Posted on 08/14/2011 4:37:30 PM PDT by DBCJR
Prescription drug monitoring programs are sponsored by the DEA but are passed into law and administered by each individual state. Some may not have them.
If you are interested in the most recent regulatory developments at the Federal level go to the DEA’s site:
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/index.html
Another site, which likely takes the position of many of my more vicious critics on this thread, clearly outlines the DEA crackdown and its effect on prescription writing by physicians:
http://deasucks.com/essays/deacrackdown.htm
Of course, there are differing opinions as to the legality of such a crackdown but, suffice it to say, if there were no legal basis for such pervasive actions, wealthy physicians could afford the attorneys to have stopped this crackdown a long time ago.
It is probably more accurate for him to say, “In my opinion, there is no legal basis,” vs. “There are no regulations.”
It's a fraudulent blank check.
You live in a region called Denial. Sad. Pathetic and truly bizarre.
give it up.
This thread is dead and your not going to keep it alive by twisting my words.
Your words were plain enough. You can’t turn your bullshit into truth by claiming it’s being twisted.
Look at the angst and teeth gnashing on this thread, now think about having to deal with that face to face, in a small room, over and over.
The DEA “crack down” is concerning to docs mostly because there are no rules they can follow to stay out of trouble and seems rather random.
Agreed, both in word twisting going on here and in your assessment of the lack of certainty. The DEA would lose the battle of who should make medical decisions if it came down to that. Yet docs are quite intimidated by the DEA (as evidenced by pain management clinics going out of business) and, as you pointed out, are quite unsure of the boundaries yet are pushed all day long by painkiller seekers, some legitimate, many who are not.
How does a doc determine the subjective level of pain within a person? That is nearly impossible. To further complicate matters, perception of pain becomes heightened with long term opioid use as pain receptors become hypersensitive. How does a doc deal with this objectively? They cannot.
There are some docs that are standing up against the DEA for the right to make medical necessity decisions regarding pain management. I think this is balance. Few would argue that there was not widespread abuse of prescriptive rights of painkiller medications. The remedy, perhaps, went too far. This is normally the case with public policy initiatives, the overkill creates a worse problem. Another case of Big Government gone awry.
And that “blank check” has physicians intimidated. Practices are closing down, especially pain management specialty practices. While few would say there was not widespread abuse, Big Government heavy handedness has probably over-corrected. Some docs are rising up saying that physicians, not the DEA, should determine the medical necessity of pain management drugs - a similar argument to utilization management by managed care.
Why do they need to stand up to the DEA for the right to make the decision if the DEA isn't taking that right away from them, and making that decision for them?
One one hand it's submitted that there no restrictions being imposed, and on the other that the doctors are having to fight prescibe as they see fit.
You can't solve a problem that you just rationalized out of existence.
It's not just the DEA. Look at the history of federal government expansion under the New Deal Commerce Clause. The DEA, EPA, OSHA, NLRB, Departments of Energy and Education, HHS, and more. They're all out of control, there is no discernible limit to the scope of their authority under that doctrine, and they keep proving over and over again that they simply cannot be trusted with that kind of power.
They are too far removed from the people and problems the regulations they write and enforce affect to understand the consequences, and their motivation is to always find more problems that need to be fixed and unmet needs to be met that will increase their own authority and power and get more money in their budgets.
About six months ago, I started getting very bad back pain. (I’ve had life long back problems due to a bad back injury about 15 years ago)It got so severe that I started missing lots of work, and really thought I was facing permanent disability. I started being prescribed Vicodin Extra Strength and was taking four or five a day, so I could continue working till some other resolution could be explored. I had injections into three vertebrae on both sides, didn’t help. I had different stuff injected, didn’t work. I finally had the nerves responsible for carrying the pain burned by RF ablation, which finally gave me some relief. This all took about four months, and when I quit taking the pain medication, it became obvious that I was quite addicted, and had to go through withdrawal, which took about a week and a half, to get through the worst of it. It was a quite horrible experience, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. However, and this is the point of my post, the withdrawal was very bad, but not as bad as suffering the back pain without the narcotics. I would do it over again. Sometimes you’re just in a bad situation in life, and you get through it any way you can. Narcotics are a necessary lurking evil, but to deny them to people that really need them is savagery, and the DEA should leave docs alone.
Agreed.
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