Is it time to change more of the nomenclature ?

They have already in the process of changing from using the term opiate EPIDEMIC to opiate crisis – because  the term  epidemic suggests that we are dealing with a contagious disease and neither pain nor substance abuse is contagious.

They have also seemed to be in the process of getting rid of the term dependency and addiction and anyone taking/using a opiate (legally/illegally)  > 90 days is now claimed to  have a opiate use disorder.  Does this give the DEA a bigger “body count” ?

They are now also seeming to no longer using the term “accidental opiate death”… now anyone having a opiate showing up in their toxicology one of their causes of death will be “opiate related death” and this could also add to the “body count” for the DEA

Who believes that there is ‘over prescribing of opiates” ?  Especially since the number of opiate Rxs have been declining since 2012.  Maybe the term should really be “careless opiate prescribing”…  some of it being fueled by greed others where the prescribers gives out 2-3 times the days supply that the pt dealing with acute pain really needs and/or abruptly cutting off pts that have been given too many doses and/or too many refills and they are thrown into cold turkey withdrawal and they and their family come to the conclusion that they are “addicted”…  when in reality if they were properly weaned… there really was no real addiction being dealt with.

3 Responses

  1. Read Ronald Libby’s book The Criminalization of Medicine. Since day 1 (back in 2000), the DEA has believed that anyone on opioids is an “addict”. The government is simply adopting that policy globally with the AMA in cahoots, creating the Opioid Use Disorder diagnosis. Basically anyone on opioids is now being diagnosed with this.

    It is the government propaganda that controlled drugs cause addiction that is running the show. And as long as those people affected–the pain patients and pain management physicians don’t accept the REAL cause of addiction–toxicity through lifestyle, there will be no change on the political/government agenda. WE have to change THEIR mind through the ballot box. But first, learn the real cause and teach others.

  2. The cdc ought to know what an epidemic IS,
    And it is in Pain, not prescribing. 

    And we all warned of this outcome when the “guidelines” were issued, after secret meetings and a 48 hour comment period. 

    The CDC was never empowered by any agency to issue the guidelines in the first place: FDA has regulatory control over prescription medication as has sine the CSA came out in 1970. 

    So: 
    Those who give a weak MEA CULPA for misinterpretation of the guidelines are, in short, lying. The deaths of thousands of abandoned pain patients, including 6 of mine who lost access, are on their hands. 

    On a calmer note,
    Yet another misinterpretation of the guidelines is the fearful and anxious failure of pain clinics to allow legal medical cannabis use in their pain patients, leaving many to choose between cannabis and opiates, when clear evidence shows that medical cannabis users use fewer opiates, and cannabis provides access to an EXIT from opiates, and for that matter from all opioids. 

    The other elephant in the room:
    DEA, who is misinterpreting the CSA as well as the CDC guidelines to justify:
    Arresting and punishing doctors who treat the sickest pain patients
    Civil asset forfeiture as used in dealing with criminal drug dealers
    Equate physicians with a license to practice as equal to or below said criminal drug dealers. 
    Charge physicians with one felony for every Rx they write, making absurdly dramatic charging documents and headlines against doctors who are left with no income or assets to defend themselves in a contaminated jury pool. 
    Charge doctors with murder for prescribing medications to patients who fail to follow the directions
    The standard of care is now determined by prosecutors and juries who lack the complex abilities of physicians, and lack the physician patient relationship as a reference. 

    Yes
    The CDC guidelines have been as harmful as predicted, and the silence over 3 years has been criminal. 
    The “who me”?
    Response is just as evil as the ignorant abuse of power that led to the crisis in the first place. 
    https://helenair.com/news/local/judge-reverses-decision-to-suspend-helena-dr-ibsen-s-medical/article_56a2ecae-0fb1-5222-bc56-9939b70c4344.html

    Mark Ibsen MD
    Helena MT. 

    • This happened in a state with severe physician shortages, virtually no neurologists, and about 50% of the state on Medicaid. This attack on a pain physician could be racially motivated too. The same federal prosecutor, https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/new-mexico-law-enforcement-agencies-racially-profiling-profit?redirect=news/new-mexico-law-enforcement-agencies-racially-profiling-profit

      https://www.abqjournal.com/1314851/illegal-opioid-prescriptions-net-prison-time.html I suspect this physician only prescribed methadone, because it was all the patients could afford, and at the time the general consensus was that Oxycontin and brand name prescription drugs were deadly. The local news never reported the “other side.” Half of the population has no accesses to even a primary care physician. The state even endorses acupuncture for all chronic pain conditions, on their state funded website.

      One of the deaths attributed to this doctor was a hanging, but the suicide victim had a prescription in his possession. New Mexico has some of the most draconian prescribing “Guidelines” in the US. They made the CDC guidelines law, in NM and went even further. The began a prescription monitoring database in 2011.

      NM has a heroin addiction problem, that is now generational. Due to the long term heroin and illegal drug issues, they declared they were at the “Forefront” of the opioid epidemic. NM has one of the highest rates of suicide in the nation, and the lowest numbers of physicians in the US. In 2014 the governor cut off all funding to behavioral health, meaning there were no Mental Health resources for these patients. The situation has not improved much since then.

      It is truly a horrifying situation, even veterans, and seniors are going without pain care. Local media has not reported the facts. A lot of people and corporations have been cashing in on this information and data gap. Chiropractors and acupuncturists are promoting their practices as a low cost alternative, spreading misinformation and pseudo science. They don’t count a lot of the suicides here due to religious reasons.

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