FDA Tightens Hydrocodone Regulations To Curb Drug Abuse

HNGN ^ | Aug 25, 2014 | Ashley Helms

[JCG]

Stricter rules for the country's most commonly prescribed painkiller were rolled out on Thursday by the FDA, the last step in a policy change that has been coming down the pipeline for years, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Hydrocodone will now be in a more serious and restrictive category. Doctors will be barred from calling in prescriptions by telephone, and patients will not be able to get refills on the same prescription, but will have to return to a physician for a new one. It will also have be to kept in special vaults in pharmacies. The Drug Enforcement Administration said it will take 45 days for the new rules to take effect.

[JCG]

According to my pharmacy, beginning October 5th I will need a physical hard copy of each prescription hand signed by my doctor for every fill of hydrocodone products. No refills allowed. (Obtaining a 90 day prescription is possible but, for me, prolly not likely.)

I don't think my doctor is going to want to hand carry prescriptions to the pharmacy so that probably means a monthly trip for me. When he gets tired of hand signing scripts he'll probably start charging a fee or co-pay for the service. It's bad enough that I have to contend with bodily pain, now more pain is coming down from the feds. All this could be ended with medical cannabis but Missouri is glacially slow in getting a law on the books.

Damn the FDA

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[Kozak]

Annndndddd the ER will be even more crowded with drug seekers who know we HAVE to see them and they don’t have to pay. Sweet.

[PA Engineer]

I really understand. Damn the FDA for punishing those in need, rather than the abusers.

Two years ago I went under surgery to repair a crushed spine from C4-C6. I'm allergic to all opiates and need to combine steroids, diphenhydramine and prilosec in the right order at the right time. It was impossible to comply with all the BS required. I finally just started downing motrin and Jack Daniels until the procedure was complete.

There are many bureaucrats I will assist in burning in hell. They earned it.

In the hospital when everything was combined with a pump, there was no "high." It was relief and feeling normal again. I hate both the regulators and druggies to this day for what they did.

[Cry if I Wanna]

They restricted Sudafed so now they can’t make meth. Sarc/

[MediaMole]

Your doctor won’t need to carry the script to the pharmacy, just give you a physical, signed copy rather than call into the pharmacy.

It’s all about reducing the level of opiate addiction.

I just spent a couple months working on a story on local heroin addiction. Almost everyone started out with a doctor’s prescription for an opiate painkiller.

Some just stole their parents’ pills before getting hooked, but most had legit scripts, paid for pills, then started with heroin because it was cheaper.

[steve86]

All this could be ended with medical cannabis but Missouri is glacially slow in getting a law on the books.

If possible it probably would be worth a trip to Colorado or Washington to purchase and see if it works (but you'd probably have to try a number of strains).

[steve86]

most had legit scripts, paid for pills, then started with heroin because it was cheaper.

Interesting about the purely economic reason for going to heroin.

Can you put a link up to your story?

[kdot]

I think this change will make it more difficult for people who truly need the drug. It could be a huge hassle when you’re already struggling with your health. Drug addicts will always find a drug. If new laws prevented drug abuse, we wouldn’t have drug abuse.

Once again. The non-abusers are paying the price.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Yeah, great. When I lived in the UK....we had to go to the doctor’s surgery to get ANY script and pay a fee. Nothing was ‘called in’.

Gonna be great for my elderly parents who I’m helping take care of. Mom is on a reg dose of hydro and is on a walker while my step-dad is in the early throws of dimentia. I’m already burning up the roads, as it is, hauling kids around.

Just greeeaaaat.

[Darksheare]

The surprise is that “FDA” means “food & drug administration.”
From their actions, I always thought it stood for something vulgar.

[JRandomFreeper]

Docs obviously can't be trusted to manage pain for those with severe, long-term, debilitating pain. (do I need a sarc tag?)

The government needs to saddle up and 'do something'.

Last I looked, Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, didn't authorize congress to do anything about drugs. Or medicine.

That's properly a State power under the police function of the State.

/johnny

[Slings and Arrows]

Trust me, pharmacists are thrilled too.

Just for additional giggles, Tramadol is now a C-IV. I feel so protected.

[Born to Conserve]

Buckets of free heroin on every street corner. Problem solved in a week.

[kdot]

Same boat. So this change makes it harder on us, because dealing with all just isn’t quite enough. The do-gooders need to step back. Their time will come. When they are called to minister, they might change their minds on the red tape and road blocks. But then again, their humanity can’t see it now...

[digger48]

One of the problems is that there are people on SSDI that get these free of charge and then sell them on the street for $5-10 a pop to supplement their income.

[dalereed]

Oxycodone has been like that for the 6 years that I have been taking it.

It's a class 2 narcotic and I have to go to the doctors office and get a new prescription and hand carry it to the pharmacy every time. They have just added vicadone to the same requirement.

[JRandomFreeper]

And the law-abiding should be punished exactly why?

Are you saying that people in real pain should have to jump through extra hoops because of criminals?

Is that your idea of justice?

/johnny

[kdot]

Users gotta use. Pushers gotta push. Why make it harder for those who are suffering and need the drug for their survival? An assumption here is that Dr. offices are convenient, easy to work with, organized, etc. Not so for everybody.

[JRandomFreeper]

Where does the federal government get the power to regulate drugs at all?

That's a State power.

/johnny

[Vendome]

Stoopit MTHRFKRS....

I have been given untold opinions on what the new policy is.

Ridiculous

The bottom line is you have see a doctor 3very time you need a refill.

Some 15,000 people die each from drug overdosing.

To that I say “Uh, really? I give a flip about them and their inability to manage life or a “somewhat low” tolerance.

The costs for this are going to be extraordinary and the demand for everyone’s time intolerable.

So, you’ll go to your doctor and wait, wait, wait....before receiving your script.

Then you’ll have to go the pharmacy and wait, wait, wait...then deliver your request and hope some idiot from China can’t understand what was written or wants to pretend the government can tell you what to do....or, or...maybe the script isn’t acceptable for a variety of reasons.

Then....you’ll wait like...forever until your script is filled and then you’ll wait in line again, behind all the welfare queens who get theirs free, while you pay for it out of your own pocket.

So, now you are required to make three trips for something you use to make only one for.

But hey! On a positive note CVS no longer sells cigarettes but, you can still obtain booze, chips and candies high in salt, fat and bereft of any real nutrition.

They are counting on a 12% reduction of pills.

Can you imagine what the doctors office is going to look like now?

There will be regular patients and then a boat load more people waiting impatiently for a DEA request form.