[strela]

Unless the author can cite the statute number and/or law that makes it a "crime" not to make a particular medication
universally available to anyone who asks for it, the title of this piece is misleading and ridiculous. Yes, some people
endure pain, and pain sucks. But to pillory the maker of a particular medication in the court of public opinion
for cooperating with authorities who are trying to keep the product from being abused by druggies is wrong-headed.

[tacticalogic]

But to pillory the maker of a particular medication in the court of public opinion for cooperating with authorities who are trying to keep the product from being abused by druggies is wrong-headed.

"If we call the method regulation, people hold up their hands in horror and say ‘un-American,’ or ‘dangerous,’. But if we call the same identical process co-operation, these same old fogeys will cry out ‘well done’.... cooperation is as good a word for the new theory as any other."

-FDR

[Lurker]

Here's hoping you get to walk a couple of miles in my moccasins kimosabe.

L

[muir_redwoods]

Strela, this isn't directed at you but merely said in response to your comments. I'm watching my wife of 26 years make her way through metastatic cancer (breast cancer that moved to the bones)with Oxycontin. Without it she can't walk. With it, she can teach, drive and function. I try to be rational and reasonable and supportive. I grant my fellow human the right to any opinion

That being said, with my bare hands if necessary, I'll kill the SOB who tries to make Oxycontin unavailable by prescription to my wife. There, I hope that's clear to all

[DAnconia55]

You would have made an excellent Russian Commissar.

Your ability to twist and distort, in an attempt to use propaganda to confuse the reader is extraordinary.

[Timesink]

Unless the author can cite the statute number and/or law that makes it a "crime" not to make a particular medication universally available to anyone who asks for it, the title of this piece is misleading and ridiculous.

crime [krm ] (plural crimes) noun

1.  illegal act:  an action prohibited by law, or a failure to act as required by law

2.  illegal activity:  activity that involves breaking the law

3.  immoral act:  any act considered morally wrong

4.  undesirable act:  a shameful, unwise, or regrettable act (informal)  It's a crime the way some people mistreat their pets.

As you can see, definitions (3) and (4) show his title is perfectly acceptable, even if you don't think it's an actual legal crime.

However, it IS.

Yes, some people endure pain, and pain sucks. But to pillory the maker of a particular medication in the court of public opinion for cooperating with authorities who are trying to keep the product from being abused by druggies is wrong-headed.

Not too long ago - either early this year or sometime last year - the FDA made it specifically illegal for doctors or hospitals to undertreat, or refuse to treat at all, their patients' pain. The rule wasn't made so much because doctors were underprescribing in order to avoid DEA scrutiny; it's simply that most doctors think very lowly of their patients: that it's "all in their head," that they're exaggerating the true extent of their discomfort, or that they're just trying to get some fun pills. That attitude can now theoretically cost them their license, and their hospital its acceditation, or any number of lesser legal problems.

Patients have an absolute legal right to 100% treatment of their pain, as long as the technology exists to treat it.