This is what the DEA tells the public in their public statements:
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is not trying to limit or ration access to opioid painkillers, according to a DEA spokesman who says “nothing should stand in the way” of a patient getting a legitimate prescription for pain medication filled.
“We’re not doctors. We’re regulators and enforcers of the law. If something is prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose, we’re certainly not going to get in the way,” said DEA spokesman Rusty Payne.
This is what they tell the healthcare providers (Pharmacists).. when they are in a closed meeting…
This is proof that a little bit of knowledge can hurt. Things have DRASTICALLY changed in the last two years.
Look, I’ve been a pharmacist for 26 yrs. State laws and DEA regulations are very strict on us lately. It is called doing a job and keeping a license to feed our families. Sure, there are bad eggs in my profession (as there are in every profession) who get off on turning people away. I have never done that except in following the guidelines of my state or the DEA.
Many people don’t realize that half of the requirement to be licensed is to pass a law exam. Doctors don’t do that, which is EXACTLY why the DEA requires pharmacists to enforce the law. At a meeting last December with the DEA, they admitted that they have been lax in monitoring the prescribing habits of doctors and they have officially made it now the legal requirement of the pharmacists to be the enforcers of either the DEA regulations or the state law – whichever is stricter. It has always been the law, in the three states in which I am licensed, to refuse to fill a prescription for any reason we wish without legally having to say why. We are now given the responsibility to deny filling prescriptions from problem doctors who do not wish to disclose diagnoses as required in some states when ordering narcotics, to deny filling for patients who try to pressure us for early refills, etc. etc. My location has made many patients “permanent rejects” because the laws tell us to! The DEA flat-out told us in December “we want you to NOT fill narcotic prescriptions”.
So, tell me, in YOUR profession … if you have a license to practice and your livelihood is at stake … would you break the law? I would seriously hope you would say no.
Oooohhhhh, it’s the evil pharmacists’ causing the issue. Pure ignorance. If you had tried doing something in your community to curb the abuse or change drug laws (which won’t happen anymore), we wouldn’t have this problem. Simple as that.
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