I have weighted 30mg...I would say about 15,000 times so far so thank you for giving me a false image of what 30 mg is lol. A few "drops" (grains) of sand is 30 micrograms, to get 30mg you need to fill a little less than half a 15mg dexedrine ER spansule.
And if they add fillers it's for complete different reasons. Adding a filler just because your machine can't fill in the right amount is plainly stupid. Take a 15mg dexedrine spansule for example. The contents weight approximately 60mg. They didn't go like "Oh, my machine can only fill 125mg so lets add crap in it to make it heavier!".
If you worked in the field you would also be shocked by how stupid this is. It's clearly someone trying to make drugs in his bedroom.
I'm going to start polite, because I understand some people are unable to comprehend anything unless it's spelled out for them like a child... but I swear I'm going to make you feel stupid at the end of this post.
1. A 15mg dexedrine spansule weight's 60mg? So what's the extra 45 mg? As you said yourself, ''why add extra filler???''" And for the record, they didn't go "lets add up to 125mg of filler" because there machine is programmed to dispense the doses that aren't required to be 125mg because they have 3 different options, 5, 10, and 15. DUH.
2. You're entire argument fell on its face when you started typing "take a 15mg dexedrine spansule for example). Know why? Because dexedrine spansules aren't made at fucking compound pharmacies, they aren't mixed with inerts to ensure homogeny (though inerts ensure easy of handling, ability to hold the pill, ease of press, etc etc), and they don't come out of a machine that compounding pharmacies use. They come from enormous factories owned by drug companies with enough money to make a new machine to dispense any dose of medication they want. And guess what else, dexedrine comes in 5, 10's, and 15mg ER's if I recall correctly... and I bet that Abbott (if they still make dexedrine) owns a machine that can be fed dextro amphetamine and eject 5, 10, or 15mg amounts into pill presses... but I bet that same machine can't be told to eject a 23mg dose, even if it were legal. They would have to build a new one.
For the sake of christ....
Dude this is not rocket science, it's not even multiplication, it's basic *BASIC* math. You have a machine which can fill 1 of 3 capsule sizes because I guess that's just how they're made. You have a total of 60 capsules to fill because the patient is prescribed 60 capsules of 30mg oxycodone, each capsule must contain 30mg oxycodone hcl. Each capsule holds a volume of 125mg and the machine knows it's filled the entire capsule because it dropped all 125mg into the capsule. The machine cannot drop anything less than 125mg into the capsule because it's an automated machine. So the tech takes 60 x 30mg of oxycodone (1800mg), and then takes 60 x 95mg of filler (5700mg). They pour all 7500mg of powder into the machine which mixes the two together to ensure even distribution of the active ingredient amoung the total powder in machine. Then the machine rotates a circular tray of 60 empty capsules on a plate underneath it, and stops when each empty capsule is directly under the fill dispenser of the machine. The machine then releases 125mg of substances since it has been set to fill the smallest capsule (125mg volume capsule), and then the capsule is full. This continues until all the powder is dispensed from the machine and all 60 capsules are filled with 125mg of substance. The machine knows only to fill 3 capsule sizes, 125, 300, and I believe 600mg's. So no, it can't just fill the oxy because it doesn't have a button or dial for every single individualized dosage someone could ask it to fill. What is someone needed 2.7mg of medication, or 23mg or 835mg or 225.3mg? The machine doesn't have an input pad where you select how much powder to release... not to mention it doesn't count 125mg of powder, and then release it, it just opens a slot which fills up (the slot happening to be either 125, 300, or 600), closes the top of the slot, and dumps the contents of that slot into the capsule. The machine itself cannot weight, nor can it only release X powder from it. It can release 125, 300 or 600. Nothing else, nothing in between. The only way to get more dosages available is to buy more machines with more and more settings, and compounding pharms don't have the money to accomodate any possible dose. This is the most elementary analogy I can think of but I think you may need it to understand... if you bought a gumball from a gumball machine, but decided you only want half of one... can you set the machine to only give you half? No, the machine can only drop 1 gumball at a time no matter what you may want into the slot that releases it out to you. Do you understand? The machine is set to dispense 125mg 300mg or 600mg per capsule, and whether there's enough miligrammage to fill every capsule depends on if the tech filling the machine did her math right. Another analogy would be a soda machine you see people use at drive throughs. You ask for a large drink, they push the "Large" button on the machine, and the machine fills the cup exactly to the top because the machine has been programmed to released X fluid ounces into the cup when large is pushed. When small is pushed, it releases less liquid. There is no "Give me 18.7 ounces of softdrink please" and no "fill my cup half way". It fills it to the top because it has been set to fill that many ounces when dealing with that button being pressed on it. Another reason they do this is because if they normal people their drugs, they would think they weren't getting the right amount. Picture an old lady used to getting a vicodin 5mg/500 pill at walgreens. She now gets her 5mg vicodin compounded but without APAP. They hand her the 5mg of hydrocodone (assuming this were even possible for them to do) and she looks at them and yells at them for doing their jobs wrong because she thinks 5mg pills are as big as vicodin tabs and doesn't understand how little a mg actually is.
Moving away from unbelieveably childlike explainations (c'mon use your brain cells guys, it makes perfect logical sense why there has to be 125mg's filled)... after each capsule has been filled (aka 60 capsules with 125mg's of powder = 7500mg's), the machine is now empty, and the pharmacist can then weigh the capsules to make sure each capsule weighs exactly or within 5% of the 125mg's it should contain. To speed this process up, the caps are weighed on the tray that they were rotated around on for drug dispension, and if everyone did there job right, 60 capsules with 125mg's per capsule should weigh... duh dun dun dun 7.5 grams. And because the machine mixed the powder homogenously, there should be approximately 30mg of oxycodone in each capsule, +- 5%, along with 95mg of filler.
And that's how it works. If you still don't understand, I hear there's a much easier to understand explaination at the bottom of an ocean.... seriously this should not be a hard thing to understand. I didn't even ask them why filler what absolutely necessary after they told me each cap has to weigh 125mg because I was able to figure it out for myself.
Now what makes more sense.,.. My automated explanation how how it works, or the idea that one person sits there all day measuring out the active ingredients that will go in each pill (we're talking measuring at least 30 doses per prescription (and that's not easy because you'll always have to add more mg's or remove more because could couldn't get 20mg on the scale every single time. And even if you could, can you imagine how long it would take 1 person to fill 10 prescriptions having to weigh the chemical substances themselves per capsule, ensure they didn't over or under weigh, and then, without losing ANY substance, get the substance into a capsule? That process would take at least 5 minutes per capsule, x 30 capsules... we're talking 2 hours 30 minutes per the smallest prescription... the work would NEVER get done. Jesus that was a long post that shouldn't have had to be typed up. People should have just understood it.
And for the record KSA, I do work in the field, hence my knowledge, and the only thing I'm shocked by is how little comprehension you seem to have.