Ruth, I see the "other side of the street". I've read social media postings of thousands of non-criminal chronic pain patients who can no longer get safe and effective opioid therapy because public policy is based on observations primarily of criminal populations.
US DEA has terrorized and driven thousands of clinicians out of pain medici…
Ruth, I see the "other side of the street". I've read social media postings of thousands of non-criminal chronic pain patients who can no longer get safe and effective opioid therapy because public policy is based on observations primarily of criminal populations.
US DEA has terrorized and driven thousands of clinicians out of pain medicine by operating without effective oversight, confiscating clinicians assets long before trial, prominently announcing investigations with the intention of ruining the doctor's practice and denying them resources for their own defense, and coercing employees to testify against their employers in exchange for not being prosecuted. US DEA can aptly be characterized as a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization.
I must also challenge a popular meme: it is rare for young people to lapse into addiction after being treated by a doctor with opioid pain relievers. Youth under age 19 have the lowest opioid prescription rates of any population cohort, and seniors over age 62 have the highest. But young adults age 24-34 have drug overdose mortality rates three times higher than seniors -- and those mortalities stem almost entirely from illegal street drugs, primarily imported Fentanyl.
Ruth, I see the "other side of the street". I've read social media postings of thousands of non-criminal chronic pain patients who can no longer get safe and effective opioid therapy because public policy is based on observations primarily of criminal populations.
US DEA has terrorized and driven thousands of clinicians out of pain medicine by operating without effective oversight, confiscating clinicians assets long before trial, prominently announcing investigations with the intention of ruining the doctor's practice and denying them resources for their own defense, and coercing employees to testify against their employers in exchange for not being prosecuted. US DEA can aptly be characterized as a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization.
I must also challenge a popular meme: it is rare for young people to lapse into addiction after being treated by a doctor with opioid pain relievers. Youth under age 19 have the lowest opioid prescription rates of any population cohort, and seniors over age 62 have the highest. But young adults age 24-34 have drug overdose mortality rates three times higher than seniors -- and those mortalities stem almost entirely from illegal street drugs, primarily imported Fentanyl.