Great news for Rush Limbaugh, Nicole Bush, and other oxycontin addicts

[Lefty48197]

The DEA is proposing a rule change to allow prescription users of oxycontin and other schedule 2 narcotics to purchase their prescriptions in 3 month supplies, instead of the current maximum of one month supplies.

"The use of narcotic pain relievers has increased dramatically in the past decade. OxyContin, an opioid introduced in the mid-1990s, rapidly became a favorite among patients with severe pain — and among drug abusers."

"OxyContin and other powerful narcotics are Schedule II narcotics, the most regulated category of prescription drugs because they are highly addictive and prone to abuse. Prescriptions of the drugs cannot be refilled without an office visit and physical examination by a doctor..."

"The DEA also issued a statement aimed at assuring doctors that the agency doesn't intend to use the Controlled Substances Act — which governs the distribution of highly addictive medicines — to interfere in legitimate treatments of patients with persistent pain."

"We want doctors to be able to prescribe drugs when people are in pain. We're trying to give them a comfort level..."

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Bush administration officials are offering to loosen the regulation of drugs used or abused by their friends, but Damn to hell any Democrat that wants to smoke pot to relieve the discomfort of chemotherapy or aids treatments.



http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060907/a_pain07.art.htm

[rurallib]

1. OK, now I got this visual of Rushie doing Nicole Bush in my head.

I hate you. (OH my head. I know, I'll cure it with a gun)

[mike_c]

2. with all due resepect-- doctors have sought this rule change for some time

I see this as a defeat for the Bush administration and its stupid contributions to the "war on drugs." Doctors who treat chronic pain have long asked for more rational approach to prescribing medication for patients who need long term treatment. The Bush administration has opposed this. Meanwhile, folks like Rush Limbaugh have little difficulty obtaining drugs-- the only people really hindered by the 30 day rule were patients and the doctors trying to give them relief.

[walldude]

7. True.. my wife has chronic pain and can't get

painkillers refilled without a visit to the doctor every month.. It's a scam. It's not like her condition is going to change or go away..

[Kagemusha]

8. Oh, you're right, but there sadly is the abuse too.

For reasons good and ill, no matter what's decided there'll be people hurt somehow. Just the grim reality of the world there. But approaching it like a war definitely has drawbacks - it's just that Limbaugh's an avid supporter for the war on drugs, making him a hypocrite. But what else is new.

[cynatnite]

11. Agreed...

Hubby was in agony for a year and a half from a back injury. While we fought with Workman's Comp and the VA, he couldn't have the surgery he needed. He was put on two different narcotics in order to attempt to manage the pain. My husband's doctor complained regularly about the hurdles they had to jump in order to keep him on the medication.

For the people who need it the most...this does help.

[Wiley50]

12. I'm a chronic pain patient that wouldn't have a life without my meds

You don't have a life when all that you can think of
is how bad you hurt.
I never ever thought I'd applaud the DEA for anything
but, if they follow through on this....

Great news from my point of view

[Ilsa]

3. What you said! nt

[peace13]

4. It is so sad that people abuse this drug when so many need it

to deal with the living hell of disease.

[bluedeminredstate]

9. Equally as tragic

are the doctors who, as great risk to themselves, help chronic pain patients only to find themselves before the state board of medicine or having the DEA come to their offices to take their files so they can make sure they aren't "over-prescribing."
Pain patients take a lot of meds - lots more than someone who has had surgery or some other acute illness. Doctors are so fearful of prescribing what is really needed to keep patients comfortable and productive because they've got Big Brother watching them all the time.
The pain specialists that continue to write scripts and not just hand out Vioxx and do steroid injections are true heros. Without them many people would never leave their homes and live normal lives.

O8)

[LTR]

5. I thought it was Noelle Bush

Or, as Poppy calls her, "one of the brown ones".

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. Par tay on, dudes!

:bounce:

[LynneSin]

10. Great - 3 doctors with 3 month prescriptions plenty of high old times

BTW, Noelle Bush was a Xanax abuser