For years, local political gadfly Seth Brigham got away with being a persistent, even belligerent, bug in the ears of city council. But he didn’t get slapped with a restraining order until he started nosing around the undisclosed financial ties of city council members including KC Becker and George Karakehian.

Had Dorothy and her dog stumbled into the Dec. 8 county commissioners meeting, where the issue of genetically modified crops on open space was the topic, she might have uttered the line, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Boulder any more.” And for good reason.

The following is an excerpt from an Oct. 5 letter from U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, ranking member of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to Mark C. Snyder, chief executive officer of Superior Medical Supply, Inc., which has a P.O. Box in Superior.

The following explanations for drug shortages were provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They have been edited for length.

Boulder County hospital pharmacy directors say they have felt the effects of the national prescription drug shortage, but luckily their patients have been spared from serious impacts so far. Karen Monserud, pharmacy director at Boulder Community Hospital, says that while her pharmacy has not completely run out of any medicines, her staff monitors a list of about 50 drugs that are in limited supply.

Dr. Leslie Busby of hematology and medical oncology at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center (RMCC) in Boulder says he’s seen local shortages in generic prescription drugs, but so far no patients have been unable to get medicine they need to survive. But that may change soon.

Thanks to the world’s largest drug manufacturers, our elected officials and a media environment addicted to good visuals and easy answers, we have been given a culprit in recent weeks, a dastardly collection of small medical distribution companies collectively referred to as the “gray market.” These companies make their profits in the secretive shadows of the mainstream pharmaceutical sector.

The following information was produced from a market analysis conducted by Premier Healthcare Alliance during a two-week period in April and titled Buyer Beware: Drug Shortages and the Gray Market. The full report can be viewed at www.premierinc.com.