Pubdate: Fri, 07 Feb 2014
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Robert Knight
Note: Robert Knight is senior fellow for the American Civil Rights Union.

THE ACLU'S DEADLY PRESCRIPTION FOR ADDICTION

Liberal Lawyers Want Americans to Be Free to OD

Drug overdoses are in the news again with the passing of Philip 
Seymour Hoffman. The 46-year-old actor was found dead on Sunday in 
his Manhattan office-apartment of an apparent drug overdose. 
Investigators found a large quantity of heroin and prescription 
medications. Heroin abuse is on the rise, and so is the abuse of a 
variety of prescribed narcotics, or opioids.

Overdoses linked to opioid-based prescription drugs, such as 
oxycodone, have more than quadrupled since 1999, according to the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It doesn't take a 
rocket scientist to figure out why.

"There was a fourfold increase in opioid sales between 1999 and 2010, 
which corresponds to our fourfold increase in overdose deaths 
involving opioid pain relievers," said Christopher M. Jones, team 
leader of the prescription-drug overdose team in the CDC's National 
Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

"I think the main takeaway is that we have seen a dramatic increase 
in the number of deaths involving opioid pain relievers that are 
quite different than what we see for illicit drugs or other 
prescription drugs - that the opioid pain relievers really stick 
out," Mr. Jones said at an Oct. 24, 2012, teleconference sponsored by 
the CDC. "They're involved in about 75 percent of all overdose deaths 
that involve a prescription drug."

There are other costs, such as the estimated tab of "$72 billion in 
direct health care costs related to opioid pain-reliever misuse and 
abuse," Mr. Jones said.

The dangers are so obvious that states have been enacting laws 
requiring patients who receive narcotic prescriptions to be 
periodically tested for their own and others' safety.

It makes so much sense to do this that the American Civil Liberties 
Union (ACLU), ever vigilant against reasonable public policies that 
might save lives, has sued the state of Indiana over a new law 
requiring patients on opioids to be tested at the beginning of 
treatment and thereafter once a year. The test applies to patients 
who receive for at least a three-month period more than 60 pills per 
month or a daily dose that is the equivalent of 15 mg of morphine.

Given the surge in problems associated with opioids, a yearly test 
might not seem unreasonable to most people. However, the ACLU sees 
the requirement as a violation of the Constitution's prohibition of 
"unreasonable searches or seizures."

"The Fourth Amendment protects all of us from government-mandated 
searches unless there is cause The lawsuit, Wierciak v. Individual 
Members of the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana, was filed in U.S. 
District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Jan. 8. 
According to an ACLU press release, "The lawsuit was filed on behalf 
of James Wierciak, a Hamilton County resident who has been prescribed 
pain medications for at least 18 years in order to manage the chronic 
pain caused by a variety of health problems." Mr. Wierciak doesn't 
want to sign a form agreeing to an annual blood or urine test.

Many people suffer from chronic pain, and many have benefited greatly 
from the development of opioid-based drugs. The medical board's rule 
about a yearly test is designed to ensure minimal monitoring of these 
powerful drugs - not to take them away from patients who need them.

Indiana lawmakers authorized the state medical board to enforce the 
testing beginning in December 2013. The CDC has found that 
prescription-drug overdoses in the Hoosier State were associated with 
14.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2010, which exceeds the national 
average of 12.4 per 100,000. That puts Indiana in the upper third of 
states with an overdose problem.

Why the three-month dosage stipulation? A clue might be found in a 
statement by Dr. Jane Ballantyne, professor of anesthesiology and 
pain management at the University of Washington in Seattle, who told 
the aforementioned CDC panel: "Multiple studies, in fact, show that 
after 90 days of continuous opioid use, opioid treatment is much more 
likely to become lifelong. So patients that continue opioids beyond 
90 days are less likely to be able to come off opioids than those 
that stop the treatment earlier."

In other words, patients become addicted, so medical authorities are 
being understandably cautious.

So, who would you trust on this - a panel of doctors or a gaggle of 
ACLU lawyers?

Inquiring emergency-room personnel want to know.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom