Sure, doctors prescribed narcotics. But what I have seen, the patients requesting narcotics were already addicts. Claiming back pain and trying to get a prescription. Telling them NO pain med prescription meant an abusive, sometimes violent patient in the clinic. It got to the point that our clinic stopped seeing Medicaid patients, as they were usually the drug seekers.
A 27 year old addict ( as this article points out) most likely did not get addicted from a doctors prescription. He already started a life of addiction when he was 14. So, I am not buying the pity party in this story. Unlikely a doctor prescribed narcs to a 14 year old boy, and got him in a cycle of addiction.
I remember the last heroin epidemic, in the early 80s. AIDS wiped out that group of addicts. Now, we have easily accessible clean needles and Narcan everywhere. This cycle of addiction will be harder to burn out.
I have had serious back pain for years. I had a prescription for a specific med that helped when the discomfort got out-of-hand that I would just call the pharmacy for a refill when I ran out. 100 at a time, and I rarely ordered it because that volume would keep me going for 6-10 months.
Last month, I was running low (I had 2 left, and a pain episode was starting) so I called for a refill. The pharmacy refused to fill the scrip until I went to the doc.
The doc told me that he doesn’t want to write that scrip for me as the rules have changed, and he has to justify IN WRITING why he assigned said treatment, and the scrip can’t be auto-refilled anymore either. He suggested I go with the OTC version of this particular med.
I can get essentially the same med, but less than 1/4 the strength, OTC, but I have to take 3-5 pills to get the same level of relief, and my insurance doesn’t pay anything for otc’s. Oh, and the OTC’s cost slightly MORE per unit than the prescription.
How is restricting MY access to a med I have used for nearly 25 years going to help with the current opioid crisis?