Bush Anti-Drug Plan to Target Painkillers

AP ^ | 3/1/04

[Moleman]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's national anti-drug strategy will for the first time target the use of pain relievers, sedatives and stimulants for nonmedical purposes, a problem that has exploded in the last decade.

A key part of the strategy being released Monday involves government efforts to help states develop monitoring systems to track a patient's use of prescription medicine. The monitoring programs flag cases that indicate a pattern of abuse, such as "doctor shopping," where a patient gets prescriptions for drugs from multiple physicians.

Prescription medicine now ranks second, behind marijuana, among drugs most abused by adults and young people, said the report by the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. It cited a recent study by the Health and Human Services Department.

Twenty states have prescription monitoring programs, the report said. John Walters, director of the drug policy office, said he expects to expand the program to 11 more states by next year. About $10 million in federal funds will bankroll the expansion.

With painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin widely available on the Internet, "pill mills" or rogue online pharmacies will come under increased scrutiny.

The Drug Enforcement Administration plans to aggressively pursue pharmacies selling controlled substances illegally over the Internet, an effort that will include deploying modern Web crawler technology to search out those peddling prescription drugs online.

Physician training and education programs will also be a part of the new campaign.

The Drug Policy Alliance, a New York-based group that promotes alternatives including the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, was skeptical of Bush's strategy. It saw unintended consequences that will end up causing more pain and suffering.

"The principal impact of this campaign when you step up the law enforcement response is that doctors will err on the side of under-treating pain," said alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann. "So any time a doctor is dealing with a patient in pain, their first instinct is not to prescribe enough."

Since 1995, emergency room visits from prescription drug abuse have risen 163 percent, the report said.

To highlight the problem among youth, it noted a University of Michigan study that found abuse by high school seniors of Vicodin more than double the use of cocaine, Ecstasy or methamphetamine. One in 10 seniors, it said, reported nonmedical use of the painkiller.

Mark Surks of Kendall Park, N.J., who lost his son, Jason, a few months ago to a drug overdose, said he had no idea the 19-year-old was buying OxyContin and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax on the Internet.

"I was blindsided," Surks said. "There was no evidence that my son had ever been using any kind of drugs. He was a good kid. He was involved in the religious community, in sports and in music. He had tons of friends. It never crossed my mind that prescription drugs were a problem."

Surks praised the new focus by the White House on prescription drugs.

Bush outlined other facets of his anti-drug strategy during his State of the Union address in January. They include additional financing for drug-prevention efforts and a sharp increase in funds for schools that want to use drug testing to expand early intervention programs.

His proposal to boost funding from $2 million to $23 million for student drug testing has come under fire from some parents, school administrators and civil liberties groups concerned about privacy violations and the effectiveness of the testing.

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On the Net:

Office of National Drug Control Policy: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov

Drug Policy Alliance: http://www.drugpolicy.org

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Moleman]

I am so sick of wasting OUR tax money worring about what others may or may not do to their bodies. Perscriptions are expensive enough and now will only increase as doctors become woried about the next lawsuit filed because they perscribed xanax to someone. I have had anxiety issues and believe me xanax does not "get you high" rather, calms our nerves so you can function like a normal human being.

[Moleman]

I appologize if this has been posted but I could not find after an extensive search.
Regards,
Moleman

[BiffWondercat]

Not to mention that it makes it even harder to get good pain relief for those who need it.

[Wolfie]

Now everybody gets to be the focus of the Drug War. Should be fun.

[playball0]

Is doctor shopping a big deal? I don't think its a big problem. I'd like to see a cost/benefit analysis before the government gets into drug monitoring. If it can save billions or if it can really identify people who really need help I might be open to it.

Sounds like another boondoggle to me.

[Hildy]

Is it against the law now to buy drugs online ... I mean these painkillers. I get 50 ads a day for them, it's not illegal, is it?

[EggsAckley]

I am in the final stages of this year's very bad cold bug, and without a xanax now and then I would have gone into full panic attack due to the breathing problems. *sigh*

[headsonpikes]

Let's not have nattering negativity on this issue.

The government NEEDS to look after everybody's health.

Yankee know-how can make socialism work!

[TKDietz]

Whoa! You have the flu and you think you need Xanax or you'd have panic attacks because you are all stopped up? It's not Xanax you need. A set of "eggs" and maybe some backbone wouldn't hurt though.

[EggsAckley]

You have no idea what you're talking about pal. When you wake up in the middle of the night and can't breath, see if it doesn't cause you a little bit of concern. These were prescribed, by the way.

So take your judgementalism elsewhere; it's not welcome here, newbie.

[from occupied ga]

Oh the joy of having a kidney stone when you've run out of percodan. Yes you can always go to the doctor to get another prescription, but who wants to when you're writhing on the floor in pain?

My wish to all of the drug warriors out there is that you have excruciatingly painful conditions (like bone cancer) and not be given any pain medication because after all we wouldn't want you to abuse it.

[cwb]

Bingo! I can tell you that as a chronic pain patient, that even before this proposed legislation, it was hard as hell for me to find a doctor who was comfortable prescribing any kind of narcotic. For some time, I had to "doctor shop" until I found the right doctor who would treat my pain aggressively. Is this now going to be a crime, as well? I literally spent thousands of dollars on PT, NSAIDs, trigger point injections/epiderals, biofeedback, etc...all because there is a fear within the medical community of legal liability. Yes, there are some bad apples in the bunch, but this nonsense is only going to make it more unbearable for the real patient in crisis.

There's also a great deal of hypocrisy with some conservative views of treatment and how it relates to the medical community: We abhor euthenasia(sp) and assisted suicide...for good reason. The argument is, that we have advanced medicines and treatment to elliviate the illness. Yes we do...but what good is that if we are going to make it more difficult for those seaking relief to obtain that medicine?

Depression and pain are two health related issues that lead many to contemplating suicide...and now you're going to make it even more difficult as doctors have more to fear from government. You can't have it both ways.

[steve-b]

About $10 million in federal funds will bankroll the expansion.

George, George, George, no matter how many sticky notes you propose to put on the Constitution you're going back to Crawford if you don't get your spending addiction under control.

[tdadams]

Since 1995, emergency room visits from prescription drug abuse have risen 163 percent, the report said.

I will never take at face value any statistic put forth by the ONDCP. I've seen the utterly blatant misinformation they distribute regarding marijuana, commiting lies of ommission to make it seem as if thousands of people end up in the emergency room because of marijuana. In actuality, anyone who comes to an ER with the smallest amount of marijuana in their system is added to the statistics, indicating a "marijuana-related emergency room visit." How laughable.

[Ken H]

I'd like to see a cost/benefit analysis before the government gets into drug monitoring.

I think they did and found that it will cost us and benefit them.

Sounds like another boondoggle to me.

They are consistent, I'll give them that.

[Wolfie]

In actuality, anyone who comes to an ER with the smallest amount of marijuana in their system is added to the statistics, indicating a "marijuana-related emergency room visit."

Its more insidious (and dishonest) than that. If you even mention marijuana on the questionnaire (as in, "Have you ever smoked?", the Feds put it down as a "marijuana-related" visit. I suspect the data on painkillers is cooked up the same way.

[Wolfie]

Ya think any of the idjits in Congress will have trouble getting pain relief? I doubt it.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Bookmark for later when I have the time to say just how disgusted I am over this.