Dem senator: Trump's VA pick nicknamed 'candy man' for handing out prescriptions

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Hill

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said Tuesday that Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician President Trump has nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, had been nicknamed "the candy man" for handing out prescription drugs.

Tester, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" that "in overseas trips, in particular, the admiral would go down the aisle way of the airplane and say, 'All right, who wants to go to sleep?' and hand out the prescription drugs like they were candy."

-snip-

“That’s the reports that we got from the people, 20-something people, who got a hold of us and said, 'We have a problem. This doctor has a problem because he hands out prescriptions like candy.' In fact, in the White House they call him the candy man,” Tester said.

“That’s not a nickname that you want in a doctor and if you consider the prescription drugs we have a problem with in this country right now, it’s not the example we need to have set,” Tester added.

-snip-

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/384739-dem-senator-trumps-va-pick-nicknamed-candy-man-for-handing-out

[sandensea]

1. Hence his close relationship to the president

It's no secret Cheeto gives Limpball a run for his money in the pill-popping department.

[underthematrix]

2. This is easy to verify using his DEA number

Let's see what happens.

Shulkin reported the same thing in the VA, a power struggle.

Remember Sen Al Franken?

[grumpyduck]

3. This guy has been in the WH for years

and was appointed doctor to the president by Obama. DJT kept him.

I have to wonder if his drinking and other behavior is due to DJT's proximity, i.e., is DJT getting to him? Did he ask for the vets job to get out of the WH?

[former9thward]

4. President Obama praised him at the White House.

Demanded he be promoted immediately.

[hlthe2b]

5. Ambien is schedule IV so an issue, but not as serious as Adderall, which is a schedule II drug...

Last edited Wed Apr 25, 2018, 09:42 AM - Edit history (2)

It sounds as though he was providing the "Uppers" in the form of adderall as well and THAT could get him in a world of hurt if he was not prescribing and logging appropriately. Ambien would be more a slap on the wrist, but adderall? Ummm, no.


On edit, it was Provigil,not Adderall, he dispensed like candy as an "upper"--which is likewise Schedule IV. However, it has high addictive potential as well.

SO, from a DEA standpoint, he may be in less (but certainly not zero) trouble, but this is not going to fly with Military medical boards or potentially any state medical boards which have granted him a license. Still, I think the drinking on duty may be even more damaging to him.

[Jedi Guy]

6. Ambien is some scary shit.

There have been reports over the years of people doing things while asleep, such as driving and the like.

I used it briefly, years ago, during a bout with insomnia. I was so out cold that I rolled over on my arm in my sleep and pinned it at angle that resulted in a pinched nerve. Fortunately the damage wasn't permanent, but it took six months to regain full function in that arm, and I was let go from my job as a result.

I immediately stopped using it. The rebound insomnia was vicious, but better than losing use of another extremity. Since that I won't touch the stuff no matter how bad my insomnia gets.

[hlthe2b]

8. I wouldn't take it either, just looking at the legal consequences per DEA

I too have seen people do some bizarre and rather self-dangerous things on Ambien.

[smb]

9. He Must Have Been Pretty Blitzed Himself...

...to go up there and say with a straight face that the Stay-Puft Cheeto Man is 6' 3" and 239 pounds.