According to an 80-page report published by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General, the White House’s private pharmacy for staffers facilitated a host of prescription drug abuses during both Democratic and Republican administrations.
“Dr. [X] asked if I could hook up this person with some Provigil as a parting gift for leaving the White House,” said an unnamed former employee of the pharmacy.
The employee said that, although he is unsure of proper medical procedure, it was common practice to distribute Provigil and Ambien, two controlled substances, without following proper procedure.
Provigil is a stimulant popular with fighter pilots and ER docs that prevents sleepiness, while Ambien is a high-strength sleep aid.
“I’m not sure if it was okay as far as, like, what’s medically allowed. But in the unit, it was authorized for us to do that kind of stuff,” said the employee.
The report does not specify which former staffer was given controlled drugs as a “parting gift.”
The investigation, which was published on January 8, revealed a slew of additional issues.
The pharmacy pre-made plastic bags of Ambien and Provigil, and gave them out without any effort to verify the identity of the person receiving the controlled drugs.
One witness reported that they were expected to give these drugs to anyone who came in claiming to be an assistant picking up the drugs to someone else.
The pharmacy also openly violated the Navy manual of the Medical Department, which states that patients could not be authorized to select their own medication, and it must be approved by a health-care screener.
“We observed several self‑service, open‑access containers offering a limited selection of common over‑the‑counter medications, such as Motrin, Pepto‑Bismol, or cough drops. Patients and staff at these clinics,” said the report.
The investigation revealed that the pharmacy failed spectacularly in keeping proper records, and only recorded any interaction if it involved a controlled substance.
“If you came in and got any other prescription medication that wasn’t classified as a controlled substance there would be no record that you came in and did anything,” said one witness.
The investigation was prompted by complaints made as far back as 2018, meaning that it took over five years for the DOD to identify these serious abuses, which resulted in White House employees being issued significant amounts of controlled drugs without verification.
The investigation only analyzed data through 2020, but, by that time, the report shows that it wasted $750,000 of taxpayer dollars.
Since the report only used data up to the end of Frmr. President Donald Trump’s administration, it is unclear whether these abuses continued or worsened under President Biden’s administration, and we are left with no data on how much money has been wasted by the pharmacy since 2020.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="24917 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=24917">1 Comment
There is an article somewhere where the pharmacist or one of the assistants revealed that there were members of Congress and Senate that were being given drugs commonly prescribed to patients with Alzheimer’s and Dementia. If I can find a link Ill drop it here.