CDC tells doctors to stop testing patients for marijuana [View all]

[LiberalArkie]

As part of its plan to change the healthcare community’s cavalier attitude towards the distribution of dangerous prescription painkillers, the federal government has advised physicians across the United States to stop testing their patients for marijuana.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an updated set of guidelines for prescribing opioids to patients suffering from chronic pain. Buried inside the language of this attempt to put a leash on the prescription painkiller epidemic, the CDC urged doctors to modify their drug screening policies in an effort to prevent those testing positive for THC metabolites from being disqualified from treatment.

Although the agency wrote that it still believes urine testing is necessary to discover any “undisclosed use” of illicit substances, it specifically states that this rule no longer applies to THC.

“Clinicians should not test for substances for which results would not affect patient management or for which implications for patient management are unclear,” reads the statement. “For example, experts noted that there might be uncertainty about the clinical implications of a positive urine drug test for tetrahydrocannabinols (THC).”

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http://mashable.com/2016/03/23/government-testing-patients-marijuana/#ylN4PifgQuqy