Obama to treat illegal drug abuse as a health issue - Fox article

[xj0hnx]

Again, your solution to this and every fucking thing else is to do nothing.

People are doctor shopping and getting way more meds than they need, this is a way of keeping track of who prescribed what, not a means of intimidating doctors.

It IS in fact used as a method to intimidate doctors, this is a fact. Who are you, or the DEA to tell doctors and their patients how much medication they need? Yes, there are doctors that are over prescribing, and knowingly selling to "patients" that are diverting, the problem is that when they go after them, legitimate patients, and doctors get caught in the legal web.

 

[Possessed Freak]

Treatment is cheaper than incarceration.

My step brother was convicted of a crime and while in jail he had to detox. When he got out he was so glad to be off drugs. The guy is now back in school, doing well, and frankly I have not seen him in better shape for 15 years. So, why can't it be both?

 

[rudder]

Soon being a drug addict will be protected under the American With Disabilities act.

Get stressed out on your job, get hooked on some good meds, relax, get treated, return to your old job after your paid vacation to the rehab center at Charles Rengels Dominican resort.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Soon being a drug addict will be protected under the American With Disabilities act.

Get stressed out on your job, get hooked on some good meds, relax, get treated, return to your old job after your paid vacation to the rehab center at Charles Rengels Dominican resort.

honestly, it would be cheaper and better for society than just throwing people in jail.. one year in jail costs almost $30k.

 

[Fern]

I see a number of people are remarking about more "welfare" type payments, I don't see that in the OP's article. I'm generally not in favor of more "welfare" stuff, but that doesn't seem a legitimate complaint based on the info available.

I think "anti-drug programs" can be a good (initial) alternative to incarceration, and could be very cost effective. I'm thinking here about those with addiction problems. The casual pot smoker is in no more need of any addicition conseling than the casual beer drinker.

I do have to wonder if this is just more 'lip service', and also wonder if this can be effective. I say that because most people in jail/prison for drugs are in state facilities convicted under state laws; that some federal anti-drug program can change state laws etc sounds highly doubtful to me.

Fern

 

[xj0hnx]

My step brother was convicted of a crime and while in jail he had to detox. When he got out he was so glad to be off drugs. The guy is now back in school, doing well, and frankly I have not seen him in better shape for 15 years. So, why can't it be both?

Good for your step brother, but that is FAR from the norm.

 

[Darwin333]

if you break the law, you go to jail, cant just catch and award and release all law breakers just coz it costs less. Prisons are hell, let them experience hell atleast once. If they know they can get free detox and come back and enjoy drugs even more... guess what!?
If sent to prison, they have fear of hell and conviction.

Yup, plus they probably won't be able to get a decent paying job ever again due to their record which should really give you wood. Then we are essentially sending them to criminal university so maybe we can turn a few people that were originally just getting high into real criminals! If they don't the taxpayers will probably wind up supporting them in one way or another, plus carry the expense of incarcerating them and the expense of actually arresting them in the first place.... all because they got high. BRILLIANT!!!

"To stop you from hurting yourself we are really really going to hurt you"

BTW, if they are so scared of prison after "experiencing" it, why do 2/3rds end up getting arrested again?

 

[ayabe]

It IS in fact used as a method to intimidate doctors, this is a fact. Who are you, or the DEA to tell doctors and their patients how much medication they need? Yes, there are doctors that are over prescribing, and knowingly selling to "patients" that are diverting, the problem is that when they go after them, legitimate patients, and doctors get caught in the legal web.

Link me or STFU. This is about information, information that doctors do not have access to at this time, more information leads to better decisions on pain meds and a host of other issues.

 

[xj0hnx]

Link me or STFU. This is about information, information that doctors do not have access to at this time, more information leads to better decisions on pain meds and a host of other issues.

Get educated about the statements you make or STFU.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Michael-Jackson-Effect-by-William-Cormier-100331-366.html

Through personal experience as a chronic pain patient, I'm able to offer some insight into this situation and for months have been working on substantiating the "Michael Jackson Effect" that is causing physicians throughout the United States to change how they do business, as they constantly have the DEA looking over their shoulders whenever they prescribe powerful narcotics or diazepams. If the DEA believes that a doctor is prescribing too many of these aforementioned substances, even though their patient load may be representative of patients that need these prescriptions, they often (The DEA) utilize a tactic which causes duress and financial hardship on physicians, which we believe is inappropriate and is affecting the health and welfare of millions of Americans who have verifiable medical conditions that warrant the use of these medications.

If a Doctor doesn't knuckle-under to the DEA's demands to quit prescribing these medications, they send field agents out to pore over the medical records of their patients, scrutinizing each and every patient who is prescribed substances on their "hit lists" and demand justification for each and every prescription they write. This is costly for Doctors who are already struggling under heavy patient loads, who have neither the time nor resources to withstand the inquisitions by DEA agents who use this tactic as a method of intimidating them into violating their "Hippocratic Oath" and cave-in to DEA demands. This practice of intimidation and fear has proven to be remarkably successful, and Family Practice physicians as well as some specialists have quit prescribing medications for their patients who do suffer from chronic pain and refer them to "Chronic Pain Clinics," birthing another "medical specialty" that is costing taxpayers millions, if not billions, of dollars per year. In attempting to corral the majority of those who require chronic pain care into separate medical practices to allow them to monitor these patients more effectively, the DEA has created the "Pill Mills" that now require even more taxpayer money to uncover and prosecute for illegally prescribing dangerous drugs to addicts who illegally "Doctor Shop" and visit multiple physicians to satisfy their own cravings and/or seek these prescriptions to sell on the streets; this is a threat to the health and safety of those who purchase these drugs and do not understand the danger that these substances pose to recreational drug users, who often underestimate their power and, inadvertently, pay the ultimate price for their ignorance by overdosing and losing their lives.

http://painreliefnetwork.org/
http://updates.pain-topics.org/2009/10/dea-opioid-rems-intimidating-future.html
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=210291

It's a fact that the DEA has been intimidating doctors that prescribe pain medication for years now. Many patients, and doctors lives have been ruined by overzealous persecution.

 

[xj0hnx]

Yup, plus they probably won't be able to get a decent paying job ever again due to their record which should really give you wood. Then we are essentially sending them to criminal university so maybe we can turn a few people that were originally just getting high into real criminals! If they don't the taxpayers will probably wind up supporting them in one way or another, plus carry the expense of incarcerating them and the expense of actually arresting them in the first place.... all because they got high. BRILLIANT!!!

"To stop you from hurting yourself we are really really going to hurt you"

BTW, if they are so scared of prison after "experiencing" it, why do 2/3rds end up getting arrested again?

Not only that, but I believe DesiPower is under the false assumption that drugs can't be had in prison. the opposite is often true, and some times they are even easier, not too mention a recreational pot smoker might even be introduced to harder drugs there to help time pass.

 

[Throckmorton]

My step brother was convicted of a crime and while in jail he had to detox. When he got out he was so glad to be off drugs. The guy is now back in school, doing well, and frankly I have not seen him in better shape for 15 years. So, why can't it be both?

How many jobs has he been passed up for because of his criminal record? What were his odds of becoming a hardened criminal, gang member, or rape victim in prison?

 

[Noobtastic]

Wow, this is probably the only thing I agree with Obama on.

This witch hunt against drug users is OFFENSIVE.

50% of our prisoner population are non-violent "criminals" busted for drug use.

Wtf? 30,000k a year to house a drug-user, who - when released, will most likely abuse again.

It's ridiculous. these people aren't criminals, they are victims. We should be spending less money sending this trash to solitary confinement and more time and energy on rehabilitation and extremely, extremely reduced sentences.

25 years for cocaine, marijuana...heroine?

NOW, for those who deal drugs...that's an entirely different story.

I highly suggest everyone here watch the 30 days episode, "Prison." Same guy who did Super Size Me.

Yeah, MS is a total asshole but it's very revealing.

http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=12210

 

[Siddhartha]

Lets see, dealing with drug use with treatment instead of jail:
1. Cheaper, less government spending
2. More effective, less government spending
3. Leads to less government intrusion into the lives of citizens. Ask anyone who has had the cops breakdown their door looking for drugs. Gets the government off the citizen's backs
4. Fucks up peoples lives less than sending them to jail. Gets the government off the citizen's backs.

And most of the forum's resident conservatives are against it.

 

[xj0hnx]

25 years for cocaine, marijuana...heroine?

It's especially repugnant when you consider that you can less time for murder, and rape.

 

[Throckmorton]

Lets see, dealing with drug use with treatment instead of jail:
1. Cheaper, less government spending
2. More effective, less government spending
3. Leads to less government intrusion into the lives of citizens. Ask anyone who has had the cops breakdown their door looking for drugs. Gets the government off the citizen's backs
4. Fucks up peoples lives less than sending them to jail. Gets the government off the citizen's backs.

And most of the forum's resident conservatives are against it.

Amazing isn't it??

 

[xj0hnx]

And most of the forum's resident conservatives are against it.

This is one place that I have never stood with conservatives on, and am even further "left" on the issue than most liberals.

 

[theflyingpig]

Lets see, dealing with drug use with treatment instead of jail:
1. Cheaper, less government spending
2. More effective, less government spending
3. Leads to less government intrusion into the lives of citizens. Ask anyone who has had the cops breakdown their door looking for drugs. Gets the government off the citizen's backs
4. Fucks up peoples lives less than sending them to jail. Gets the government off the citizen's backs.

And most of the forum's resident conservatives are against it.

Why treat them? Just legalize drugs, tax the dealers, and let the users die. Drug addicts are useless to society anyway. Legalized crack houses will attract the stupid to their deaths. Just have pits in the back for the bodies. Cheaper, less government spending. Everyone knows this.

 

[Throckmorton]

Why treat them? Just legalize drugs, tax the dealers, and let the users die. Drug addicts are useless to society anyway. Legalized crack houses will attract the stupid to their deaths. Just have pits in the back for the bodies. Cheaper, less government spending. Everyone knows this.

Drug users don't just die. They shoot up in your neighborhood and leave AIDS infected needles on the ground for you to step on.

 

[theflyingpig]

Drug users don't just die. They shoot up in your neighborhood and leave AIDS infected needles on the ground for you to step on.

That's why they need to be contained in drug havens. Keep them out of the public eye, and people will forget about them. No one will care. Don't you see, Throckmorton? Don't you see that this is the best solution? Drug addicts are worthless. They have destroyed themselves and will bring society down with them. Drugs cannot be banned, that much is certain. Therefore, we must contain the drug users and allow them to destroy themselves. Cheaper, less government spending. Everyone knows this.

 

[xj0hnx]

That's why they need to be contained in drug havens. Keep them out of the public eye, and people will forget about them. No one will care. Don't you see, Throckmorton? Don't you see that this is the best solution? Drug addicts are worthless. They have destroyed themselves and will bring society down with them. Drugs cannot be banned, that much is certain. Therefore, we must contain the drug users and allow them to destroy themselves. Cheaper, less government spending. Everyone knows this.

The ignorance here never ceases to amaze. Everybody knows this.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

yay!!! more welfare/entitlement! print baby print!!!

Pretty much what is going to happen.

Drug use and abuse is going to be a "right" when liberals are through with it and the tax payer are going to foot the bill via Obamcare.

 

[xj0hnx]

Pretty much what is going to happen.

Drug use and abuse is going to be a "right" when liberals are through with it and the tax payer are going to foot the bill via Obamcare.

Because it doesn't cost anything to run prisons? Welfare for the prison industrial complex.

And why should the government be able to tell free adults they can kill themselves on alcohol, but not crack? Hypocrisy in action.

 

[sandorski]

Don't play coy. My point, and you got it, is that we shouldn't emulate the practices of liberal, socialist governments that are failing. I mean we are, but we shouldn't be.

There is nothing in the article quoted in the OP that is new or innovative.



Encourages? Well that'll take care of the problem.

Another database that will further scare the medical community into prescribing painkillers for those that truly need them? Another feel-good plan from this administration that appeals to the sensibilities of do-gooders. It's a failure right out of the gate. More money borrowed that we don't have.

Europeans think 2+2=4, you using the New Math yet? Hell, Muslims Ancestors invented our Numerical system, you still supporting Al Qaida?

 

[DucatiMonster696]

Because it doesn't cost anything to run prisons? Welfare for the prison industrial complex.

And why should the government be able to tell free adults they can kill themselves on alcohol, but not crack? Hypocrisy in action.

I have no problem if some moron wants to OD on drugs. I do have a problem with my tax dollars supporting their habits.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Drug abuse is a health issue. If someone wants to make it a crime, then that's on them. It still doesn't change the facts.

I also don't see where a "check" is involved. People have medical conditions without getting money from Uncle Sam.

So treat the health issue and shoot the dealers. OK, maybe not shoot them, but significant jail space would be freed up along with dollars. Let them out when they are really really old. If they deal and abuse, they can get treatment while in jail.