Government to track pain meds

The government is going down another avenue and further eroding our privacy.
In an alleagedattempt to save citizens from becoming addicted to pain medications, the government will force doctors and vets to report prescriptions for various classes of drugs and controlled substances.
Somehow, I don't get all warm and fuzzy thinking governments are only trying to save me from my desire to meidcate myself ala Rush Limbaugh. I see it as an unnecessary invasion of my rights.

State governments nationwide soon plan to electronically track Americans' use of commonly prescribed medications for pain, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and sleep disorders.

On Aug. 11, President Bush signed into law the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2005. It authorizes 60 million taxpayer dollars over five years to establish electronic prescription drug surveillance programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It requires those dispensing controlled substances (such as pharmacists and physicians) to submit information to state governments within one week of filling prescriptions, including patients' names, addresses and telephone numbers. Data also will be collected on animal owners whose pets are prescribed controlled substances by veterinarians.

Congress' stated purpose of the law is to help physicians identify and treat prescription drug addiction and abuse.

www.myrtlebeachonline.com...

www.qctimes.net...

Congress' stated purpose of the law is to help physicians identify and treat prescription drug addiction and abuse.

This is some nice bs. The government looking out for our best interest? LMAO!! When have they ever done that and why would they start now? They are probably monitoring it to see how they can make money off of it...please.....

As far as I can tell, this is already going on in Florida due to Rush and also Jebb's daughter.

Here is what the end result is. No Dr. has the you know whats to prescribe even when necessary. People who have legitimate pain/conditions, regardless of their history and obvious non-abuse are being denied the medications.

It gets worse. If you really need something on the watch list, most Drs. won't treat you at all, even if you don't ask for that medication. The only thing I can figure is that there is a risk to them if they do prescribe, but there is also a serious risk if they don't, because something can happen to you if you are denied access to medication that you truly need.

It's a sad state of affairs and is causing large numbers of people to suffer needlessly.

Wow, I'm pretty naive about government interests - I could have foreseen pain medication oversight, but was very surprised about the anxiety/adhd/sleep/pet meds!! That seems to be a bit far-reaching as far as privacy is concerned.

I live in a state that is consumed with the heartache, for lack of a better word, of meth abuse and its effect on crime and family. State law is beginning to regulate and consider recording cold medication purchases. Because of the up close and personal look our state has had of meth and its effects, I have found myself in support of such legislation. After reading this article you provided, I wonder if I'm left vulnerable to that slippery slope of civil rights erosion I'm constantly worried about!

Please keep us posted if you find any developments on the subject.

As far as pet meds go, battleschool, there are some meds given to pets that are illegal to give to people. Thus they appear on the list.

This whole thing is too Big Brother.
Sure, there may be some cases where an abuser is stopped.
But, you just gotta know many more poeple will suffer needlessly because their doctors cannot/will not prescribe neacessary medications.
I think this is especially troe of people with chronic pain.

I have a problem with the government telling doctors what to prescibe and when.

You have to wonder what the government (thanks to the insurance lobby) is holding over the heads of these doctors that they don't even want to treat patients in need of these medications.

If I took the hippocratic oath, I'd be ashamed of myself for witholding treatment, but then that's just me and I don't have a social status to protect.
.

Yep it's got to the point where anxiety, chronic pain, and insomnia have all become some freakish science project for holistic treatment and herbal medication.... oh wait they are doing their best to regulate that too. ANd god help you if you suffer from all three.
And all of that is IF you have insurance and IF you can afford to visit a doc. When illness makes you a criminal in the eyes of your government what recourse do you have after all?

I'm sorry, but I have to see the other side of this.
My husband was a Percoset addict. Percoset is an opium derivitive. It is highly addictive, and , if taken long enough, has the same withdrawal effects as heroin. After a while, the tolerance level of Percosets goes up to a level where taking 40 a day is nothing...but it kills your stomach because the other ingredient of Percoset is Tylenol. So, the next step up is Oxycontin. Oxycontin is a purer form of the active ingredient in Percosets. Of course, after a while, even that is ineffective, and has the same awful withdrawal symptoms. What comes next? Good ole heroin! And we all know heroin's addictive quality. Heroin withdrawal is purportedly the worst of all.
So, where does this all lead? Well, people that truley want to quit often find themselves unable to do so because of the withdrawal. Call them crybabies, but when I watched my husband try and go through it, it is a truely terrifying sight. There is one "easy" way to go through a monitored withdrawal, and that is through a methadone clinic. Methadone is purer than heroin, and lethal if stopped suddenly. At any rate, some methadone clinics are run by...guess who? That's right, local, state or federal governments. Now they can track users from prescription to methadone. I would rather see the government step in an nip a lengthy treatment (that can cost hundreds of thousand of dollars) in the bud, rather than let someone battle an almost impossible battle of withdrawal.
Let the "government" track pain prescriptions. It will stop alot of pain, tax money, and unwarented treatments.

[edit on 22-10-2005 by Rouschkateer]

Originally posted by Rouschkateer
Let the "government" track pain prescriptions. It will stop alot of pain, tax money, and unwarented treatments.

[edit on 22-10-2005 by Rouschkateer]

I'm sorry, but it can also cause a lot of pain if Drs. are not willing to treat pain effectively since they are monitored. It can also cost tax dollars in people who become disabled when their conditions are not properly managed, and can lead to unwarranted treatments and medical tests when the condition is no longer under control.

I am not disputing your thoughts, but in all honesty, there are two sides here and I don't see this development helping more people than it hurts (no pun intended), let alone the invasion of privacy that is being eroded more every day.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe

www.myrtlebeachonline.com...

yo, thats in my backyard

It seems every 3 years or so....another gang/group of doctors here at the beach get busted for all the dope & pain meds they prescribe.
the latest batch of illegal painkiller prescription writers numbered 8
and that happened 1 Sept '05, (read archive in Pee Dee Living section)

The pain pill pushers operate mostly out of Pain Clinics & Dental offices,
offering a range of Schedule II Controlled Substances;
Hydrocodone, Lortab, Valium, Xanax, Oxycodone........

the revealing message is- the authorities have long been keeping tabs on who's giving or getting pain-meds...how else would they conduct an almost clockwork like cycle of busts of the pain-killer subculture,

myself...since my meds come from the VA Pharmacy...i see the control number on each & every bottle of meds....i'm not concerned about it !!!

Right St Udio, many of those drugs are alreaday controlled substances. Nothing new there.
But, now those and many others, including the drug my dog must take, will be in a database. This database has mine, and everyone else who has one of the scrips, name, address and phone number. Can we be 100% sure that database list won't be sold and/or get into the wrong hands?

I fear this new law will do far more harm than good. It's a privacy issue.
And, a lack of treatment concern

What's worse, Having pain or being addicted to narcotics?

Do we have to treat everybody who has pain as a Drug user?

The REAL interesting angle to all of this will be the reaction of the Pharmaceutical corporations. Lets not for get just HOW powerful and how deep their pockets run...

I have my suspicions that this "new law" maybe be a glossy PR move. The "people" in charge WOULD NEVER ALLOW such a crippling blow to their bottomline.

Trust me.. the drugs will continue to flow freely....

Peace

Serum, I think you're right. The drug companies won't allow anything to cripple their bottom line.
But I think they make most of their money on drugs they spend millions to aadvertise. The purple pill, migraine drugs, cholesterol drugs, viagra.

The drugs the government is going to monitor drugs that aren't the top money makers, IMHO.

I am beyond annoyed by all of the regulation of everything. Let's make sure to make everything a disease and then make sure that we have every bit of information on every citizen taking any medication. The government should NOT have that information. Period. End of story.

There are way too many laws governing things that should not be governed. The war on drugs is a failure. An unmitigated failure that has been an excuse to destroy the Bill of Rights once again. (The U.S. government does this every few years.) Prior to the 'war on drugs' we had effective drug treatment, by the way. And it was pioneered under Nixon!

If someone wants to destroy themselves by getting strung out, I don't care. Of course, if they do this and destroy other, innocent parties, I do care. Treating responsible adults like criminals is idiotic, and unpatriotic. Am I unsympathetic to the plight of addicts? Yes. Have I seen victims of addiction? Yes. Treatment programs that work exist.

As far as cold medicine, it should either be prescription or not prescription. NOT in some netherworld between the two. Congress needs to quit practicing medicine without a license. That is what all of this is. OR they need to disband the AMA - a real conspiracy to control the prices of medicine by limiting the supply of doctors. And, while they are at it, take out the big pharmaceutical companies. But no, first get people using the drugs and then make it a way to track people.

Yes, I'm cranky tonight, I'm annoyed because I have such severe allergies that I can't breathe without double-dosing on cold medicines some days. The last thing I need is some idiot in Congress (redundant, I know) telling me that I can only take 1 tablet a day of a decongestant. They aren't doctors. They shouldn't be practicing medicine.

Pax.

One thing to note: The data is already collected. As a nurse, you would not believe the amount of signatures, countersignatures, and documentation we go through. All this is stored and tabulated and sent to the DEA (Im not sure about the interval)

Access to the narc requires a password and a thumbprint scan then a second nurse has to agree with the withdrawl of the medication from what looks like an ATM. If the counts are off nobody leaved untill the discrepancy is resolved.

Now if the government issues caps on how much an MD can prescribe them i would be upset. However, just looking online shows you can get everything from Valium to Xanax by filling out an online form. A balance needs to be found between over-prescribing, and making sure people are pain free.

I went to the doctor here in tx today.They told me that i have to see a pain management specialist.It was stated to me that new law says that normal doctors cant write prescripts for pain medication.I went through 8 weeks of test and now must wait longer.This is blowing my mind.If anyone knows anything about this i am searching but havent found anything yet.

Originally posted by deadeyedick
I went to the doctor here in tx today.They told me that i have to see a pain management specialist.It was stated to me that new law says that normal doctors cant write prescripts for pain medication.I went through 8 weeks of test and now must wait longer.This is blowing my mind.If anyone knows anything about this i am searching but havent found anything yet.

From my understanding a family physician has to have a certain certification to write prescriptions for certain classes of pain meds. To me it sounds like he was passing the buck.

Pain clinics are around and will usually help you get the relief you need. The unfortunate part in all of this is that trying to obtain pain meds for legitimate reasons and you will still be looked at and treated like a drug addict. I know because i've had to deal with this for 10 years now.

Bottom line is some injuries, especially lower back pain can last the rest of your life and contrary to popular belief, a well balanced, doctor approved treatment can actually help people like us live an almost normal semi pain free life.