Politicians and public officials are constantly trying to justify their existence and importance. One need only to read the headlines to see how this quest can often lead people astray. Recently, Mike Nifong created quite a train wreck when he attempted to pander to voters in the case of the Duke lacrosse players. He only wrecked the lives of a few "privileged" individuals so perhaps no real harm was done. Right?
This type of abuse is occurring every day and is causing pain and suffering in the lives of thousands of people. DEA witchhunts and the demonization of physicians who prescribe pain medication is harming people every day who suffer from chronic pain. I have experience with close relatives who suffer and have suffered from chronic pain. They are not criminals or "addicts". Their need is real. I suppose one could call them "addicted" to pain medication. If by addiction you mean that they need it to get relief from the constant pain that their physical condition causes. Alcoholics are afflicted with a "sickness" but people who suffer from chronic pain are not. The real crime being committed is by a government that pretends to fight illegal drugs by punishing physicians who prescribe pain medication. It is too difficult to fight the drug cartels and illegal importation of drugs. The government and these so called public servants are actually inflicting suffering on the very people they are supposed to serve. They are forcing people to endure pain needlessly. In effect, it could be argued that they are accessories to torture. The government takes cold medicine off the shelves to give the appearance of "doing something" rather than stopping the supply of illegal Chinese pseudoephedrine. The government goes after physicians who are living up to their oath to help people who are suffering.
When will the government decide that people are addicted to blood pressure medicine, cholesterol medication, or perhaps anti-depressants. Maybe they will decide that too many people are taking Viagra that really don't need it. In essence, we have legislators (mostly lawyers) practicing medicine by default. Big Brother is a reality. Big Brother tells people what medicines they need and which ones they don't need. I really do not want my doctor to be Big Brother.
The easiest road is seldom the correct one. It is easier to go on a witch hunt than to do the real work in stemming the tide of illegal drugs and their support of terrorists etc. After all, the real evil is the big pharmaceutical companies who make the drugs right?
My only wish is that these politicians and public officials would experience the pain that they are so intent on causing. I am sure that they won't because they are above the law.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293772,00.html
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I've never understood pain as it relates to relating it to anything or anyone else. When my wife was in the hospital for a C-section they would ask her what her pain was on a scale of 1-10. I have a colleague that suffered a heart attack several years ago and the doctors asked him the same question. What the heck does that mean? What does a "1" mean? What does a "10" mean? My 10 could be your 5, your 7 my 3 etc. Do I even know what a "10" could feel like? I might think so until I have an injury or illness that ups the ante. Does our difference in tolerance of pain come from a different number of nerves, a different chemical makeup in the brain, or just some other even harder to define aspect of our psyches that effects it? I sure don't know and I'm quite sure the government does not either. These are all things that need to be thoroughly and carefully evaluated on a cases by case basis.
There is absolutely NO WAY the government can say if you take X number of pills per month that is or is not too much. Well, I take that back - they COULD say it - it just wouldn't make any sense. There are no doubt cases were Dr's are just over prescribing. However, given that so many doctors are not prescribing any thing AT ALL, it does make sense that there would be pockets were things LOOK artificially high due to these other doctor's reticence. Nobody seems to be investigating the doctors who prescribe to little medication. This is similar to the phenomenon at the FDA where congress never investigates them for holding up life saving drugs due to years of bureaucracy and red tape. Inaction is, if not outright rewarded, definitely never punished. This is, by the way, a basic tenant of federal civil service.
As a final aside, the article mentions that it is impossible to reliably measure painkiller abuse. I believe the Census Bureau has come up with the perfect solution to this problem. Since they want ICE to stop enforcing the laws so they can count illegal immigrants, I propose we simply tell the DEA to stand down so we can get a better picture of the problem.
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