LEGAL ONLINE NARCOTICS

[cattalina]

The DEA has an idea that they want the American public to evaluate: what if controlled substances were allowed to be prescribed electronically? In other words - make it legal for doctors to prescribe narcotics and other drugs online.   Currently, this idea is going through a "public comment period" before any laws are put into place.  Naturally as an addict in recovery, I have strong opinions about this topic - How does everyone else feel about it and why?

[enemy48]

Ugh......unless they put the online pharmacies out of business, this has already been going on for years.  That's how me and my ex husband got our painkillers.  We both had legit medical records, that with time I had to fudge some older than a year.

You can only get a script of 120 per month of painkillers and have to have identification, current med recs, & credit card, then shipped to you in 1 or 2 days.  I did this for years, and spent thousands.  

The bad:  I know for a fact, that those so call doctors that consult you, aren't really doctors.

But I don't know if they're still in business.  But that is how it was done.  

[VOR]

I hear you.  But, I don't believe that simply saying that drug prevention starts at home is the only solution (I know that's not what you're saying though).  I agree 100% that drug prevention should be done at home, but there has to be more.  Kids will be kids (i.e., kids are going to drink alcohol regardless of what you tell them right?), so I do everything I can to keep my kids away from drugs.  But I cannot control everything that goes on.  I cannot control what other parents do with their kids, and that is a huge problem.

Here is a scenario:  My kid go to school and while there, he meets another kid who uses drugs (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana).  This other kid has grown up in a very relaxed home environment, where his parents are proponents of recreational drug use.  This attitude rubs off on their child.  While at school one day, my child happens to get paired with this kid for an assignment.  They engage in a conversation about drugs.  My kid (who is struggling with puberty and the problems that most tweens go through) starts to admire this kid b/c he is allowed to do so many cool things like hanging out late at night, or partying/drinking alcohol at home.

While my kid knows that this is not what we approve of (through the many conversations we've had), he still finds this other kid really cool.  One day he decides to try just a little b/c he really thinks that it won't affect him.

This is not my story, however, it is a story I've heard from a lot of kids.  I'd venture to say that there are plenty parents who feel they did everything they could to help keep their kids away from drugs, but were unsuccessful.  One bad apple spoils the rest isn’t too far from true.  

I just received an article about underage drinking and here is what part of the survey says:

"Survey reveals that 650,000 underage drinkers in the past month were given alcohol by their parents or guardians"

Again, it sounds great to say it should happen at home, but what should we do when it isn't happening at home?  There was a time when it took a village to raise a child.  I think that time is long gone.

[Savas]

Yes, I'm aware that the "mom and pop" store is almost dead in American and has been for years. This would be just another potential nail in the coffin.

as to the rest...I've often said that I believe it is everyone's moral right to screw up their lives in any way they see fit. :)

By trying to coddle and protect people by removing potential sources of danger, all you do is make for a weak and lazy society.

The responsibility for drug prevention starts at HOME. Proper education and raising of our children. It also starts with the social responsibility of the citizens to watchdog government officials and prevent them from creating a social misery and malaise. Exactly the type we have today.

Our government and corporate enterprises have done everything they can to create a social environment in which addiction is a WAY OF LIFE. After all, a chemically dependent society is an easily controlled society.

Compare the medical industry to 25 years ago. We have for a variety of reasons, become a society of the quick fix, "pop a pill to deal with your problems".

THAT is the real cause of our country's drug addiction. Deal with that issue, and our children won't need to be protected from on line drug services or the pusher on the street.

[Savas]

My biggest problem with all this is that things like this are an insidious way to erode the common freedoms we have and ability to look for alternatives when our government (which now controls or blocks a great deal of our freedoms) can't be their for us.

Did anyone ever consider that these online sites provide a service to a portion of the population that can't afford to see a doctor to get a prescription, that can't afford the prescriptions? That can't legally use government coverage because of their immigration status?
These online sites are no different than the "brick and mortar" equivalent shady businesses. Yes, you take your risks. But these people would argue;

"better to have to take the risk than to have NO options whatsoever."

I know, the first reaction to the criminal or shady side of enterprise is; "it's illegal, shut it down!" But these enterprises often are the last resort of these people.

remember too, a black market is also often used by those revolutionaries who fight for freedom...should we ever need the equivalent of a french resistance, it's good to know they're their. :)

On a similar issue, did you know that there's a huge action going on to shut down access to Usenet? Usenet, for those who don't know, is a leftover from the preinternet age. It's the last truly free form of expression on the internet.

They're using the excuse that these sites proliferate child porn. Which, is of course, true. BUT, that's a very small portion of what gets on the service. It's really a smokescreen to shut down access to hacked software. It would also make it much easier for our government to track individuals access is denied to americans. Then big brother will REALLY know everything you say and do online.

[mrwjd]

Cattalina--From the part I saw of the House Judiciary Subcommittee's hearing on this, there are few requirements.already.  Pharmacy must be DEA and physician must know you from Adam, but not all that well.  Even with those met, the pharmacy is not necessarily the shipper, and that looks to me like a big possibility for a slip.

It will be interesting to see what happens with controlled substances.  The pharmacy that ships to dependents/survivors under ChampVA has been trying for years to get the option of mailing controlled substances, without success so far.  They have a special mandate with the federal govt., and I'd think if anyone could get dispensation to mail them, they would be among the first..

[VOR]

Sav:  the big chains are already putting the Mom-and-Pop businesses out to pasture as we speak.  It's been going on for a long time.  When you can buy in bulk, you will get things a whole lot cheaper.  I don't think this will be the final nail in the coffin though.  We have a few small chains here that do very well b/c they have built a great reputation with their customers.  I know a little bit about this b/c my wife is a pharmacist and I worked in retail (drugstore) management several years.  I'm not an advocate of prescribing controlled substances (esp CII) and narcotics via the Internet or phone or in any other non face-to-face method.  I'd much prefer a patient go to see the doc one-on-one.  Yes, there are a lot of bad docs out there, but there are also a lot of good docs.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but a couple of you said that drug addicts are going to get the drugs anyway.  Hello!!!!  Kids are going to drink anyway . . . so let's just give alcohol to them.  Murderers are going to kill anyway so let's not do anything.  Pedophiles are going to hurt children anyway, so let's offer kids up to them.  I know it's extreme, but I’m just trying to illuminate my point.  It's just a matter of time before one thing leads to another.  It's like a Pandora's Box; once you open it, you may not be able to handle what comes out.  Alcohol, most will agree, should have never been legalized in the first place.  It is one of the costliest (both monetarily and socially) drugs in society.  When we tried to make it illegal, it didn't work.  I believe the same thing applies to marijuana, and other drugs (I know this will spur a great debate and even anger in some of you).

I hear so many parents tell me that their kids are going to drink any way, and that telling them not to isn't going to do any good.  But why give up?  Just b/c someone is going to abuse drugs, doesn't mean that we should give in and make it easier for them.  Yes, people are going to abuse drugs.  People are going to smoke pot, even if we decriminalize, or make it legal; that won't change.  To simply fall back on the fact that people are going to do it anyway, doesn’t mean that we should just quit and not do what’s right.

Okay, let me stop b/c I’m sure some of you are going to have some choice words for me . . . be gentle.