Cannabis Chronicles

Here’s a story that should wake up the folks who worship at the altar of the pharmaceutical industry . . . their products can make people seriously ill or even kill if used improperly . . . cannabis never killed anybody . . . and good homegrown herb is safe for most anybody!

Second drugs mix up at Asda Llandudno

Nov 7 2007 by Carl Butler, Daily Post

A WOMAN became ill after she took the wrong drugs for 10 days because of a supermarket pharmacy mix-up.

It’s the same pharmacy, at Asda in Llandudno, which handed out the wrong medication to a 15-month-old baby, revealed in the Daily Post a week ago.

In March, nursing home assistant Claire Kenyon was given £800 compensation by Asda, a bunch of flowers and a promise the error would never happen again.

She is angry that, months afterwards, the same thing has happened to baby Jaani Lane of Llandudno.

The mistake for Claire, of Bryn Felin, Conwy, was very serious – her correct name and details and instructions were attached to the wrong drug.

In Jaani’s case, he was given correct medication but someone else’s medication had also been included in his bag with their name on it and were fortunately spotted by his mum.

But Claire, 33, who works at a private Llandudno Junction nursing home, had been taking three 10mg tablets of Amitriptyline a night for 18 months for a nervous condition and depression, and was mistakenly given Amlodipine – tablets for high blood pressure.

The label told her it was Amitriptyline and to take the usual three tablets a night, so she ended up not only missing her usual medication but taking three times the maximum dosage of the wrong drug.

“I normally use a pharmacy in Conwy where they know me but I was going on holiday to America and I popped into Asda for a few bits and decided to leave the repeat prescription there,” said Claire.

She got the drugs on March 15 and started taking them that night

“The next day I developed severe stomach cramps and had to take that night and the next night off work.”

She then flew to Boston on holiday but spent the next two days in bed.

By March 23 both her legs were swollen, she had bruises, palpitations, aching muscles, felt faint and was on the verge of collapse, and wanted to sleep the whole time.

A friend checked her medication and discovered the mistake.

“No wonder I felt ill. When I landed in Manchester I had to get a taxi directly from the airport to my GP in Conwy who was mortified by the mistake. He checked my blood pressure, which was low and my pulse which was fast and arranged for blood tests,” she said.

“I then phoned the pharmacist in Asda who sounded disinterested. He said that they had been busy and the tablets were next to each other on the shelf.

“The next day I went to see the pharmacist and pointed out that the boxes for dispensing and checking had been signed by the same person, indicating that there had been no check.”

After detailing her losses on holiday and time lost at work, Claire was sent a bouquet of flowers and received £800 compensation.

But she says she was horrified when she read of the mistake involving Jaani, whose father claims he could have died because of the error.

“I tried to put this at the back of my mind but then I read about the baby and I thought this investigation they had for me, didn’t do any good. I’m just really not happy that it has happened again.”

Superintendent pharmacist for Asda John Evans said that he too was surprised a similar error had occurred.

“Claire Kenyon says she is surprised it happened again and so am I. We should dispense things accurately. I would like to say it will never happen again but when human beings are involved mistakes are going to happen,” he said.

“My job is to make sure we have safe processes and to investigate properly to minimise the risk of this happening again.

“We have had standard operating procedures for the last six or seven years in Asda and go through it step by step – how to dispense and they work extremely well. The fact this has happened twice in Llandudno is a concern but I know they are really good dispensers. There is no excuse for dispensing errors, we have to get it right.”

With human beings mistakes are never going to be out of the question, so why not use a safe herbal alternative instead of a potentially dangerous chemical drug?”

Just because a doctor might prescribe it, doesn’t make it better, and for the record, we can say from personal experience that Cannabis is a heck of a great substitute for Amitriptyline!