Pubdate: Sat, 18 Aug 2012
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2012 Miami Herald Media Co.
Contact:  http://www.miamiherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Ben Arnold

FEDS' RULES KEEP ME IN PAIN

I want to thank the Drug Enforcement Administration for making it 
utterly impossible for any pharmacy or pain-management clinic to fill 
valid scripts anymore. Not a pharmacy in Broward County can supply 
those of us who legitimately require pain relief in order to function.

The feds have terrorized clinics, pharmacies, their distributors and 
even hospitals.

Do they think that everyone in South Florida is having a good time 
with oxycodone or any other opioids? I'm not. In fact, thanks to 
their overzealousness, I've been unable to work or, for the most 
part, even leave the house for two weeks, with no end in sight. I'm 
weak as a kitten and have little appetite, lost about 15 pounds and 
had little help from the medical community because it is terrified, 
too. I have scripts, but no one can fill them.

How many hundreds or thousands of people - cancer patients, accident 
victims, back injuries, etc. - have been harmed? I'm not ever going 
back on these strong painkillers and might even get by without them, 
but I should not have had to go cold turkey.

The drug war has always been a bust. Concentrate on dealers of the 
stronger prescription drugs, but leave legitimate clinics, 
pharmacies, hospitals - and especially those in pain - alone.

Ben Arnold, Tamarac
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom