolen, or by handing pills out to friends or family members in a misguided attempt to help.

Diversion of prescription drugs is reported as highest in the eastern states, but violent crime, as well as theft and burglaries, have increased in all regions of the United States over the past 5 years, says the report.

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker.

Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy.

Speak your mind and fear less the label of "crackpot"
than the stigma of conformity.

And on issues that seem important to you,
stand up and be counted at any cost.

~Chauncey Depew

MY ALL TIME FAVORITE....

Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another,
to embrace our lowliest,
to keep company with our loneliest,
to educate our illiterate, to feed our starving,
to clothe our ragged,
to do all good things,
knowing that we are more than
keepers of our brothers and sisters

We are our Brothers and Sisters.

Maya Angelou

Hi, I'm Crystal Boyet-Hampton and I thank you sincerely for inviting me into the BraveHeart Women Family. I look forward to the opportunity to get to know you and listen to and learn from each of you.

Sincerely,
project MY SISTERS KEEPER Founder
Crystal Boyet-Hampton
crystalboyethampton@projectmysist erskeeper.org
217-204-1947

Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another,
to embrace our lowliest,
to keep company with our loneliest,
to educate our illiterate, to feed our starving,
to clothe our ragged,
to do all good things,
knowing that we are more than
keepers of our brothers and sisters

We are our Brothers and Sisters.

Maya Angelou

Since losing my older sister, Tammy Marie Boyet-Sawyer, in January 2009 to an accidental prescription drug (prescription narcotics & antidepressants) overdose, I have felt compelled to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to save our "sisters" from the deadly epidemic of prescription drug addiction.

There is so much to do. I need your help.

I founded "project MY SISTERS KEEPER" to use as a tool to educate, support, and promote the changes necessary to End The Deadly Prescription Addiction Epidemic that is plaguing the women, children, and families of our nation.

If you are at all with familiar with addiction and addiction recovery, you have no doubt heard the term "rock bottom".

Families of addicts who are desperate to save their loved one are commonly told that for an addict to want to get treatment THEY MUST REACH "ROCK BOTTOM".

For an addict, their rock bottom is usually the place where the seriousness of their situation is finally realized. It is the place where they are no longer able to live in denial of the situation.

Well, I ask each of you then, where's our "ROCK BOTTOM?

When do we as women, citizens and leaders stand up in a unified voice and say that WE WILL NO LONGER ENABLE PRESCRIPTION ADDICTION by our apathy, ignorance or inaction.

How many more mothers, daughters and sisters are we willing to lose to prescription drug addiction & accidental overdose?

How many more women and children will we allow to be forever changed by the destruction that is addiction.

WE CAN CHANGE the statistics.

WE CAN BREAK the cycle.

WE WILL SAVE LIVES.

WE WILL provide and inspire HOPE by promoting PREVENTION and RECOVERY.

WE WILL eradicate stigma by promoting EMPATHY AWARENESS and EDUCATION.

I look forward to talking with you and getting to know your story and dreams.

I always welcome any ideas or suggestions that you may have to increase awareness or further this important cause. At this time we are a movement but are working towards becoming an official 501c3 recognized non profit organization, If you have insight into this process, I would love the opportunity to learn from you.

My dream is that Project My Sisters Keeper will become a symbol of hope and inspiration for women, children & families and a memorial of steadfast faith, love and determination to all of the mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters whose voices were rendered silent by this deadly disease of addiction

Sincerely,
project MY SISTERS KEEPER Founder
Crystal Boyet-Hampton
crystalboyethampton@projectmysist erskeeper.org
217-204-1947

--
"project MY SISTERS KEEPER"

WE CAN CHANGE the "statistics".

WE CAN BREAK the cycle.

WE WILL SAVE LIVES.

WE WILL provide and inspire HOPE by promoting PREVENTION and RECOVERY.

WE WILL eradicate stigma by promoting AWARENESS and EDUCATION.