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Sheriff's want list of patients using painkillers

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posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 10:27 AM
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From the "if you have nothing to hide" school of interpreting the Constitution!
Cops want a list of everyone prescribed painkillers to "help them make arrests".
The article won't let me cut and paste, but read for yourself this outrageous proposal.

Sheriff wantant's list of patients using painkillers

An example of the mentality of todays law enforcement, and a classic example of the idiocy of the "war on drugs".
How about a list of cops personal data made public to the citizens that they supposedly serve and who pay their salaries?
Think theyd go for that?



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 10:38 AM
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LOL @ the cop list, somebody should email him proposing that.

make it all formal sounding haha



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 10:44 AM
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Where I am, when you are on certain types of pain-killers, you get registered with the DEA. That is bad enough, but now the local Sheriffs want us to register too? That's crazy! It's just another roll of red-tape to add on to the mounds already there. Many pain sufferers are already having a hard time getting the relief they need. This is not even mentioning the privacy aspect.

With that being said, this doesn't surprise me in the least. In fact, this is something that I would only expect, as sad as that reality is. I can't even believe that medicine would be an issue, ever. What should anyone else care what any other chooses to put into his body? I though that we had the right to life and well-being. Apparently not.

As it is now, we have to jump through hoops just to get the medications needed to sustain life and we are strictly forbidden from medicating ourselves, even if it is in our best interests. We are forced to go through government (indirectly) in order to get the medications we need to sustain life. In affect, we are forbidden to take our own well-being into our own hands. We are forced to see government-approved doctors to decide for us, what's best for us. This is non-sense! Everyone should be the ultimate descision maker for their own well-being, not some government lacky just looking for a profit.

A revolution is long overdue! these tyrants are controlling our lives to a degree that we are no longer free. In fact, it no longer even resembles freedom, even to the most heavily indoctrinated. Is life really worth living if you have no say in said life? Is slavery okay? Give me liberty or give me or death.

--airspoon



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 10:48 AM
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reply to post by OldDragger
 


As the article states, the reason for this is to track people that go from doctor to doctor and pharmacist to pharmacist to collect narcotic drugs...either for their own personal use, to sell or most likely, both.

I work in health care and I can tell you that prescription drug abuse is HUGE. Do you realize how many people die every year in the states from prescription drugs? It is quickly climbing its way to the top of the list for causes of death. That's right...above cancers and other incurable diseases.

This is NOT about invasion of privacy. It is about trying to stop an epidemic. You already said it. If you have nothing to hide, than what does it matter? Do you really think your local law enforcement has nothing better to do than read up on what everyone is taking? It doesn't work that way. It is a State database that correlates controlled substance abuse presciptions and flags the people that either have too many filled in any given time and also any doctors that give out too many. I think it is just as much about controlling the doctors. One of our biggest drug dealers in our county is a physician.

Controlled substance abuse is a HUGE problem. It kills (kids included), it ruins lives/families, detroys communities and burdens our welfare system. Any measure to control it is LONG overdue. This is just commonsense, it has to be done.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 10:53 AM
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reply to post by airspoon
 


Ummmm....we are talking about controlled narcotic substances here. This is hardly needed to sustain life.

Millions in this country alone are addicted to these pain killers, and just who do you think is profiting from it? I guarantee you the profit is in the billions/year.

This is not about your freedom to choose what you put in your body, but the demise of our society. Who do you think will rally against this behind the scenes? That will tell you what the real story here is.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 10:53 AM
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reply to post by westcoast
 


This is NOT about invasion of privacy. It is about trying to stop an epidemic. You already said it. If you have nothing to hide, than what does it matter? Do you really think your local law enforcement has nothing better to do than read up on what everyone is taking?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It IS absolutly about an invasion of privacy!!!!
We have rights that are not superceeded because it's for your own good!
That's BS!
How about a cop on every corner? No traveling without papers? A curfew for everyone?
That would cut down on crime.
As for epidemics, there seems to be an epidemic of facist ideology in vouge with cops.
We don't live in a police state yet.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 10:54 AM
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reply to post by westcoast
 


it IS an invasion of privacy. If they want to stop people collecting prescriptions from multiple doctors/pharmacists, they should consider centralizing medical records, not releasing private medical information to law enforcement.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 10:56 AM
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Originally posted by westcoast
You already said it. If you have nothing to hide, than what does it matter?


Because this is America and that is not how it works. Is prescription drug use the only major problem in the US? How about rape? Should penises be measured, photographed, and taken a mold of? How about anyone that buys a bladed piece of metal? Murder is a pretty big deal and stabbing is way up there. I have a drawer full of knives and nothing to hide so how about making me report all my flatwear purchases? I am sorry but there are plenty of major problems in the US and if we are going to just start watching everyone all the time just to make sure they do not do anything bad then that is not the US I thought it was and I want out.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:00 AM
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reply to post by westcoast
 




track people that go from doctor to doctor and pharmacist to pharmacist to collect narcotic drugs


Not so easy here in Ireland. If you are not registered with a Doctor there are VERY few Doctors you can see. The occasional one attached to a pharmacy in Dublin, but basically you HAVE to go to the Doc with whom you are registered.

Surely that would be a preferable route than making personal medication details available to law enforcement officers who let's face it are not adverse to cooking evidence to solve cases.

On the prescriptions side we also have to pick a pharmacist if we are on any kind of scheme for free drugs or price capped prescriptions.

There are just so many more ways this could be done other than letting the long arm of the law misinterpret anything it chooses.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:04 AM
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reply to post by westcoast
 


Are you kidding me? Of course narcotic pain medications sustain life. With chromic pain sufferers of past, life wouldn't last long. Pain actually takes a very strong toll on the body and chronic pain kills. Furthermore, these medications shouldn't be controlled. Just because a few yahoos want to get hi, doesn't mean that real patients should have to suffer. It is better to relieve one pain sufferer than to prevent 10 addicts, as the addicts chose to be that way.

There is so much red-tape surrounding pain-meds, that many people aren't getting the relief they need. Doctors are affraid to prescribe it because if and when they get audited, they could lose their liscence. Even if the doc feels you need the medication, he is hesitent to prescribe it because they get audited and if too many patients need the medication, it will look bad for the doc. Just the process of the audit is time consuming and expensive, thus doctors would rather avoid it all together.

This is a shame and it shouldn't be that way. I know at least several veterans who gave limbs and health for their war, yet are having a difficult time finding the relief from their pain, simply because doctors don't want to be harassed by the government.

Our medical needs should be of no concern to the government. In fact, they should be between us and god only, and of course those we allow to be a part of it. So what if someone wants to get hi? That is their choice. It is not my choice or your choice to suffer from pain. Even still, if someone wants to get hi, then it is nobodies business but their own, until of course they make it someone else's business to which their are already laws for any instance such as that. Again, each person is responsible for themselves.

When a government starts to dictate the choices in our lives, we no longer have freedom and liberty, but instead tyranny.

--airspoon


edit on 9-9-2010 by airspoon because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:11 AM
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Originally posted by westcoast
reply to post by airspoon
 


Ummmm....we are talking about controlled narcotic substances here. This is hardly needed to sustain life.


People take their own lives every year just because they suffer from unmanagable pain. It is a reality and I am not talking about drug addicts. If they were addicts, they would most likely be able to get around the pain. Many people suffer such horrible debilitating illnesses that the only way they can live at all is to be on pain medication.

I know people that have and I know people that suffer daily just from nerve damage and back stress from the years. Last year a friend of the family took his own life because of the pain of his arthritis. I was shocked. I had no idea arthritis could get so bad. I know the argument will be made that there was something else wrong with anyone that would take their own life but the reality is that afterwards I found out just how horribly painful simply being awake was for this man. His options were between such severe pain that just breathing was torture and drugging himself into a coma not to feel it anymore.

Obviously it looks like he was in a tough spot with or without pain medication but my point is, that is how badly some people do actually need pain meds just to live.

Pain medication is also widely used in end of life care. The thing about this is, I think of my uncle who was dying from cancer. He was given liquid morphine to just help him die without suffering so much from the pain. He was bedridden and suffering so much that the thought of him going anywhere to register anything with any cops is more than a laugh. The thought of cops coming into my home to make him sign papers or whatever while he was dying is no less repugnant.

The main point though is that my uncle was in no condition to administer his own morphine. This means that I, along with 7 other people, was in charge of these bottles of liquid morhpine. Registering my uncle would have been pointless paperwork for someone who was clearly not going doctor shopping since he would be dead soon. That left 8 other people with bottles of liquid morphine not traceable back to them. My uncle passed after a quarter of one bottle was used.

I am thinking a sick, suffering person has to be harassed for no good reason while any decent drug addict would have walked right out of there with that stuff and no one would have known.


I agree with the centralized medical records. I have no issue with any doctor anywhere getting access to any and all medical records I have. In fact I think that should be in place anyway in case I am rushed to a strange hospital without my faculties about me. My doctor should know if I was just at another doctor getting pain meds but I see no reason any cop needs to know anything about anything unless we are at a lawful stop and it becomes relevant to the situation.

That is just my two cents.

Millions in this country alone are addicted to these pain killers, and just who do you think is profiting from it? I guarantee you the profit is in the billions/year.

This is not about your freedom to choose what you put in your body, but the demise of our society. Who do you think will rally against this behind the scenes? That will tell you what the real story here is.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:17 AM
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I would like to know that statistics on the peope arrested under this sheriif. I am curious how many people have been charged for something they did under the influnce of or for the purpose of getting pain killers compared to the number of people that have been charged for something they did while they were under the influence of alcohol. I hear plenty about drunk driving accidents but all the vicodin addicts I know tend to be homebodies.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:25 AM
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reply to post by westcoast
 


I don't disagree there is a problem with people abusing painkillers. But for the Sheriff's office to request this?
Total BS !! You almost have to go through an act of congress just to get a 'script for Vicodin, and several other meds.
But if you go to the Dr. and tell him you're depressed, WELL, you can get boxes of FREE anti-depressants all day long. The stuff (drugs) that seem to help, they don't want you to have it, but the stuff (drugs) that will "dumb you down", HERE, have ALL YOU WANT!!! Just another ploy to keep the people from thinking for themselves.
IMHO...



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:26 AM
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reply to post by airspoon
 


It sounds as if you are talking about receiving medical care from a government facility. Perhaps that is where I am seeing a much different reality than you are experiencing. Or maybe every state is different.

What I see here in Washington State is a rampant misuse and abuse of narcotic drugs. I understand the problem of chronic pain. There is a major difference between someone suffering from daily debilitating pain due to severe illness or injury and the local junkie looking to get high. It is easy to see the difference in person and on paper. I can see where you might then not want to put your faith in law enforcement to determine that difference and act accordingly. I agree there. I didn't read the bill and therefore don't know how the proposed to do that, but it would certainly need to be tightly controlled and not allow misuse of that information.

In my personal experience, I see a very large group of young to middle-aged adults that are jobless, on welfare, going from ER to ER collecting drugs to get high on and then sell. Did you know that one pill of oxy goes for about 60 bucks on the street? Like I said, this is a huge problem and the it is the working class that is paying for and supporting the mess. It is helping grease the hill for our societies downward slide into a socialist state.

I digress. While I agree that this information would have to be carefully handled, something must be done. When MY taxes are going to support the junkies and my towns crime rate is on the climb because of said addicts, than I say that it is time for our government to intervene.

I have spent a lot of time talking about 'junkies'. People need to understand though that the over use of these drugs goes way beyond the common definition. 'Nomal' contributing members of our society are being transformed by these drugs. My own sister dealt with this and it was horrible. People don't realize the powerful addictive qualities and the risks associated with these drugs and the doctors in my state literally throw them at you. Rather than addressing the pain, they just write more prescriptions. This is dis-service to everyone and people are DYING because of it. Young children and parents. Something needs to be done.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:27 AM
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This is an invasion of privacy. There is no reason for law enforcement to have that information. If they want to catch dealers and addicts they can do there job and find them. This is another step closer to total govt rule over everything in your life. There going to try and spin this so it will seem ok under HIPPAA.

www.hhs.gov...

This is a link to federal healthcare privacy rules if anyone is interested.(HIPPAA)



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:28 AM
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When a government starts to dictate the choices in our lives, we no longer have freedom and liberty, but instead tyranny.


Agreed!! And, what I have to go thru, every time I go to the pharmacy, is INSANE!!

I have a bulging disk in my back, sciatica with bones pressing on my main nerve in my lower back, and the inside of my knees have been degenerating for decades. As this causes me great pain and, without pain meds, I would not be able to function! As it is, the amount I take daily barely covers my pain on those "bad" days.

Sure, doctor has suggested going to specialists - which costs a fortune for people, like myself, with NO insurance. The least expensive way to manage my pain is with pain meds (vicodin) - THE LEAST EXPENSIVE!! Yet the Government makes us jump through hoops every time we get our refills!!

I have to show my ID and sign a stupid statement EVERY time!! Believe me, I let the person checking me out know how I feel about the Government's involvement!! It IS intrusive for someone like myself!! Hell, I have to do the very same every time I get my 'behind the counter' Sudafed for my sinuses!! I am a 56 yr old woman who has to go to the pharmacy every 10 days because the Government is afraid I may use the Sudafed to make meth!!! TOTALLY INSANE!!!

I, also, stay with the same doctor for my meds ALWAYS!! Have only changed when I have had to move to another location. And, YES!! I have medical records to back up my need for the meds I take. I have been taking pain meds for, at least, 10 years. And, my doctor has always had internet access to my x-rays, MRIs, etc as proof that the conditions I have are, in fact, real and cause great pain!!

I think God I found my current MD a few months after I moved here. I had been taking pain meds for several years before coming here - with the same doctor. My first experience, in a community clinic due to no insurance, was the doctor walking in and, actually, YELLING at me saying "If you are here for pain meds, you will NOT get them!" This was with proof of my need for them over the last few years!!! I told to old F where to go and walked out!! Finally, my work insurance went into effect and I got ther doctor I have now. (No insurance now, but doctor 'works with me.)

There are better ways to 'get' those abusing their meds and making meth from Sudafed, for crying out loud. WITHOUT, constantly, hasseling those of us that need these meds to live a, somewhat, normal life!! I want the Government OUT of my business..............







edit on 9/9/2010 by Champagne because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:39 AM
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I just want to add one more comment before leaving the thread. Please look at the following snippets from the above article:


"Nearly 30 percent of state residents received at least one prescription for a controlled substance, anything from Ambien to OxyContin, in the first six months of this year"

AND:


"Sheriffs made their pitch Tuesday to a legislative health care committee looking for ways to confront prescription drug abuse. Local sheriffs said that more people in their counties die of accidental overdoses than from homicides."

Read more: www.newsobserver.com...


Those are some scary statistics. What I get from this article is a State with a problem that at least one Sheriff recognizes as something that needs to be controlled.

Maybe the proposed plan is not the best one, but it at least will cause some people to take notice.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:44 AM
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reply to post by westcoast
 


How many of those overdoses had a prescription and how many did not?

There trying to use statistics to scare the sheep. Just like the feds and mainstream media. If they get the sheep scared enough, they can do whatever they want. Don't buy into there sensationalist hype.



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:46 AM
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This is outrageous! Perhaps these Sherriffs should be concerned with the multitude of perfectly legal substances that are actually killing people like alcohol. If someone has a prescription from a doctor for a painkiller..why would they need the information to make arrests? A pharmacist is not going to give you the painkillers unless you have a perscription that they call the Doctors office to verify anyway.I can see it now...Sherriffs kick door, throw facedown on the floor and cuff a 80-90 year old couple for having painkillers!

Pushed by the economy,pushed by IRS,pushed by our congress,pushed by banks,wall street,pushed by the law enforcment. PUSHED, PUSHED, PUSHED! maybe 2012 is about the people hitting a breaking point and mass anarchy starting!!! How long do they think they can push the people until the inevitable happens? These people are idiots!



posted on Sep, 9 2010 @ 11:46 AM
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Doesn't a persons prescriptions fall under the category of doctor patient confidentiality?



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