>> Should we just do away with that whole prescription thing and let those who want to abuse prescription painkillers do so without harassment? If so, do you think the black market would go away?
Rx painkillers are a way, way different kind of problem.
The current regime of prescribing and dispensing is not working, so some changes are necessary. But these drugs must be regulated because the addictive properties are far too strong (unlike mj, which is not addictive). OxyContin and Fentanyl are very dangerous painkillers. These drugs should be dispensed by pain control specialists who know how to control them. A person who takes 30 OxyContins over a couple weeks and has an addictive personality can easily end up addicted. I've taken them and I could be addicted in less than a month if I allowed myself to take them.
For example, one of my son's Army buddies was in a bad on the job truck accident in which his leg was shattered. That was about five years ago, and that boy is is taking immense quantities of both OxyContin and Fentanyl, he has lost his job, his family, and will probably lose his life before it is over. He gets these drugs from his family practice doctor who has no business prescribing this crap at all.
I work with some Interventional Pain Specialists who prescribe these drugs but understand how to monitor and control them so they don't become nearly the problem. They use extensive drug testing and measurement, infusion pumps, and other methods to insure the drugs in use are the proper drugs administered at the proper levels. And that they're not being sold on the street, like a vast proportion of these drugs are because they are worth so much on the black market.
Still, you can't control opiates from the supply side anymore than you can marijuana. There should be great pressure on manufacturers, BY GOVERNMENT, to create painkillers that limit the capacity for abuse. American dollars created these problems and American dollars can solve the problem. But today, the dollars are being misdirected at locking up abusers rather than pushing drug manufacturers to solve the problem.
>> Should we just do away with that whole prescription thing and let those who want to abuse prescription painkillers do so without harassment? If so, do you think the black market would go away?
The black market would go away but you would have more addiction because many people who can control any other substance cannot control opiates. |
