THE REVERSE WAR ON DRUGS

The war on drugs. 

It sounds good. 

Countless lives have been ruined because of them.

But, as usual, things go awry.

It's very irritating to me when I hear that in order to get a prescription at some of the chain pharmacies you have to go through some song and dance and convince the pharmacist that you actually need them. 

Oh, and I'm not talking about the patient.

I'm talking about the doctor.

It's ridiculous when the pharmacists puts your doctor through an interrogation. They want to know if they've tried every other remedy before prescribing opiates. This is absolutely unbelievable to me. When can a pharmacist override the doctor? Who went to medical school??

Well, it seems it's happening every day.

I understand that there are pill mills out there. It should be fairly easy to catch the ones who doctor shop and refill scrips from different doctors at different pharmacies. I will agree that they are abused, HOWEVER, why do we have to start living our lives from the position of the abuser? When is the pharmacy allowed to use CYA (cover your a**) as a legitimate tool for dispensing prescriptions given to you by a doctor? 

I will agree that people need to be conscientious and responsible. You don't leave them about when you have children in the home. You need to understand their power but that doesn't mean that the people who are responsible and need them to actually function on a daily basis need to be looked at as some kind of addict. 

Pain is debilitating. 

I also understand overdose but if it can be caught before it's irreversible why isn't naloxone being used more? Naloxone reverses the effects of the opioid and could save thousands of lives due to accidental overdose.  Addiction is a whole other animal and unless the root problem is dealt with all the naloxone in the world won't help. 

It just sounds like anyone who uses opiates is automatically labeled an addict.

That is SO wrong.

Where is the balance?

As usual, when it comes to legislation...

Common sense and balance are missing.