| ZombyWoof 2005-08-12, 8:51 am |
| On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 08:04:28 -0700, "Juba" <juba@XmasterjubaX.com>
wrote:
>"ZombyWoof" <Zomby-Woofdogs@Cox.net> wrote in message
>news:vakmf1hoqhpuronejp74u0ergsj2foalsg@4ax.com
>
>There have always been recreational users of prescription medications.
>We didn't start being treated like children until after the DEA started
>harassing doctors. And the DEA didn't start harassing doctors until they
>were criticized by Congress for being so ineffective in reducing street
>drug use.
>
Of course their have, but there are more & more "high profile" cases
of medication abuse as well as certain pocket areas where things like
Oxycontin have become the drug of choice.
>If you would only take the time to read this CATO report carefully you'd
>learn a lot:
>
I've read it and don't believe all of it. There is an agenda in that
institute. The CATO report is quite biased and it comes through
putting most of which it has to say in a negative light.
> www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa545.pdf
>Treating Doctors as Drug Dealers:
>The DEA's War on Prescription Painkillers
>
> A New Mission for the DEA
>As the federal government's chief drug law enforcement agency since
>1973, the DEA's mission has been to "bring to the criminal and civil
>justice system substances destined for illicit traffic in the U.S."
>Until the 1990s, the DEA focused its resources primarily on illegal
>black market drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy,
>and marijuana, in urban areas.
>
>But in 1999 the DEA came under heavy criticism from Congress on the
>grounds that there was no "measurable proof" that it had reduced the
>illegal drug supply in the country. 39 In 2000 and 2001 the Department
>of Justice, which administers the DEA, gave the agency a highly
>critical rebuke, and asserted that the Drug Enforcement Agency's goals
>were not consistent with the president's federal National Drug Control
>Strategy. The DEA would need to find a new front for the War on Drugs,
>one that could produce tangible, measurable results.
>
>The Controlled Substances Act empowered the DEA to regulate all
>pharmaceutical drugs. In 2002 Glen A. Fine, the inspector general of
>the Department of Justice, asked why the DEA wasn't doing more to
>combat prescription drug abuse when it was "a problem equal to
>cocaine."
>
>Fine claimed that, while 4.1 million Americans used cocaine in 2001,
>6.4 million illegally used prescription narcotic painkillers that same
>year. He also claimed that the illicit use of pain medication
>accounted for 30 percent of all emergency room drug-related deaths and
>injuries. In 2001 the DEA had already announced a major new anti-drug
>campaign: the OxyContin Action Plan.
>
>The agency underscored the threat of prescription drug abuse by
>asserting that the number of people who "abuse controlled
>pharmaceuticals each year equals the number who abuse cocaine-2 to 4
>percent of the U.S. population."
>
>The agency also claimed that prescription drugs increased the number
>of overdose deaths by 25 percent and accounted for 20 percent of all
>emergency room visits for drug overdoses.44 Criticism from Congress
>and the Department of Justice the following year reaffirmed the agency's
>determination to crack down on prescription drugs.
>
>The OxyContin plan would elevate a legal, prescription drug to the
>status of cocaine and other Schedule II substances. That shift put pain
>doctors in the DEA's crosshairs, as susceptible to investigation as
>conventional drug dealers.
>
>-------------------------------------------------
>
>This is a shameful chapter in American history and it's not any drug
>users fault. All government agencies have a strong sense of
>self-preservation and they will do anything to survive. Anything.
>
Users fault? Perhaps not, but there is a definite blame to be laid at
the feet of abusers.
--
Please Don't Steal - The Government Hates Competition
ZombyWoof
(take the dogs when replying via e-mail)
|