Good Drugs

Interesting article from the AP about the rise in the use of prescription pain killers.

It would seem that recent high-profile legal cases involving "celebrities", such as Rush sLimebaugh, have had a negative reaction to patients who really need the treatment.

_Spooked by high-profile arrests and prosecutions by state and federal authorities, many pain-management specialists now say they offer guidance and support to patients but will not write prescriptions, even for the sickest people. The increase in painkiller retail sales continues to rise, but only barely. There was a 150 percent increase in volume in 2001. Four years later, the year-to-year increase was barely 2 percent.

_People who desperately need strong painkillers are forced to drive a long way — often to a different state — to find doctors willing to prescribe high doses of medicine. Siobhan Reynolds, the widow of a New Mexico patient who needed large amounts of painkillers for a connective tissue disorder, said she routinely drove her late husband to see an accommodating doctor in Oklahoma.

Here's a question. Why are drugs illegal unless prescribed by a physician (who may be too fearful to prescribe them)?

These drugs can be addictive. It's then the government's responsibility to ensure adult human beings don't become addicted to pain killers? Why? Isn't it up to the individual to determine what they want to put into their body?

It's the age old question of why certain drugs are illegal but alcohol is not. They are exactly the same. The answer, of course, is that the alcohol industry has a better lobby than the drug industry.

It's also a curious question why normal human physiology isn't good enough for a lot of people. Why this need to be chemically altered? When I had surgery earlier this year, I was on oxycodone and hydrocodone for a while. I can see why people get addicted to them... but what's the problem? Just make them legal, over-the-counter and cheap.