New opiate prescription guidelines will destroy legitimate chronic pain sufferers lives.
While something needs to be done to curb the deaths caused by opiate overdoses restricting access to legitimate chronic pain sufferers is not the solution. Millions of us exist in this country and many if not all cannot function at any acceptable level without the pain relief only opiates can provide. I've been living in chronic pain and have been prescribed Norco to alleviate it for the past 13 years. I've never abused the Norco, given any away or sold it and I've passed every drug screen I've ever been given. Now my doctor tells me he is being forced to discontinue prescribing the Norco because of some bureaucratic guidelines being forced on him. Why? Chronic pain sufferers are not going away and will seek relief regardless of these guidelines. This will force many of us seeking relief to obtain relief from illicit sources and it's painfully obvious this will increase not decrease the number of deaths due to adulterated, counterfeit and possibly poisonous substances found on the street. Seriously what could be the motivation behind guidelines such as these? Prohibition of any kind has never and never will work, it only forces the problem underground and into the hands of unscrupulous dealers and criminals willing to make a buck off the misery of others. Adulterated and counterfeit drugs will become the norm not the exception and deaths from these drugs will most certainly rise. While I agree something needs to be done throwing legitimate chronic pain sufferers under the bus is certainly not the answer. Are all of us chronic pain sufferers to become criminals just to obtain the relief we require to maintain some semblance of a normal life? It's unconscionable, immoral and in my opinion criminal to force those of us living in chronic pain to be lumped into the same category as "drug abusers". We are not "drug abusers" we require these medications to function on a daily basis. The law of unintended consequences tells us this will be an unmitigated disaster much worse than what we are experiencing now. Suicides, deaths due to adulterated or counterfeit street drugs, criminal behavior all will most certainly increase the longer these guidelines are enforced. I implore each and all of you with the power to change these draconian guidelines to do so as quickly as possible. Failure to do so will most certainly result in much greater problems than the guidelines can ever hope to mitigate.
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