The federal government seems to have a drug problem. Or is that a medicine problem?
Frankly, that's the problem. Federal Drug Enforcement Administration officials have had a tough time distinguishing between medicine used to treat medical problems and street drugs that are abused.
The result has been that some folks who are extremely ill, and are in chronic pain, have been forced to fight bureaucrats as well as law enforcement officers to obtain pain medication.
Yes, there is no doubt these morphine-based painkillers can be - and certainly are - abused as street drugs. DEA officials are wise to watch the distribution of these drugs carefully.
But the DEA had gone too far. It was essentially blocking doctors from prescribing adequate pain medication. And doctors, as well as their patients, were not happy.
DEA officials finally listened to the protests and last week overturned the DEA's 2-year-old policy that severely restricted pain prescriptions.
It's a positive and welcome move. Those with chronic pain will be able to obtain with a prescription a steady supply of pain killers for three months.
The DEA's new policy makes sense.
The agency is still keeping an eye on those who have access to these potentially dangerous drugs, but it now acknowledges doctors are prescribing medicine used for legitimate medical purposes.
Labels: No Prescription, Online Pharmacy, Prescription Drugs
# posted by Network @ 10:07 PM
