Do you think opiate pain medications should be outlawed for noncancer sufferers as in chronic pain?

[DesertFlower]

92. there's all kinds of pain. mine

is from scoliosis, herniated discs and osteo arthritis. i had 6 epidurals at a pain center which did not work. i tried medical marijuana which made it worse.

i'm prescribed 10-325 norco 2 a day. i break them in half and take 1/2 at a time.

when i first took them years ago i felt a little buzz which i didn't like. sometimes i got jumpy -- other times tired. now i don't feel anything. i can take a pill and go on about my daily business including driving pain free.

i think the DEA made a big mistake reclassifying it to Schedule II. it's my understanding that my doc can write me 3 different prescriptions which must be filled within a 90 day period. no refills.

his office is about 40 miles round trip. i'm partially disabled but can still make the drive by myself, but what's going to happen in a few years? i'll have to ask a friend to drive me or spend over $100 for a cab.

i've heard that heroin is very easy to get. in fact i live in an upscale neighborhood and was shocked to find out that there's a big heroin problem in the high school. addicts will probably turn to heroin instead. addicts always find ways to get their "fix".

so what the DEA did was punish people like me who are in pain.

don't tell me to get off of it. i remember how bad the pain was before i started taking it.

another thing. nurse practitioners and physician's assistants can no longer prescribe schedule II drugs. it must be done by a doctor. when i was being treated at the pain center before my primary agreed to write my RXs they were prescribed by nurse practitioners. you only saw a doc for a consultation or once in a while to see how you were doing. now the doctors have to take the time away from doing consultations and other procedures like epidurals and other treatments to write RXs.

the whole thing sucks.