Govt. needs to STOP playing doctor

[Griffin (OP)]

https://vtdigger.org/2016/01/18/providers-cautious-of-proposed-10-pill-painkiller-limit/


This shit is getting out of hand, we need to stop all of these idiot politicians from playing doctor immediately. In vermont the top idiot wants to implement a new policy that limits doctors from prescribing more than 10 painkillers after a surgery. UMM... WTF?! Are they seriously calling for people to just deal with post-op pain and if its absolutely terrible you have to make another appointment, drive to it, and beg the doctor to treat your pain while looking like a drug seeker, and more than likely still get denied because the doc doesn't want to get arrested.

Why would anyone want to limit a doctors abilities to treat patients? What good has ever come from that? This is ludicrous, how can any politician or person think this is a good idea? For once I hope big pharma steps in and lets them know they will stop paying these people unless they eat that bill and the pen used to write it. It limits how much money they are making if they can only sell 10 at a time. I guess they can just raise the price 500% like they usually do but still they probably want to sell more so hopefully they end this.

How do they not realize that when politicians step into health issues that it always has a bad outcome. I don't even see how this makes them more money, less pills being diverted means less asset seizures, drug busts, arrests, and all of that other fun stuff that they do to profit of human pain and suffering. Are they selling it as there will be less pain killer addicts (because they all switched on to heroin) so we'll have less health issues which saves money?

I guess when I think about it, it is totally worth millions of people suffering to catch those tree hugging, atheist, immoral druggies who are out killing children. Thats why I love our justice system because by my books they can lock up 20 innocent people just so long as they get one bad guy. I mean seriously when are we going to start handing druggies death penalties on first offenses and give them 3 days to prove their innocents before they are hung? The death penalty has stopped murders and junkies are worse than murderers they eat babies.

This is truly sickening, and it kills their asset seizing cash cow so whats their angle? I understand that politicians(and rich people) don't have to go by these rules but they should really have to go through something to be able to put this kind of shit out their. Maybe they should have to stick their arm in a fire for a few minutes, and be given only 10 pills, and then they can have an opinion on the matter.

I seriously wish judges and DA's would have to do a few years in prison before being able to sentence someone there. Also prison guards should have to do what ever amount of time they are assessing in solitary conefinement before being able to do so. If the max penalty CO's are allowed to give someone is 30 days in solitary confinement then they should have to do 30 days in solitary confinement before being able to assess that penalty. I guess that would be like giving politicians the same pay the average american makes instead of $200,000/yr salaries.

I know I live in a dream world where that will never ever happen but it makes sense to me and maybe all these judges on big prisons payroll will stop handing out 20+ years and life w/o sentences like candy. They might actually realize that our prison and criminal justice system is making things a whole lot worse. I just hate that the judges throw out harsh prison sentences all of the time in the name of revenge especially when they do it to kids and the mentally ill. It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

[Zoops]

Wow, that is beyond fucked up. But for reals, the government needs to stop playing a whole lot of things.

Don't know if a judge should have to do 20 years in order to be able to hand out a 20 year sentence, but victimless crimes and (nearly victimless ones) need to stop getting stomped on so badly.

This law, if doctors can only prescribe 10 dosage units (not 10 painkillers - I was thinking when I read that that they would be permitted to prescribe only 10 painkilling drugs, like Percocet, Oxycontin, morphine, Actiq, Opana, methadone, etc. to ten). But if it's only 10 dosage units, then this will inevitably move them towards prescribing only fent patches, since 10 of those is a month's supply (or close to it, depending). Maybe the fentanyl lobby is behind this push?

That's funny - "the fentanyl lobby." I'd like to work for them.

[Griffin (OP)]

The fentanyl lobby does sound like a nice working environment. They have been hard at work the fda just approved the second phase of testing for sufentanil.

[candy]

Sadly, the government sees that doctors are over-prescribing.
With the rate of overdose on opiates on the rise, the more the government is going to become involved.
Patients who need pain management or post-operative pain will suffer because the bad rap that opiates have gotten over the last decade.

In the methadone clinic I go to, I hear more and more clients talking about how they are using the clinic as a way to manage their pain.
If CPP need to be medicated and cannot get adequate pain control from a physician outside of the MMT setting, they are going to choose MMT
as a way to control their pain. I imagine that many clinics are aware of this, but for those clinics that take a cash payment for treatment each month,
they are getting rich off of those who are unable to get treatment from a pain  management clinic.

I hear so many times of CPP who need to adjust their dose or ask for something stronger and are denied the requests because the doctors
are afraid of being accused of over-prescribing.

Instead of the government punishing those who need pain meds, they should consider more pain management programs with doctors who are trained to treat chronic pain and understand the use of opiates. Unfortunately, many doctors who prescribe pain meds are not aware of the dangers, the dependence, or how to manage someone with chronic pain.

I could go on and on, but it will be a long time coming before we see any real changes that have a positive result.