The DEA has horribly abused the Controlled Substance Act to go after doctors in the same way as drug dealers. The CSA was not intended to do this; The CSA was intended to deal with drug trafficking and illicit drug use not legal opioid prescriptions.
The DOJ and DEA have illegally taken upon themselves to determine whether opioids used in medical practice are used for a legitimate MEDICAL purpose. This is a massive over-reach on 2 levels,
1. Bureaucrats are not trained as licensed doctors and should attempt to not practice medicine.
2. The Federal government should not intrude on the State’s right to regulate medical practices.
“The DEA has horribly abused the Controlled Substance Act to go after doctors in the same way as drug dealers.”
I read (NYT?, yesterday?) that hospitals are having a pain killer shortage.
One hospital(?) was offered drugs with glass particles and told to filter before injecting. Those drugs were not put into supply cabinets.
Precisely
A sizable fraction of opiate addicts became addicted due to improperly prescribed opioid pain killers. I think that prescription guidelines are being revised to address this issue.
A physician that I know said that for long-term pain management, opioids are *not* indicated. So, there is part of the problem, since opioids are frequently prescribed for long-term pain issues.
The DEA is following the directives of ACA, HHS, CMS, FDA and the swamp. Of course, the DEA is also part of the swamp. But the DEA is just the messenger of ACA policy.
Must be doctors who were not in the swamp... At least the W.Virginians are fighting back
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/12/19/How-West-Virginia-Became-Ground-Zero-Opioid-Epidemic
During the past six years, major drug wholesalers flooded the state with 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills, while 1,728 West Virginians suffered fatal overdoses on those two painkillers, according to the Gazette-Mail investigation. West Virginia has 1.84 million residents, ranking 38th in population nationally.
The deluge of drugs was the equivalent of an astounding 433 pain pills per resident of the state, according to the report. And those shipments were apparently made without raising the suspicions of state public health and regulatory officials or triggering the intervention of federal drug enforcement officials.