Pubdate: Mon, 22 Aug 2005
Source: Charleston Gazette (WV)
Copyright: 2005 Charleston Gazette
Contact:  http://www.wvgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/77
Note: Does not print out of town letters.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

PAIN CAN BE SUBDUED

Sadly, numerous injured or sick Americans suffer severe pain. Sadly, many 
terminal patients are wracked by agony.

Potent painkillers are available to ease this suffering -- but America's 
hysteria over narcotics interferes with their care. Conservative 
politicians try to prevent dying people from using marijuana medically to 
soothe their distress. And many doctors hesitate to prescribe adequate 
doses of palliatives such as OxyContin because they fear that federal drug 
agents may file criminal charges against them.

It's true that a few patients resell their prescription painkillers as 
street drugs. And it may be true that an extremely rare few physicians are 
so hard up for income that they cooperate with this illicit traffic. But 
this abuse is small, compared to the giant number of patients who use 
painkillers correctly.

Thirty state attorneys general (not including West Virginia's) recently 
asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to be less rigid in dealing 
with doctors who prescribe painkillers.

For terminal patients, they wrote to the DEA, "adequate pain management is 
often difficult to obtain. One key contributor to this problem is that many 
physicians fear investigations and enforcement actions if they prescribe 
adequate levels of opioids or have many patients with prescriptions for 
pain medications."

This is a cruel situation. Surely, the DEA can show mercy to the sickest 
Americans by letting doctors treat them properly. We agree with the 
conclusion of the attorneys general:

"What has changed during the past century, and is expected to continue to 
change in the future, is that improvements in health sciences have not only 
allowed people to live longer, but have also prolonged the process of dying 
for most people in the United States. Not only are more people suffering 
from chronic diseases than in the past, when death was earlier and quicker, 
but many are dying following prolonged suffering in pain.... These 
realities make it imperative that DEA consider the impact of its policies 
on the legitimate treatment of pain."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom